Chapter 173

Latisha watched him for a moment before he simply lifted her into his arms. She instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck, her gaze tracing the line of his jaw before she lowered her eyes.

He placed her on the bed and examined her hands. The wounds on her wrists had scabbed over, some already flaking off to reveal tender new skin underneath. He held her hand, studying it for a long moment.

"Does it still hurt?" he asked, his eyes meeting hers.

She shook her head.

He continued to hold her hand, his thumb gently stroking her skin, his eyes filled with a tenderness that felt like a mirage.

Latisha closed her eyes, unwilling to look at him. He always did this. With just a few soft words, she would start lying to herself again, getting lost in the fantasy she'd woven in her own mind.

Clifford watched her reaction, the air in the room growing heavy.

Suddenly, the sharp ring of a phone shattered the silence.

He let go of her hand and walked over to answer it. Latisha opened her eyes and watched as he turned his back to her, murmured something into the phone, and then left the bedroom without a backward glance.

She pursed her lips and hugged a pillow tightly to her chest.

Just as she closed her eyes again, a sudden, sharp ringing filled her head. She clutched her temples, her face contorting in pain. The ringing gave way to a piercing agony, as if a thousand needles were stabbing her brain.

She curled into a ball on the bed, her shoulders trembling. It felt like an eternity before the pain gradually subsided.

Latisha stared up at the ceiling. She thought, "It's getting worse, isn't it?"

She closed her eyes, her hands falling limply to her sides. The bedroom was terrifyingly quiet.

He had gone to Yesenia again, hadn't he?

Latisha tossed and turned for hours, finally drifting into a shallow sleep just before dawn. Two hours later, she was awake again. She got up and went to the kitchen to make, breakfast.

After setting two places at the table, she went to the study and knocked. When there

was no answer, she remembered: Clifford hadn't come home last night.

She walked back downstairs and sat down, sipping her soup and staring at the

empty plate across from her. The food tasted like ash in her mouth.

...

Latisha went to the office.

As she entered her department, all eyes turned to her.

Rosalie leaned over her cubicle wall. "Latisha, didn't you take a month off? What are you doing back so soon?"

Latisha paused. She hadn't known she was on leave for a month.

"You're a real special case around here," Rosalie continued. "Besides Yesenia,

you're the only new hire I've ever seen get a month off right after starting."

Just then, Selah walked over with a file and tapped on Rosalie's desk.

Rosalie shrank back. "Ms. Madison."

"Get back to work," Selah said curtly, then turned to Latisha, handing her a stack of papers. "Latisha, take a look at the if you have time today

please enter them into the system and send the file to me. Can you do Can you do that?"

Latisha took the documents and nodded. Selah's tone was much kinder than Rosalie's, her polite request making it impossible to since she was her

refuse, especially

boss.

"Thank you, I appreciate it,” Selah said before turning and walking away.

"Mr. Lambert isn't in again today," Rosalie whispered to her coworkers. "You think

he's out having too much fun with Yesenia to remember work?"

"Who knows? He used to bring her with him when he was late. Now that she's not at the company, we have no way of knowing."