The mistress smiled at me like she had already taken my marriage, my home, and my name. My mother-in-law leaned close and whispered, “Crawl into the gutter where you belong.”

freak. Pack your bags and crawl into the gutter.”

Adrian said nothing.

That silence hurt more than the pain.

For three seconds, the room blurred. Then everything inside me became still.

I pressed the towel harder to my side and reached for the phone on the coffee table. Celeste slapped at my hand.

“Calling a nurse?” she mocked.

“No,” I said, unlocking the continue reading …