I knew he wanted to humiliate me. I knew none of them wanted me to have it easy. I knew how much Serena hated me.
Chatter swelled around us. Everyone was laughing—laughing at me for not knowing my place, for bringing this on myself, for being loose and fickle, for being cheap. Even one of Serena's underlings couldn't help but chime in. "Serena was so good to you back then. If you hadn't left, you'd be the one living the high life now..."
If I hadn't left—if I hadn't done what I did—Serena wouldn't have lived to see today at all.
I clenched my teeth, refusing to let the tears fall. But my body still trembled from the cold.
Harbor City's winters don't kill people. But that surgery had left my body wrecked. A simple cold, a bit of wind-chill—either could take me out at any time.
I curled up on the ground, rubbing my arms over and over. But I couldn't fight off the bone-piercing wind. Or Serena's icy stare.
Seven years. I'd survived alone in this mud pit for seven years. The artificial heart's beat was growing weaker. My life was nearing its end.