Seven Years of Poison

ied the storm raging inside her. The pain from the shot was a welcome distraction, a sharp, clean sting t

"Let me see the ankle," she said

pped Chloe's ankle, explaining the need for ice and elevation in a flat monotone. She was a machine

r, making sure she was comfortable. He didn' t even g

. Her vision tunneled. The last thing she saw was the st

t and the IV in her arm told her she had been admitted. But the room was empty. There wa

suffered a miscarriage. She was lucky, the nurse said, that she was alr

out of bed. She pulled the IV stand with her, her

gap, she could see Jake asleep in a chair pulled right up next to Chloe's be

do with her physical pain. He had left her bleeding and collap

fluttered open, a smug, triumphant sm

st night. Jake was so worried about me." She shifted slightly, her voice dropping lower. "He

able, wrapped in a silk

om Chloe's smiling face to Ava's pale, haunted one. He

his voice neutra

had still chosen to stay here, in this room, with Chloe. He knew Chloe was faking, or at least

urts," Chloe whimpered, pulli

dripping with the fake concern that Ava

he left the room, he and Chloe exchanged a look. A look of shared unders

sationally, examining her nails. "He's getting the perfect ring.

d you that?"

about you, too. The poor, tragic orphan girl his parents took in. How you've been obsessed w

ones he said were for business. The late nights. The constant presence of Ch

continued, her voice like a velvet glove hiding a fist o

he'd left her bed, saying he had an early meeting. She thought of his sc

ments stiff and robotic. She didn't know where

n her pocket. It w

Things were crazy. We'll tal

was a cheap, meaningless coin he tossed her w

from her arm, ignoring the sting and the bead of blood that welle

cisive movement, she pressed her thumb to the screen, held it down, and blocked his

as o