Page 75 of Vengeful Lies

Especially with infection attacking her body.

The wound on her chest was so ugly, red and enflamed, oozing puss, that she couldn’t bear to look at it anymore.

A fine sheen of sweat coated her skin, and she was alternating between burning up so badly she literally prayed for death and then chills so bad that she prayed for a fire she could throw herself into for warmth.

Fanning out around her head, Gabriella knew her hair was a tangled mess of red curls, she’d be lucky if she could untangle them without having to chop off half her hair.

Which was a silly thing to worry about.

Because it didn't really matter.

Was she even going to be alive long enough to have to worry about it?

Death was circling ever closer and although there was a tiny voice calling out at the back of her mind, urging her not to give up, to fight like she always did, to start over and build a new life, she was slipping ever further away.

She didn't want a new life.

She wanted her old life back.

If it helped her keep Essie and Cade in her life, she’d take back sex with Cade. As phenomenal as it had been it wasn't worth losing them.

Part of her hated Cade for what he’d done to her. Throwing her away like she was nothing, the same way everybody else in her life had, she couldn’t just turn off her feelings for him. They weren't a switch and she’d loved him for most of the last four years.

More than the hatred was pain.

It hurt that he could do that to her.

Treat her like she didn't matter.

It wasn't like she was asking to be placed above his child she just wanted to be there for Essie. They’d both been through a trauma, and they’d lived it together, she knew without a shadowof a doubt that Essie needed her right now. And being there for the little girl would give her something to focus on even if she wasn't ready to face her own issues yet.

But Cade had torn them apart and now she couldn’t seem to find any will to live to hold onto.

Without it, it was already only a matter of time.

If she didn't want to live, there was no way her body was going to heal.

She should care.

She should want to live.

But truth was, she was just too tired of fighting. It was one thing to fight if you had someone by your side, fighting along with you. It was quite another when you had to do it alone.

Always alone.

Death had terrified her when she and Essie were being held captive. The possibility of dying and leaving Essie all alone had gripped her with an icy claw leading her to do whatever she could to protect her little charge.

Now, she had no such external motivation and death felt more like a warm embrace than an icy terror to be feared.

It was time.

Time to just let go.

Release the last tiny thread binding her to this world.

Not wanting to die in the bathroom, Gabriella forced her limbs to obey her command and rolled over onto her stomach.

For a relatively small wound, the bite mark hurt so badly.

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