"Go die! Stop contaminating the air!"
The venom swallowed me whole.
I couldn't hold on anymore. I hurled my phone at the wall, slid down to the floor, and sobbed until I couldn't breathe.
Jesse didn't know.
That professor never succeeded.
I had gone to beg that animal to sign a pardon letter so Jesse could keep his degree.
And that sick old man had brutalized me until the damage was permanent.
I traded half my life for his bright future.
And he turned it into pillow talk with another woman.
I braced myself against the wall, found the backup phone in the house, and sent Jesse one message.
"I know about you and Edith. Let's get a divorce."
Less than three minutes after I hit send, the front door was kicked open.
Jesse stood in front of me, his face dark with fury.
"Lucretia Chavez, how could you be so shameless? Going behind my back to feed lies to Edith's parents?"
He threw me so hard my vision blurred and my ears rang. I couldn't even process what he was saying.
"Edith? What happened to her parents?"
Jesse drove his knee into my chest, pressing down with enough force to splinter ribs.
"Keep pretending! Go on!"