CHAPTER THREE:

It didn't stop.

I pressed my ear to the bathroom door, and a hand to my mouth to keep my whimpering silent.

Landon didn't stop cheating on me. Now, as I listened to his hearty laughter and the ‘pit pat’ of the water as it hit the ground, I wondered how I had not noticed it.

“I miss you, baby…” I heard him say, and I took a step back. I didn't want to hear anymore.

I'd stepped backward, and the world blurred for a second before coming back into harsh focus.

My brain was screaming at me to run and to just pretend I hadn't heard any of it. 

“So do you need me right now? I could…”

Another trembling step back from the bathroom door, every word from his mouth made it harder to breathe. 

This was not the Landon I knew. The more I listened, the more I felt like I wasn't even real.

Like this all wasn't real.

He laughed-a rich sound with that same flow that once drew me to him like a moth to a flame. 

Now it was all wrong-twisted. 

It showed me something that I had been too blind to see, too blinded to notice, and he had kept so well hidden from me. 

God, what a fool I'd been.

My fingers curled into my fists, digging the nails hard into the skin of my palms. 

I wasn't supposed to confront him for this, not when I'd told myself I wasn't going to do so, told myself I'd find a way to wriggle out of this noxious pit he'd dragged me into. 

But then, hearing him whisper sweet nothings to another woman was what shattered whatever control I was still holding on to. How could he?

What about me? Hot tears stung my eyes and I sniffled.

I don't know at what point I opened the bathroom door, but the next thing I knew I was standing in the doorway, staring at him when he held his phone up to his ear, an easy grin on his face. 

When he saw me, his expression shifted into something cold, and a look of irritation flashed in his eyes before he quickly masked it.

"Elara," he said, smooth and casually, "What's with the look? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Who is she?" My voice sounded foreign, not my own, and I despised how weak it came across and how weak I felt around him.

He sighed, one of those long-suffering sounds, as if he were involved with a child who simply would not give up on some outrageous question. 

"Are we really doing this?" he said, his voice low, now edgy with impatience. "It's not what you think. And even if it was, what are you going to do about it?

His belittling tone sparked something hot inside me, something I hadn't felt so long I'd almost forgotten it existed. Anger.

"Do you think I'm some sort of fool, Landon?" I yelled, my voice trembling but growing stronger. "You think I didn't hear what you just said?"

He ran his hand through his hair, I could see the outline of his hand, murmuring something under his breath as he set his phone down, but I had caught it.

Crazy," he said, so casual, so conversational, like he wasn't taking a dagger and slamming it into my back with that one word. "You're imagining things again. It's really pathetic."

The words went through me, jagged and sharp. "Pathetic?" I echoed. “After everything, you're going to call me pathetic? Landon, what happened? Did I do something wrong?”

“Yes, pathetic," he said, his voice cold. "You think that I enjoy hearing you whine and mope about like some sad little puppy every day? That's what you did wrong, being blind!”

I felt my breath hitch, my chest tightening. "I just. Landon, you never complained, even when I…” 

I choked on my own spit, and blinked fighting back the tears that fell down my cheeks.

"What, Elara?" he snapped, advancing on me, his shadow stretching out big across the floor to loom over me. "What did you think? That I really cared about you? That you're special?"

I couldn't move, couldn't speak as he continued speaking, his voice dripping with disdain.

It was hard to believe that this man hated me. 

"You've been nothing but a burden to me," he went on, his voice increasingly harsh and sharp. "A dead weight that I've had to drag along all these years. Do you have any idea how exhausting it is to put up with you?"

I tried blinking back the tears that began to blur my vision, trying not to break down in front of him. 

"You're worthless, Elara. You don't bring anything to the table. Nothing," he spat. "No ambition, no confidence… just a fragile, pathetic little thing that I've had to keep propped up because you can't even stand on your own."

“Don't Landon…” I said, with a small voice. This was not real. It wasn't happening.

I was crumbling inside like a Lego tower. I didn't know this Landon.

He leaned in close, so that I could see the outline of his face, his eyes narrowing down to scrutinize me with disdain. 

“You know what your problem is?" he said in a low, mockingly whispered tone. "You actually believe you could survive without me. Like you're something more than just… this.

I tried to find the strength in my voice to defend myself, to tell him how wrong he was, but the words caught in my throat, choked out by hurt and disbelief that crashed through me. 

He was tearing apart everything I thought I knew about myself, stripping away every ounce of self-worth I had clung to.

He smirked, his gaze raking over me with cold amusement. "Go ahead," he sneered. "Try to leave. You won't get far. You need me, Elara. You can pretend all you want, but we both know you can't make it on your own.".

"You're… you're wrong," I whispered back, my voice barely audible, even to my ears.

He laughed, the sound cruel, echoing off the empty bathroom. 

"Sure, Elara. You keep telling yourself that," he said, his voice oozing condescension. "But you and I both know that's a lie. You'll always come crawling back, begging for me to take your hand and lead you around again, because you can't live without me. That's so pathetic."

He crowded me against the sink, his hand reaching out to push me away. I tried to move away, but he was already so close.

Suddenly, he pushed me hard, and I stumbled backward. 

My foot caught on the edge of the mat in front of the bathroom, and before I knew it, I was falling, face down.

Before I could react or try to move away, my eye came into contact with the sharp edge of the countertop, a blinding pain flashing through my skull before everything went dark.

I could no longer see the colors or outlines I used to see. I screamed, but he was already walking out of the bathroom.

“Landon, help…”