Trauma-Made Queen

several beats as Jenny's words sank in.

ds echoing in her mind, but they didn't make sense. She must have mish

ndeniable, and it landed with the weight o

ng, but no words escaped. He reached out, his hand hovering at her shoulder as if unsure how to comfort her-o

eath her. The shock, the crushing weight of betrayal, took her body

everything went black was Bria

! Abbi

*

ll of antiseptic filled her nose. She blinked against the blinding light above her, her surroundings still blurr

he was in a hospital. The soft beeping noise quickened as

The memory came rushing back in a wave: the dinner at the Cole estate, the uneasy tension,

t... with Bri

ough her veins. She tried to sit up, but a wave of di

y," a voic

ting gently on hers. His face was drawn, and his usual confident demeanor seemed to h

poke his name. Her breath hitched, an

s eyes. "Abbie, I'm so sorry. I-I don't know how to explain

ied to pull her hand away, but his grip

breaking. "Don't lie to me. Don

y, rubbing a hand across his face as if trying to clear away the weight of the tr

ief, anger, and hurt. "Then what is it, Brian? What the hell is going on? First, you're distant,

swear. I thought it was just some sick joke, a ploy to get back at me for something. But the tru

ve been lying to me from the start, Brian. All this time, I thought we were building a life together, but now I

the guilt written all over his face. But none of it mattered anymore. It didn't matter how so

re, Brian," she said, her v

e weight of them, the truth behind them. She could hear h

is thumb gently brushing over her knuckles in a desperate attempt to calm her, to reach her. "Pl

st the sting of her own tears. She had given him everything-her trust, her heart

ad something real, something built on tr

ould fix it. She didn't know how to look at him anymore, how to see him as the man she thought he was. The ma

front of her, unable to

agony. "I swear, Abbie, I never meant for this

nd Abbie realized, with excruciating clarity, that the

rse stepped in, glancing at the pair. "I'm sorry to in

the nurse moved toward her, giving Brian a sympat

n them. The air was thick with unspoken words, but Abbie didn

y, she spoke again, her voice hollow. "W

ilt. "She... she left. She couldn't handl

pset? She's the one who destroyed everything. She's the one who showed up

it's not like that. I know what it looks like, b

been part of your *complicated* life for long enough now.

staring out the window, the light from the cit

me," she w

ut the man she thought she knew, leaving the f

*

ced to ride. Brian had tried to speak to her one more time, to beg her to stay, to give him a chance to explain further, but Abbie

yet, something still looming over her, and she didn't know how deep this betrayal ran. And as she walked aw