Chapter 6.

~ Sienna’s POV ~

The rain is heavy as I start walking, placing one foot in front of the other and just like that I take one step at a time away from that hell of a house.

I have no idea where I was going. All I know is that I just need to keep walking.

The rain soaks my hair and my clothes. My white shirt went see-through just from ten minutes of walking in the rain.

I can feel it sticking to my bra, to my stomach, to every roll and curve I used to hide from Vincent’s disgusted stares. Now even strangers could see everything but there are no strangers because the streets are empty except for a few cars to pass by.

So, It’s just me, my thoughts and the endless storm.

I am holding my heels which I had removed the second I stepped out of the penthouse in one hand and my bag in the other.

I am finally free.

Free.

The word keeps hitting me in the chest, over and over, like a fist.

But free to do what exactly,Sienna?

Free to sleep under a bridge?

Free to watch my little sister get kicked out of school because I can’t pay her tuition?

I stop under a flickering streetlight and let out a laugh. It sounds crazy, even to me.

A car splashes past and sprays me with water.

Just great.

I feel my phone vibrate in my now socked bag.

My hands shake from the cold as I fish it out and wipe it on my wet shirt to get rid of the raindrops so as to see the screen clearly.

Bank alert:

Available Balance: $0.00.

No…No…No..No… This can’t be happening.

That’s the secret stash I built for a bad day. How did Vincent even find the account?

I have been siphoning money for eighteen months. Just tiny transfers, five hundred here, eight hundred there to avoid raising suspicions into an account Vincent didn’t know about.

It was the money I was keeping for 'emergencies.'

And he found it. Of course he found it. He must have sprinted to his office the second he found out about it and drained every penny. Probably laughed while he did it.

My phone screen flashes when another alert from my personal account comes in.

Bank alert: $300.83 left.

That’s all? My whole world in three hundred bucks?

This won’t even pay rent for a day here. Won’t touch Nora’s school bill next month. Won’t fix a thing.

What do I do?

I have no job. No references, Vincent will surely poison that well. No cash. No friends. He made sure of that.

Nobody except Nora, who is far away at school, thinking that life is fine while her big sis turns into a street bum.

These thoughts run through my mind as hands shake while I continue scrolling down.

Savings: $0.00

Credit Cards: CANCELED

Final Paycheck: $0.00 – Forfeiture per company policy (Termination for Cause).

He even took my last paycheck. The one I earned sitting and working my ass off for hours while fetching his coffee and cleaning up his mess.

I laugh again. So loud even a couple heading wherever it is they are going to stop to look at me before turning and walking away again.

I put the phone back into my bag before I give in to the urge to smash it and continue walking.

My stomach growls so hard it hurts. When did I eat last?

This morning?

No–yesterday. I didn’t even have time to eat anything all day because of all the things I had to take care of for the hotel launch.

My eyes sting that I have to blink multiple times more than necessary.

Everything keeps spinning. The streetlights are starting to double in my eyes.

What is wrong with me? Why am I feeling so dizzy and nauseous?

I keep walking.

I can’t even cry anymore. I have run out of tears now.

I think about Nora.

If I don’t send the next payment, they’ll call her to the office. They’ll tell her she has to leave. She’ll call me and I won’t answer because I’ll be sleeping under a bridge with no phone battery and no hope.

My sister is going to lose a chance at her future because of my poor choices.

The thought hits harder than any punch Vincent ever landed that my knees buckle. I grab a pole to stay upright. The metal is freezing. My palm sticks to it for a second before I pull away and force myself forward again.

I pass a twenty-four-hour pharmacy. The lights inside are warm and yellow. I stop and stare through the window like a ghost. There’s a mother buying diapers, a teenager grabbing energy drinks, and a security guard watching me suspiciously.

I have $300.83.

I could buy a sandwich. A bottle of water. Maybe some dry socks.

But then what? That money has to last until… until when? Until I find a job with no references, no address, no phone that isn’t about to die?

I turn away from the window.

Keep walking, Sienna. Just keep walking.

The rain is heavier now, sheets of it, like the sky is trying to wash me off the face of the earth.

I feel very dizzy and nauseous like I’m about to puke. The world keeps tilting left, then right. My heart beats too fast, then too slow.

I haven’t eaten in almost twenty four hours. My blood sugar must be in the toilet.

I reach a crosswalk. The traffic lights are just blurry lights in my eyes.

Is it green? I think it’s green. I force my head to turn left, then right.

My vision is blurry as thick sheets of rain block my view, turning the street into a gray, watery smear. It looks empty. I don’t see any cars, and the city feels quiet except for the steady drumming of the storm.

I step off the curb.

And that’s when it happens.

All I hear is a roar of an engine tearing through the sound of the rain, followed by a deafening honk.

The sound is so loud that it shatters the silence.

I turn my head, and through the rain and the fuzz, I see it.

Headlights. Bright and blinding, barreling straight toward me.

Time slows down.

I see the car. I see the brake lights flare red as he tries to stop, but it’s too late, the road is too slick, and he’s going too fast.

And everything happens so fast.

The bumper of the car hitting my side. The same side that had hit the table earlier. There is a split second where everything is weightless and then my body is flying or falling. I can’t tell which.

All I can tell is my body hitting the road and the pain is so sharp and sudden that it steals the breath from my lungs.

I taste my blood in my mouth and I think I hear voices or maybe it’s just me.

This is it.

This is how I die.

After everything, after three years of Vincent’s fists and his words and his cruelty, after surviving when I wanted nothing more than to disappear, this is how it ends.

My breaths come in gasps as I struggle to keep my eyes open.

I hear the sound of someone running toward me.

And then I hear voices.

I feel hands–big, warm hands, grabbing me, turning me and cradling my head.

"Hey,– hey! Can you hear me? stay with me!"

That voice.

The voice sounds so familiar.

Where do I know this voice from?

"Open your eyes, Sienna"

I try. I really do. But my eyelids are so heavy, and the world keeps spinning, and I just want to sleep.

"Don’t you dare pass out on me. Come on. Stay awake."

I force my eyes open, just a crack. The rain is still pouring, and everything is blurry, but I see him.

A man. Kneeling over me. His face is shadowed, obscured by the rain and my failing vision, but I can make out the sharp line of his jaw, the dark hair plastered to his forehead.

I try to speak, to ask who he is, but all that comes out is a weak, choked sound.

His hands tighten around me, pulling me closer, and I feel the warmth of his chest against my cheek.

"I’ve got you," he murmurs, and there’s something in his voice—something soft and broken—that makes my chest ache. "I’ve got you. You’re going to be okay."

No, I’m not.

The darkness is creeping in at the edges of my vision, thick and heavy, and I can feel myself slipping.

I’m dying.

The thought should terrify me. But instead, all I feel is tired.

So, so tired.

"Don’t close your eyes..," the man says, his voice, a desperate whisper. "Look at me. Just look at me!"

But I can’t.

My eyes close, and I feel my strength leaving me as I surrender to the darkness.

At least if I die tonight, the last thing I felt was gentle hands