Chapter 3

I open the door. My face is red with shame and anger as I see my boyfriend and a strange woman completely naked in my bed. They're all over each other, like feral animals.

At the sound of the door, my boyfriend James jumps back from his new lover. "Hailey? Shit—um, it's not what it looks like."

At least the woman makes no effort to pretend I'm brain-dead.

James quickly shoves on a pair of pants. They're stained from sex, but James must not notice. He's still repeating my name.

"Hailey, I can explain. Don't get mad—"

"What the fuck, James?" I ask. "I think it's pretty clear to anyone with eyes that I have every right to get mad right now."

The woman on the bed laughs. James and I immediately look back at her. Only once she fully has our attention does she get up.

Without any shame at her nakedness or the situation, she walks up to me. Her confidence is otherworldly. It reminds me of someone else with unlimited confidence I met today.

In fact, her aura reminds me of Don Federico for some other reason, too. Maybe her piercing eyes? The way she's easily commanding the room's full attention?

"So you're Hailey," she says. Her voice sounds like a soft bird's song. "You may call me Alessia."

She holds out her hand daintily, as if expecting me to kiss it. I don't.

That doesn't bother Alessia at all. Before I can blink, she starts poking at my outfit.

"You've already met my pet, James," Alessia continues, deciding now to poke my cheeks. "You're much more adorable than he said. Is she your pet, James?"

Thoroughly confused, I turn back to James. "You said you could explain," I hiss, "so start explaining."

Alessia's lack of shame must be rubbing off on James. Now that she's closer, any sign of guilt is gone from his face.

"Alessia and I are a couple," he explains, taking one of Alessia's hands off me. He lays it so gently, so passionately against his own cheek that I can't breathe. I don't know if I want to cry or throw-up.

"We've been dating since before I went to college," James continues. "But we have an open relationship."

"I don't mind sharing pets," Alessia interjects. "Since I had a date with James tonight, and I wanted to meet you, Hailey, I decided to come over."

Alessia leans in closer to James, but she never takes her eyes off me. She draws circles around James' chest before playing with his bare nipples. She holds my gaze, as if silently offering to touch me instead.

James moans slightly, stirring me from my thoughts. I look back at my boyfriend.

"You never told me you had a girlfriend," I say as calmly as I can.

"You would never have agreed to date me if I did," James replies. "But there's no harm being done, Hailey."

"Bullshit," I bite back. "You made me the other woman in my own relationship, James. There's no excuse for any of this."

His face falls. I feel no pity. This man has been lying to me for years.

"You're right—I never would've dated you if I knew any of this. So this won't be a surprise either, James," I say harshly. "We're done."

"Hailey—"

"Take your real girlfriend and never come back," I continue. "From this moment on, we have no relationship with each other."

Alessia had slipped into a sexy black lace dress while James and I argued. Now she suddenly snaps her fingers, and James moves away from me to tie the ribbons on the back of her dress. I look away.

Alessia laughs. "Come, pet. The night is young—and I have wicked plans for us."

She leaves, still giggling like a witch. James, however, risks lingering at the doorway.

"Think about it, Hailey," he says softly. "I've enjoyed being together—I know you've enjoyed it, too. You're so busy all the time anyways—what's the problem if I spend the time you're not here with someone else?"

I march out of the bedroom and to the front door—which Alessia must have generously left wide open when she left. James follows after me, clearly confused.

I turn around and push James out of my apartment. I slam the door. "Get fucking lost, James!" I scream.

After a moment, the footsteps outside my apartment slowly get further and further away.

I fall to the floor. I'm exhausted. Today was already terrifying, and now this happens?

Unbidden, tears start to form. Hot and angry, they flow from my eyes like a stupid, pathetic river. But then I start to sob, and instead of feeling frustrated or mad, I only feel heartbroken.

James was my first love. Sure, he wasn't perfect, but I never thought he could betray me like this. I thought we were going to get married some day and have a normal, loving life—the sort of lives everyone wishes for.

I thought James was my own safety net. I thought he was a way to escape the mafia's control on my life through my job and my mother’s old debts. I thought we'd finally find stability and safety together.

But he has been lying and breaking my trust from the start.

No matter how hard life hits me, I still have to work—people like me don’t get to take breaks just because we’re feeling down.

But things always seem to get worse. The next morning, as I start to get ready for work, my cell phone rings—it’s from my manager.

"You're fired," he says. "There's a report you got naked in front of the guests last night."

"What? No—sir, we have cameras everywhere," I protest. "You can check them and prove that's a lie—"

"It came from a very reliable witness," the manager says firmly. "So you're being fired, Hailey. End of story."

He hangs up. Before I can even process what happened, my cell phone rings again.

It's James. I almost don't answer it.

But I do answer it.

"Hailey," James greets me cheerfully. Too cheerfully.

"What did you do?"

"Nothing, baby," he says. "Just wanted to see if you had changed your mind about us. I know we talked about moving in together soon—:"

"You got me fired," I state, shocked. "Just so I would have to take you back?"

"I'm not forcing you to do anything, Hailey," he replies. "I just wanted to call and say hi—and remind you about your debts. Isn't your mom's collector due to visit soon?"

"Fuck off. I can find another job—and another boyfriend who's not going to trap me in a messy, unfaithful relationship built on lies!"

I hang up and toss my phone. I need to start looking at jobs, but I should wait for my anger to let up first.

But no one wants to hire me.

I fill out dozens and dozens of applications, but it’s no use. It feels like I'm about to get buried alive under all these rejected forms.

I take a break. I go outside. But the sky itself seems to hate me—clouds darken a previously beautiful sky, threatening to storm any minute.

Strangers cross the street when they see me. I feel nervous and start to run to the shopping district. But as I approach each building, their lights turn off one by one—like they only want to keep me out.

It seems like the darkness itself is going to swallow me whole—

I wake up with a start. I must have fallen asleep while filling out an online job application.

As I slowly start to come to, it looks like Don Federico is standing at the foot of my bed. Stranger still, his perfectly sculpted jaw silent mouths out the words "three days."