Chapter 38:
Breaking Point
Mary’s POV
I didn’t recognize myself anymore, I looked like a shadow of my Former self.
The woman staring back at me in the mirror had shadows under her eyes so dark they looked like bruises. Her lips were cracked from the cold, her shoulders slumped like she was carrying the weight of an entire city. My fingertips trembled as they reached up to brush against my cheek, just to prove I was still here. Still real. Still breathing.
Barely.
I hadn’t spoken to Andrew in three days. Not properly. Not since the night he told me I was nothing but a transaction. His words still rang in my head like a curse, poisoning every memory of warmth we ever shared.
You were a transaction. Don’t forget that.
God, how could I forget? Those hurtful words, even though they we
