Page 90 of Empowered
This was her punishment, wasn’t it? She let her child die.Shewas why she had been in so much pain that she retreated into herself, halved herself, and lived a life of needless depravity, as if she had every damned right to do so.
She should have known.
Nobody was allowed to get away with this for long. At some point, fate would come for her. Hunt her down. Plaster her across the world for everyone to see and judge. Would it have hurt as much if Lucas wasn’t going down with her in the process? This man who claimed to love her so much that he would stick by her side even during this scandal?
He needed to walk away! He needed to think of his son and stay far away from her!
How could it even be a choice? If his jealous ex-wife presented either his son or Sarah… healwaysshould take his son!
That’s what Sarah would have done.
That was the right thing to do.
That’s what fate, what karma wanted her to do, because she hadn’t thought of her child before it was too late.
She didn’t mean to awaken half the household, but Nigel was the only one who came out of his room and sat with her on the couch, his eyes glued to the TV while one hand remained on his sister’s shuddering side.
***
“I’m not doing so hot today.”
“What’s wrong? Do you need me to come over?”
“No. I think I caught a crud because of how stressful things have been recently. Maybe I got it on our trip. I don’t want to get you sick too.”
“Are you sure? I’ll have some things sent over.”
“That’s sweet. Thank you.”
“…I’m serious, Angel, if you need anything, tell me, okay? I love you.”
“I know you do. I’m sorry for putting you through all of this because of my carelessness.”
“Carelessness? How were you supposed to know that something like this would happen?”
“But because it’s happened, you might lose your custody case.”
“You let me worry about that, okay? The only thing I want you worrying about right now is howyou’reholding up. Take care of yourself, Angel. Things are rough right now, but they’ll get better. I promise. I’ve got my PR person working overtime taking down anything with your name and face in it.”
“I appreciate it, Luke. I’m hoping this will blow over soon.”
“It will. I promise.”
Sarah hung up, rolled over in her bed, and went right back to crying. Not even speaking to her boyfriend helped her feel a bit better.
***
No matter how many times Sarah insisted she’d rather be alone, she couldn’t get away from well-meaning individuals.
Her mother smothered her. Nigel was like a shadow ready to block out somebody’s sun if it came down to it. Lucas? He was the worst one of all, and Sarah didn’t even live with him. When he wasn’t calling her twice a day to make sure she was all right, he was coming over to her place, inviting her over to his so she could “get away from her family,” and sending her little gifts that were meant to cheer her up.
The more shit she received, however, the more upset she became.
Ever since that day her name and face exploded all over the internet, Sarah began a descent into mental mayhem that made her want to carve her own brain out of her head. When she wasn’t blaming herself for everything that happened in her life, she was swinging dangerously close to the other side of reason.
The side that told her to fully embrace the monster she was inside.
Angel, of course. She was the monster. Sarah had taken every bit of emotion left in her bones and shoved them into her Angel persona. She was the only one allowed to love, cry, need, want, and desire. But because she lived so many extremes, she was also more likely to leave destruction in her wake. Because when someone dealt with so many emotions like that at once? They made poor choices. Choices that eventually caught up to a woman.
