Chapter 9
Louis carried me through the door, his arms tight around me as if he were afraid I’d shatter. The sight of everything looking so normal while my entire life was falling apart was jarring. But there was something more. The house was too clean,
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Chapter 9
Emily‘ POV
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Louis carried me through the door, his arms tight around me as if he were afraid I’d shatter. The sight of everything looking so normal while my entire life was falling apart was jarring. But there was something more. The house was too clean, especially around the TV. This wasn’t how I had left
- it.
I wrenched out of his grasp, stumbling. “This
isn’t right!” I shouted, pointing at the TV. “Where’s
the video?”
Louis moved closer, his hand reaching out to
stroke my cheek in an attempt to calm me. “Emily,”
he said, his voice too soft, instantly grating on my
nerves, “you’re tired. You’ve been through a lot. Just
sit down, okay?”
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But I pushed him away, unable to shake the
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But I pushed him away, unable to shake the terrible feeling of violation and insecurity. “No, Louis! Somebody’s been here–someone messed
with the TV!” I screeched, my voice rising as my
thoughts spiraled. “Where is the video?” I was grasping at straws–it felt like everything was slipping through my fingers, and the more I tried to hold on, the faster it disappeared. The video seemed
like my only hope to prove Maya’s manipulation. It
had to be here! It just had to!
Louis pressed me down gently onto the sofa,
frustration crossing his face. He glanced over his
shoulder and barked, “Call the doctor,” to his new
assistant, who lingered in the doorway, eyeing the
scene with worry and awkwardness.
He muttered under his breath as his phone
started buzzing again, the screen lighting up with
work notifications and calls. Suddenly, he snapped,
“I don’t have time for this right now!” and threw his
phone onto the coffee table. I didn’t quite know if he
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Chapter 9
was talking about me or work.
Minutes later, the family doctor arrived, and Louis let out a small sigh of relief. But I resisted,
struggling to get away from the doctor’s
ministrations.
“I’m fine! We need to find the video!”
The doctor looked to Louis. “Do you know what
video she’s talking about?”
Louis shook his head. “I think she imagined it. I
don’t have a clue.”
Why won’t anyone believe me?
The doctor nodded then turned to me with a
smile that was probably meant to be comforting, but
it just made me sick to my stomach. “Now, Emily, I’m
going to give you something that’ll calm you down. That okay?”
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I shook my head, “No!” I tried to get up again,
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but Louis pulled me back down. I pulled at his grip,
shouting, “Let me go! Let me go!”
Louis looked sternly at the doctor. “Give her the
medicine, now.”
I screeched, but Louis held me down.
The doctor gave me a gentle, apologetic look,
but he continued to prepare the sedative. “It’ll help
you sleep, Emily,” he said, though his words felt
empty. Then the needle pricked my arm, and I felt
the cool liquid entering my veins, draining the last of
my fight.
The room started to blur, and my thoughts grew
sluggish. Louis and the doctor stood up and started
walking away, muttering in low tones to each other.
I muttered something, I think it was Louis‘ name. I
had wanted to tell him that someone had been in our home, that someone was trying to destroy us, but before my lips could even begin to form the proper words. he was already gone. The darkness crept in. 4/7
Chapter 9
and I felt myself sinking into the abyss.
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When I opened my eyes again, I was weaker than before, my arms and legs too heavy to lift. The sedative still lingered in my system, clouding my mind. I hated the sensation, but I couldn’t do a thing
about it.
I jerked a little, though, when I finally spotted Lucy standing by my bedside, her face twisted with something like satisfaction. She leaned in, her voice a whisper that promised poison in its wake.
“I’m sorry about what happened, Emily,” she said, though her tone carried no warmth. Her gaze
flickered over me as if eyeing some sort of
handiwork. Was Lucy somehow involved in this? I
thought she hated me, but I didn’t think it would ever
get to this point.
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“But tell me, what are you holding on for? It’s
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only a matter of time before Louis brings up divorce. He wouldn’t want to stay with someone in your state. I mean, mentally… you’re broken.”
Her words stabbed deep, each cutting deeper
than the last. I tried to move, to say something, but my lips wouldn’t cooperate. I was trapped in my own body as Lucy stood over me with a menacing aura.
“Maya is having my grandchild,” she hissed. Her hand rested on her hip, and a smirk crept onto her face. “I’ll warn you once, and only once. Emily, don’t get any funny ideas. I never approved of your
marriage to Louis, and this-” she gestured
dismissively at me “-is a chance to fix it. A chance
for him to finally move on with someone who
understands him, who can give him what he truly
wants.”
Her eyes glinted with triumph as she
straightened, the stupid smirk never once leaving
her face. She was thrilled, savoring every word,
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every moment of watching me crumble. But as
much as I wanted to shout at her, to tell her that she
was wrong, that I wasn’t broken, I couldn’t.
As she walked away, a heavy wave of despair
crashed into me, pressing down on my chest until it
was hard to breathe. My body felt like a prison, and I
couldn’t fight against it. Lucy’s words echoed in my
mind, a terrible reminder that everything I had
fought for was slipping away.
My marriage had become a battlefield where I
was surrounded, outnumbered, and left on the
losing side.
