Harper POV
I slipped into Leo's room, the silence heavy and suffocating.
I had to save what was left. Before they erased him completely.
Kasey had taken his ashes, but she couldn't take his memory. Not yet.
I snatched a duffel bag from the closet floor. I packed his favorite blanket, the one that still smelled faintly of baby powder. The little wooden boat he used to sleep with. His first pair of scuffed sneakers.
My hands were shaking so bad I could barely work the zipper.
"What do you think you're doing?"
Florence stood in the doorway, her silhouette blocking the hall light. Kasey was right behind her, arms crossed, a smirk playing on her lips.
"I'm leaving," I said, my voice trembling. "I'm taking my son's things."
"Those belong to the house," Florence said, her tone clipped and final. "Everything in this house belongs to Eli."
"It's all trash, anyway," Kasey added. "I was going to donate them to charity tomorrow. Or burn them."
"Touch them and I will kill you," I said.
I didn't yell. The words came out as a cold, vibrating whisper. I meant it.
Florence stepped forward. Her hand moved in a blur.
Crack.
The slap echoed in the quiet room. My cheek burned as if branded.
"Don't you dare threaten us," Florence hissed, looming over me. "You are nobody. You are a barren, useless woman who couldn't keep her husband satisfied."
"Get out," I said, choking on the metallic taste of blood.
"No," Kasey said. She yanked the bag from my hands. "You get out."
She unzipped the bag and dumped it upside down.
Leo's things spilled onto the floor in a heap of fabric and wood.
"No!" I dropped to my knees, scrambling to gather them.
Kasey kicked the wooden boat away. It skidded under the bed, out of reach.
Florence grabbed me by the hair, twisting her fingers into the roots.
"It's time for you to leave, Harper," she said.
They dragged me.
They hauled me across the floor like a sack of refuse.
I clawed at the carpet, fingernails tearing. I kicked. I screamed.
But I was weak. I hadn't eaten in days. I was pregnant, starving, and exhausted.
They pulled me down the stairs. My body thumped against the steps, bone striking wood. Pain radiated through my back and hips, a white-hot fire.
Eli was standing in the foyer.
He watched.
He stood there with his hands in his pockets, perfectly still, watching his mother and his mistress drag his wife across the floor.
"Eli!" I screamed, reaching out a desperate hand. "Help me!"
He looked at me. His eyes were empty, void of any recognition.
"You caused this scene, Harper," he said calmly. "You refused to be reasonable."
"I'm pregnant!" I screamed, the secret tearing from my throat. "With your child!"
Kasey paused, her grip loosening slightly. She looked at Eli.
Eli shrugged, a casual, indifferent motion. "She's getting rid of it. It doesn't matter."
The cruelty was absolute. It stole the air from my lungs.
They dragged me out the front door.
It was raining. A cold, relentless downpour.
They shoved me onto the driveway. The asphalt scraped my palms raw as I landed hard.
"Don't come back," Florence spat.
Kasey leaned down, her face wet with rain, eyes gleaming with malice. "Do us a favor, Harper. Go find a bridge. Jump off. Join Leo."
They went back inside.
The heavy oak door slammed shut. The lock clicked, sealing my fate.
I lay in the rain.
My clothes were soaked instantly, chilling me to the bone. My knee was throbbing. My heart was shattered.
I stood up, swaying.
I walked.
I didn't know where I was going. I just walked.
I walked until my feet bled inside my shoes. I walked until the sun went down and the city lights blurred into dizzying streaks of neon.
I ended up under the overpass near the river.
It was filthy. It smelled of urine, rot, and stale beer.
My legs gave out. I collapsed against a concrete pillar, sliding down into the dirt.
I was shivering uncontrollably, my teeth chattering.
My phone was gone. My wallet was gone.
I had nothing.
"Eli," I whispered. The name tasted like ash.
I closed my eyes.
The darkness came for me. It felt like a mercy.
"I am done with Eli Stark," I murmured into the cold night air. "Never again."
I felt my consciousness slipping, drifting away from the pain.
Someone was walking nearby. Footsteps, heavy and uneven.
"Hey, look at this," a rough voice said.
"She looks dead," another voice answered, disinterested.
"Maybe she has money."
I tried to open my eyes, but they were too heavy, glued shut by exhaustion.
Pain exploded in my side. A kick. Hard.
"Get up!"
I couldn't move.
Another kick. This one to my head.
The world flashed white, then red.
"She's got nothing."
"Just leave her."
"Wait, don't be in such a rush. Let's have some fun first."
Fear, cold and sharp, pierced through the fog.
I tried to crawl. My fingers scraped the dirt, finding no purchase.
"No," I croaked.
Darkness swallowed me, but I would not yield. I had to survive. I had to make them pay.
