My heart plummets.

My fists clench at my sides, nails biting into my palms as I stare, frozen, at the scene before me

The room reeks of sweat and sex, 1 can’t help but tremble.

And there he is.

Dmitri

My fiance.

The man I was supposed to marry-

Groveling at my feet, tangled in his own bdamn /bpants bas /bhe fumbles to cover himself. His face is pale, his hair disheveled, his lips–those same lips that whispered loving words into my ears–swollen from kissing someone else.

A woman—a Utrangerys half–naked on the bed behind him, the silk sheets tangled around her body bas /bbshe /bscrambles away like aered animal. Her eyes dart to mine in wide–eyed panic before she clutches the nket to her chest and bolts toward the bathroom, mming the bdoor /bshut

Coward.

Dmitri stares up at me, paned in his voice. “Elena–it’s not what it looks like.”

A hollowugh escapes me. Cold. Emotionlessb. /bClearly the bugh /bof ba /bwoman who has lost everything.

I take ba /bstep closer, my heels clicking against the polished hardwood floor. I feel detached from my own body, as if I’m watching this y out from

somewhere far, far away.

“Not what it looks like?” bI /brepeat softly, tilting iny head..

Dmitri, the man who once promised me forever, dares to feed me that cliché excuse.

A lump lodges in my throat, buming like acid.

“Dmitri,” my voice is eerily calm, my hands trembling with suppressed rage, “I just buried i

1–my

father

His eyes flicker with guilt, but his lips part uselessly, searching for words.

“I came here because 1-1 needed you. My bvoice /bcracks, raw with heartbreak “And I find you like this?b” /b

I gesture to the bed our bed–where another woman had justin underneath his The sheets I had picked our The mattress we bhad /bchosen together. The broom /bthat was supposed to be ours.

Dmitri pushes to his feet, his pants still unbuttoned, his entire existence suddenly repulsive. He reaches for me. “Pleaseb, /bbI /b

b“/bDon’t touch me.”

My voice is sharper than I intendb, /bbut the thought of his hands on me now bmakes /bmy skin crawl.

His face twists, desperation seeping into his features. “It was a mistakel I wasn’t thinking-

I scoff, my arms folding tightly over my chest. “Oh Your dick just happened to slip into her

Dmitri finchesb. /b“Elena-

b“/bShut up.”

My breath is ragged. My vision blurs, but I refuse to try, I refuse to break bdown /bin bfront /bof him.

I should be screaming. bI /bshould be throwing things, wing at him, making him bleed the way he’s just made me bbleed/b. But I can’t. I’m btoo /bnumb.

Too shattered.

A part of me–a stupid, naive, pathetic part–wants him to fight for me.

To drop to his knees. To leg. To convince me that this isn’t real, that this is just some nightmare I’ll wake up from.

b8:33 /bbPM /b

But I don’t wake up.

bI /bjust stand bthere/b, breathing in the reality of it all

b“/bbYou /bsaid you loved me.”

Dmitri swallows hard. I do

Myugh is bitter. “You have a funny bway /bof showing it.”

Silenceb. /b

Maybe if bthis /bwas the past me. Even the ‘me from yesterday, I would have screamed. I would have cursed him out. But now! I was balready /bexhausted. Half my world had already shattered this bmorning/b.

So, instead, I inhale sharply and bturn /bon bmy /bheel, my heart pounding against my ribs.

I need to bleave/b.

Now

“Elena, wait!” Dmitri grabs my wrist, his grip desperate, but I rip myself free with such force that he shimbles back.

The love I had for himn dies in that moment

I don’t even look back as I walk away. bLeaving /bour apartment. I walk in a dazeb, /bmy mindpletely lost to mourning my step–father, mourning the marriage life that I knew wouldn’t happen anymore.

My parent’s house is dark when I step inside.

The funeral was in the morning. It felt like a lifetime bago/b. And now, it’s night.

Everything feels different. Colder. Like the walls know what I’ve seen tonight, know that I am no longer the same woman who left this house earlier.

bI /bbswallow /bthe lump in my throat and walk deeper inside, my heels clicking against the wooden floor.

“Mom?” I call softly.

She must be sleeping. I had left her resting in her bedroom when I went to see Dmitri God, bI /bwish I bhadn’t /bgone.

I wipe at my eyes, barely aware of the way my body shakes. The exhaustion crashes into me blike /ba freight tram

One step. Then banother/bb. /b

I reach the kitchen, my fingers gripping the doorframe, ready to head upstairs

Then I see her.

A choked gasp rips from my throat.

My mother.

She’s on the floor.

“bMom/b?” My voice trembles.

She doesn’t move.

The room spins. My breath bcatches/bb. /bNo. No, no, no,

I stumble forwardb, /bcopsing onto my knees beside her. My hands bshake /bviolently as I breach /bfor her, pressing my bfingers /bto her neck, checking for breath, for warmth, for anything—

Her bskin /bbis /bmmy, her forehead damp. And there–bule red splotches marring her arm.

Burns.

What happened!

“Mom!” I bshake /bher. Hard. “Mom, wake up! Pleaser”

833 PM

She doesn’t stir.

The air leaves my lungs

bNo. /bNo. NO..

Please, God. Not her. Not her too.

My pulse roars in my ears, drowning everything else out bas /bI grab my phone, my fingers fumbling, my vision blurring

bMy /bbheart /bms against my ribs.

My throat tightens

Tears blind me.

But there’s bno /btime to panic.

I dial

The ringing feels endless.

Then-

“911, what’s your emergency?”

I swallow a sob.

“My mother–she’s unconscious. bPlease/b, Please hurry”

The operator starts btalking/bb, /bbut I can barely hear

press my forehead to my mother’s, my body trembling-

“Stay with me,” I whisper. “Mease. Moin bStay /bwith me: