Chapter 5 - The Breaking Point
I decided I was going to match him. It was a foolish, desperate, prideful decision, but I was terrified of losing them.
I took on a third job. I worked at the auto shop during the day, drove a delivery truck in the evenings, and stocked shelves at a grocery store overnight. I barely slept. I lived on black coffee and sheer willpower. I was going to save enough to put a down payment on a house for the girls, just to prove I could.
Weeks passed. The tension at home was suffocating. Liam kept sending gifts—designer bags, keys to a new Mercedes for Harper, a signed lease for Chloe’s medical school apartment.
Harper sent everything back. Stella threatened Liam with a harassment lawsuit. But Chloe quietly kept the lease.
One rainy Tuesday night, I was underneath a Ford F-150 at the auto shop. It was 11:00 PM. I had been awake for forty hours straight.
Suddenly, a sharp, terrifying pain shot down my left arm. My chest tightened as if a cinderblock had been dropped on it. I gasped for air, trying to slide out from under the truck, but the world began to spin.
The wrench slipped from my hand, clattering against the concrete.
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I couldn't breathe. The edges of my vision turned black. As I lay on the cold, oily floor, my last thought was of the girls. I can't leave them. Who will protect them?
Then, everything went entirely dark.
