Page 7 of Vengeful Melodies

Leaving Bradley without a backup plan? No escape route?

I can’t do this to Wren. He doesn’t deserve to carry my baggage.

And what about school?

Bradley was going to cosign my loan for second semester. I’mso closeto graduating. So close to finishing what I started.

My breathing spikes. Fast. Hard. Out of control.

No. Not here. Not now.

Not in front of this house. Not where Bradley’s cameras can see.

Not today.

I will not break.

I will not give him the satisfaction.

I…

The words choke in my throat. My hands clamp down on the urn as my vision blurs.

I’ve already lost this battle.

I’m twenty-five years old. Homeless. Jobless. Abandoned.

I gave everything for a love that wasn’t real.

No job.

No home.

No fiancé.

No future.

My chest tightens, heart pounding like it’s trying to escape my ribs. My hands shake violently. My vision tunnels.

“JUPEY!” Wren’s voice cuts through the panic. “Jupiter, babygirl, look at me!”

He’s outside the truck now, gripping my shoulders. I can see a blacked-out SUV slowing in the corner of my vision.

Everything else is fading—except the panic.

I’ve never been able to stop them once they start. When the grip hits, it’s like my body locks up, my heart trapped in a vice.

My therapist always said it’s my brain’s way of trying to protect me.

Shutting down.

Fading to black.

Surviving.

I haven’t had one like this since my dad died. Since my brother OD’d. Since I realized I was truly alone in the world.

The SUV stops.