I stood in the middle of my room, staring at everything that belonged to me now or used to belong to me. Clothes Nathan bought, shoes he had picked and jewelries he made me try on even when I told him it was too much. Every bag, every dress, every small item that still had a tag on it… all of it surrounded me.
My chest tightened again. I wiped my face with the back of my hand, but the tears kept coming anyway. Everything felt wrong. Leaving him felt wrong, packing felt wrong but staying… staying was dangerous. For Ella for Julian and for myself.
That woman's threat wasn't something I could ignore. I saw the hatred in her eyes, she took me once and that meant she could take someone else. Ella, Julian or anyone, I couldn't risk any of them.
I went to Nathan's room for the last time, looked down at the folded letter on his pillow. I had written it earlier, before I started packing. My handwriting had been shaky. I had rewritten the same line three times:
