CHAPTER 8

Alex

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I stumbled into the room, the clink of the glass bottle in my hand resounding off the walls. Benjamin looked up from his seat, concern etching lines into his face as he watched my erratic movements.

"Alex, man, you need to slow down," Benjamin said, standing up to steady my movement.

I shrugged off his attempt, my eyes glassy and unfocused. It was easier for him to say when he wasn’t the one who just lost the woman he loved.

Memories of that night—the night she left with Luca—still etched in my mind; every emotion I felt was still engraved in my veins.

“She’s gone, Ben,” I slurred, my words heavy with drunken sorrow. My grip on the bottle tightened as I dropped into the chair, chugging down the alcohol.

Benjamin sat across from me, propping his legs on my sturdy wooden table between the sofas in the middle of the room.

I rose unsteadily and trudged towards him, kicking his legs off and returning to the seat.

Benjamin’s face contorted into an expression I was too tipsy to disc