Page 117 of Midnight Sanctuary

Or maybe he just doesn’t care anymore.

“Then go!” I shout as the panic starts to take over. “Throw your tantrum somewhere else because I’m done talking to you.” I lift my eyes to his. “These babies areyours. And if you choose not to believe me, then I’m not interested in being anywhere near you. Now, leave, before I have you kicked out.”

His eyes go wide but the fury doesn’t leave them. He turns and stalks out of the room and I brace myself for the second slam.

Except it never comes. Because before the door slams shut, Elle and Polly rush inside, both wearing identical masks of worry and confusion.

“What’s going on?” Elle asks.

Polly grabs my hand. “Are you okay?”

I shake my head, trying to breathe through the pain and fear. My chest feels heavy. So does my stomach. “Get this dress off me,” I gasp. “Get itoff!”

I start clawing at the corset ties as Elle tries to grab my hands. “Hey, Lys, it’s okay. Calm down. It’s gonna be okay.”

How can I explain to her that she’s wrong? I was standing on solid ground a few minutes ago. Now, quicksand is pulling me under.

“I can’t breathe,” I choke desperately. “I can’tbreathe.”

52

ALYSSA

Riiiiiiiip.

The dress tears right down the side. I can’t even bring myself to mourn its loss as I shred it off me. I don’t want the fabric so much as touching my skin. I want itgone.

I’m such an idiot. What was I thinking? A pretty ceremony? A shotgun wedding? My dream husband? They were all just silly little figments of my imagination. A stupid fairytale I was clinging to because I was alone and I was scared.

Who the hell did I think I was to deserve a happy ending?

“Get it off!”

“Okay, okay!” Elle cries, pulling the last scrap of the dress from my body. “It’s off. See?” She holds up the fine silk and then throws it onto the chair next to my bed. “Take a deep breath.”

“I’m trying,” I pant, turning my back on both Polly and Elle and burying my face in my hands. “I swear I’m trying.”

I can’t stand the way they’re looking at me. Like I’m some sort of broken charity case. No. Worse. A jilted lover.

Uri as good as left me at the altar.Pregnant,no less.

I’d been riding high after that conversation with my parents. It felt like a true fresh start. When I hung up, I could tell myself with a straight face that I was finally growing up, putting my past behind me, moving on with life. It felt like I was well on my way to healing.

And now?

Not one bit of that is true.

How fragile we are. How easily broken. The difference between happiness and despair is as simple and as instant as a phone call. A diagnosis. A few angry words and a pair of smoldering blue eyes.

“Hey,” Elle says, approaching me from the side as though I’m a trapped animal she’s afraid of spooking. “You’re shivering, hon. Let’s get you covered up, okay?”

I look down to discover that she’s right. My skin is pimpled with goosebumps and my hair’s standing on end. But it has nothing to do with the temperature in the room.

Still, I don’t stop her when she ventures closer with my sweats in one hand and a t-shirt in the other. She and Polly help me shrug my clothes on and when they’re done, it feels like an hour has passed. Maybe more. I glance towards my torn wedding dress and bite down on my tongue until I taste blood.

“Sit down, hon,” Elle says gently. “Please. You look dead on your feet.”

Fitting. I feel pretty dead inside, too.

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