Page 241 of Gilded Cage (Kovalyov Bratva 1)

That’s a little less general, but still in the same ballpark.

But I pay a little more attention as she went back to studying my tea leaves.

“You’ve suffered great losses in your life,” Aracelia intones. She hasn’t broken eye contact since she set the teacup down. “A sibling. A parent—no, both parents.”

She’s right about that.

Mama to cancer, just after I was born.

Papa to his own greed.

Cesar to the man I married.

Maybe she’s not so nutty after all.

“Violence has plagued your past,” the woman continues. “And according to these leaves, it will continue to plague your future.”

Those words make me stop short. I stare at Aracelia, wondering if maybe I’d misheard her.

Actually, it’s more like I’mhopingI misheard her.

“What did you say?”

“Your leaves are chaotic,” Aracelia repeats. “I sense that the path you’ve chosen is not an easy one. There will be many challenges ahead for you.”

“What kind of challenges?” I ask.

I’m leaning in, mouth hanging open in desperation, despite the fact that I told myself at the start of this reading that it didn’t mean a thing.

“It’s hard to say,” Aracelia replies. “But I can see you coming to a crossroads soon.”

“A crossroads?”

“You will have to make a hard decision at some point in the near future. It will not be easy, but trust your instincts and you might yet find happiness.”

My heart is beating fast, but I try and tamp down the panic.

This is ridiculous. This woman is just a low-rent psychic. None of this is specific and she’s just guessing. She doesn’t have a clue what she’s talking about.

I start to rise from my seat. “Um, gracias,” I say. “I appreciate the reading, but I should be going home now.”

She pounces forward and seizes my forearm in her two hands. “Your husband is promising you things he cannot give you.”

I freeze for the briefest of moments with something like horror surging in the pit of my stomach.

Then I rip my hand away from her.

“Right,” I say. “That’s enough. My hus… um, I just have to get home now.”

Aracelia says something else to me, but I don’t hear it or bother to make her repeat herself. I just want to get out of her house and back to my own.

She stays perfectly still, perfectly upright in her seat. She doesn’t blink. Just follows me with those huge eyes as I stumble to the front door and out of the house.

I drive a little too fast back through the town. In my haste, I almost forget that I need to pick up some groceries.

I turn back around and head to the grocery store. As I move along the isles, picking up milk and carrots, I feel the panic ebb slightly.

Surrounded by the normalcy of a town that now feels familiar to me, clarity sets in. I start to feel silly.

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