Page 3 of Mercy Lake

“What the fuck have you done?” he asked, pulling on Everly’s arm as if to get her away from me. Probably for her own safety in case I snapped into a psychotic rage. Lucky for them both, I felt numb.

“She deserves to know.”

“I was going to tell her my way.Fuck, Everly.”

Up until that point, I was in some bizarre dissociative state. It was as if I was a third person floating from afar, silently watching my own life implode before my eyes.

That’s when some arbitrary emotions sparked enough for my thoughts to take root, for their absurd declarations to actually make sense.

Owen was fighting with a woman… A woman who was not his wife. I listened, concentrated hard, finally hearing his words above the roaring in my ears.

“I told you I’d look after my baby. I fucking told you! That doesn’t mean you can come here…”

My baby.

He said it. With his own voice, his very own mouth. Owen had already claimed the unborn child. Already considered that new life.His.

Ignoring their lovers’ spat, I bypassed them, bolted up the stairs to our main bedroom and started packing. My scrambled mind shut out their yelling and arguing and concentrated on what I had to do right at that moment.

Leave and escape—preferably without killing them both.

Once I had retrieved all my important documents and valuables, I started on my belongings, haphazardly throwing anything and everything that could fit into the suitcase. Because once I left, I wasnevercoming back.

Our loving home that we had lived in for two years after our fairytale wedding… All those memories eviscerated.

I rubbed my sternum—a niggling pain that festered within my chest.Leave. Escape.

Once the suitcase was full to bursting, I managed to zip it closed before the bedroom door swung open with a bang, nearly falling off its hinges. Owen stood there, wide-eyed and panting before me.

I’d been so preoccupied I hadn’t realised it had gone quiet—too quiet. Their screams had ceased… If only that aided the never-ending screams reverberating inside my skull.

“You can’t leave! Let me explain. Let’s sit down and talk.FUCK!It wasn’t supposed to go like this. I was supposed to—”

Fuck him. Fuck this.He didn’t deserve my time. Not a single second.

I grabbed the suitcase and went to barge past when he blocked my way.

“You’re not leaving.” He looked rabid, like he was on the verge of losing his sanity.Too late for me, though, I guess.

I should have taken that as a warning, read his expression properly, processed his rage beneath the desperation, but I justdidn’t give a fuck. “Don’t you want the house for your new wife, your new family?”

“You’remy wife.You’remy family.”

I flinched.The audacity of this man.The actual balls he had to make love to me the night before his mistress came over to implode our life withtheirbig announcement. I rubbed my sternum again, trying to get rid of that pesky ache that wouldn’t quit.

Then, my mind snapped, and I started laughing—cackling, even. I didn’t know what was happening with my body. I thought it was defecting, but anything was better than crying. I wouldn’t give him my tears. Nothing.

“You’re delusional,” I managed to spit.

Owen’s hands raised in surrender. “Let me explain.”

I sobered immediately. “There’s nothing to explain. I don’t want to know. I know enough.Move.”

As I went to pivot around him, Owen stepped in my way again. He didn’t touch me though. As soon as I stopped, the stupid moron thought it was his in to tell me about his sordid love affair with my ex-friend.

“Everly and I… We—”

I screamed. Until my lungs were strained and my throat tore apart, I screamed. Hearing him say her name made my gut turn. It made me so fucking sick.

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