"Your husband, your daughter—leave them all behind. Just be with me."
"Ethel just said she wouldn't mind."
I nearly laughed from the sheer absurdity. I lowered the phone and hung up without another word.
I braced myself against the wall, my head swimming, my vision blurring.
I was seconds from collapsing.
For ten years, I had been holding on by sheer willpower. All of it for the sake of raising our only child.
But now, none of it seemed to matter anymore.
I knew Nathan had always had feelings for me. Ethel was younger, someone he'd met later. But that was exactly why I'd come. It was the only way to make sure Daisy would have a safe place to live.
I slipped into Nathan's bedroom. On his desk, a framed photo of the two of us still sat there, from the life we used to share.
Now, it only made me sick.
I crawled into the closet and never came back out.
The stale, trapped air made it harder to breathe. Slowly, my knees buckled against the closet door and I slid to the floor. My fingers twisted into one of his shirts, gripping the fabric tight, and then a mouthful of blood surged up my throat.
This time, everything went dark.
Not long after, Nathan came home with Ethel.