Turning back, he gently helped her onto the bed.
"I'll stay with you until morning."
The video went dark after that. The only sounds left were a low, guttural groan and Lorraine's soft, satisfied laughter.
I felt as if I'd plunged into an ice-cold abyss. My fingers trembled as I clutched my phone, dialing his number again and again.
All through the night, I made over four hundred calls. But he didn't answer a single one.
When dawn finally broke, a message appeared on my screen. [I handled an emergency last night.]
A hollow laugh escaped me.
So this was his "emergency"—spending the night by another woman's bed.
...
The day I was discharged happened to be my birthday.
Renald came in person to pick me up. He even booked a private hall at an upscale restaurant for a small birthday celebration.
The venue was beautifully decorated, and he stayed by my side the entire evening.
After the cake was cut, he fastened a custom-made gold necklace around my neck, drawing murmurs of admiration from the guests.
To everyone else, I must have looked like the luckiest woman alive.
But to me, that necklace felt as heavy as a shackle pressing down on my chest.