I just sat beside him. Eyes wide open the entire night, listening, speaking only when my voice stopped shaking. For the first time, I didn’t feel invisible. For the first time… someone saw me. Not as a problem. Not as a duty. But as something powerful.
---
The next morning...
I got home a little after ten.
My body ached. My soul felt like it’d been turned inside out. But something in me had shifted. Maybe not strength. Not yet. But clarity.
The door creaked open. And Zeus was already waiting.
He was sitting on the edge of the couch, fists balled at his sides, eyes bloodshot like he hadn’t slept. His jaw clenched. His breathing ragged. Something ugly swimming in his face. Before I could speak— He slapped me.
Hard. My head snapped sideways. My lip split against my tooth. I tasted iron and betrayal in the same second.
“After poisoning Zoraya’s water and switching her vitamins to abortion pills you still have the guts to come back here?”
I staggered back, blinking, heart thudding so loud I couldn’t hear straight.
“She collapsed after the party. Vomiting. Convulsing. She’s in the fucking hospital, Savannah.”
He stepped closer, towering, fists trembling.
“You wanted her dead, didn’t you?!”