My eyes went wide as Benjamin stormed back into the apartment. When he came out, he was holding the bracelet I treasured more than anything in the world.
He hurled it at the ground.
"You want your bracelet so bad? Take your piece of junk and get out!"
"No!" I screamed and lunged for it, hands outstretched, but I wasn't fast enough.
I watched it shatter against the floor, pieces scattering like broken teeth.
My head snapped up. I fixed him with a stare full of something he had never seen from me before.
Not love. Not devotion. Not patience.
Hatred.
Even through his rage, it shook him. For one brief second, panic crossed his face.
But the next second, Elise whimpered through her tears. "Professor Delgado, my leg hurts so much. Do you think it's broken?"
Benjamin snapped back to attention. He scooped her up and strode past me toward the stairs.
"Don't be scared. I'm taking you to the hospital."
He moved fast and hard, and as he passed, he knocked straight into me where I crouched on the floor.
I tumbled down the steep staircase and hit the landing below with a sickening thud.
People gasped. I called out, my voice thin and weak.
Benjamin never looked back.