He hesitated for only a few seconds—then turned away when Anna called him to go buy her a bag.
In that moment, I made my decision: I would never look back.
By the time I arrived at the hospital, more than three hours had passed since the attack.
I had fainted from the beating, unconscious.
When I woke up, my body was covered in bruises.
My head spun, nausea churning in my stomach.
The doctor explained a few things and left.
Outside, nurses whispered about me, their looks full of disdain.
I knew explanations would be useless. I just stared at the TV on the wall.
At 2 p.m., David finally rushed in.
He was emotional as he said, “Claire, I didn’t know you’d be beaten like this. If I had known, I would have stopped it!”
“Really? You dare say you didn’t see me being attacked?”
Our eyes had locked while I was being beaten.
Now he came running, pretending to care—who was he fooling?
“I did see it, but Anna told me it was just to scare you. She didn’t say they’d actually hurt you!”
“To scare me? So you planned this together?”
I stared at him in disbelief.
Had they set me up from the very moment I walked into that mall?
Realizing he’d said too much, David tried to cover his tracks.