Escaping His Obsession, Finding Love

ing my hair to my face and so

ered letters. The ink was running, blurring my father's elegant handwriting i

heir first anniversary lay half-buried in t

door and banged my fist

Let me i

e swallowed

upstairs window. One of th

! Open the do

ear. She shook her head. "I can't, M

ght we

ical blow. I was no longer the lady of this house. I was a

ms around Katarina, comforting her. He was stroking her hai

cut through my grief. I w

nd some shelter from the wind and rain. I clutched th

fell out of the big oak tree and broke his arm. I sat with him for hours,

sed to alway

, shattered like the p

Exhaustion, both physical and emotional, washed over me. I leaned my hea

re. When I came to, the rain had st

nt door

ainst the light from the hall. His

. He looked down at me, huddled on the ground, and for a mo

as quickly a

umbrella onto the

said, his voice flat. "

m. He didn't offer me a hand. He didn't ask if I was okay. He jus

dy box of my parents' things to my studio. I spent hours carefully cleaning each item, trying to salvage what I could

k onto the lid when I heard

"Oh, look. She's playin

focus entirely on

tt feels terrible about what happen

n't r

," she said, her voice cloying sw

d for the

I said, my voice

et her help. It was an accident.

clutching the

tears. "I just wanted to hel

e, Ava," Elli

N

. He snapped his fingers. Two of his

om her," h

rambled backward, holding

u dare!"

ked and struggled, my nails digging into their skin. One of the

ox fell fro

at it, then at me, a look of pur

," sh

e drop

red on the hard floor, the little