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it.
    I peered at my stricken face in the mirror.
It was pale and tight. My whole body started shaking, and I turned,
stumbled over to the bed and fell onto it.
    “He left me!” I cried out, the sobs racking
my entire being. “He left me!”
    I grabbed a pillow, burying my face into it
and cried. My grief took complete hold of me. My body convulsed,
and tears streamed down my face.
    I didn’t want to live. There was no way I
could go on. I wished for death right there on the spot. I wished
he had killed me. Death had to be easier than this.
    I had no idea how long I lay there, but I
didn’t move when Shelly and Brad came back to the room. Shelly took
one look at me and rushed to my side.
    “Tell me,” she demanded. She sat next to me
and lifted my head, putting it in her lap.
    “He left me!” was all I could say, and the
fresh sobs came even harder.
    I cried for hours, Shelly holding me,
stroking my hair into the darkness of the night. I hoped numbness
would finally overtake me, but it never came. I couldn’t stop.
    Brad sat in one of the chairs, occasionally
jumping up to pace the room back and forth.
    “Sit down!” Shelly finally snapped at him.
“You’re just making her more nervous!”
    “I can’t,” he said and grabbed for his jacket
and put it on. “I’m going to go out to find that jerk, and then I
am going to beat the crap out of him!”
    “Don’t go!” I pleaded with him, sitting up a
little. “He made it very clear that he needs me out of his
life.”
    “Well, then after I kill him, he’ll have his
wish,” Brad said through clenched teeth, his hand on the
doorknob.
    I was still crying when he opened the door to
step out. I blinked my swollen eyes in confusion for a moment
before I realized my brain wasn’t playing tricks on me, and Vance
was actually standing on the other side of the door.
    Brad’s reflexes acted quickly: He cocked his
arm back and threw his punch.
    Vance was quicker. He grabbed Brad’s fist in
mid air with his hand, stopping it completely.
    “I need to talk to Portia,” he said, with a
deadly look. “Alone.”
     
     

Chapter 4
    “Don’t you think she’s had enough already?”
Brad yelled at Vance and yanked his fist away from him. “She can’t
take anymore!” he added angrily. He stood square in the doorway,
trying to block the entrance.
    “Let him in,” I said softly. Crying hiccups
overtook me.
    Brad glared back and forth between the two of
us before he stepped out of the way and allowed Vance to enter the
room.
    “Come on, Shelly,” Brad said, nodding his
head toward the door, not acting too happy about the situation.
    Shelly turned to me, her face full of
concern.
    “Are you sure you want me to go?” she asked
gently.
    I nodded.
    “I’ll be fine,” I said, swallowing the large
lump in the middle of my throat, feeling thankful to have friends
who cared about my well being so much.
    Shelly grabbed her coat on the way out and
paused in front of Vance.
    “Don’t you dare hurt her anymore,” she
commanded, staring him in the eye. “Do you understand me?” she
added when he didn’t respond.
    Vance still said nothing, flatly returning
her gaze, not acknowledging he had heard her in any way.
    Finally, she just pushed past him and out the
door.
    When they were gone, Vance locked the
deadbolt and the latch behind them. He stood there for a moment,
staring at the door before he turned around and walked over to sit
on the other bed in the room, across from me.
    I didn’t say anything to him, watching him as
he rubbed his palms together, moving them back and forth
slowly.
    He didn’t look at me, appearing to be lost in
thought, just staring at his hands, and I sat patiently, waiting
for him to speak to me when he was ready.
    We sat there in silence for several long
moments, only the sound of my hiccups filling the air, and I was
beginning to think he wasn’t ever going to say anything when he
finally lifted his head and gazed intently at