All Chapters of Falling Away from You: Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

Lily Marshall read the message I'd sent and let out a short, scornful laugh."Clever of you this time. No more hysterics, no more smashing things. Playing hard to get instead?" Her tone sharpened. "My father spent years trying every trick to run you off and never managed it. Now that you've finally settled into being the son-in-law of a wealthy family, you're willing to give it up? I don't believe you."My chest ached, a dull, sour pain.Never managed to run me off? What did that even mean?Back when Lily wanted to marry me, she'd knelt at the front gates of her family home for a full day and night, taking the beating the family elders demanded rather than give me up. Her back had been whipped raw, and still she wouldn't let go.I'd begged her, eyes red, to forget it, to spare herself. But she'd clung to me, blood soaking through her clothes, trembling as she said, "Neil, I'll die without you."Vows are always beautiful. Pity that the one who hears them takes them to heart, w

That evening, Lily came home. A faint soapy smell clung to her, the same scent that always lingered on Josh."Neil, you shouldn't have gone to see Josh on your own. I don't want today happening again. Josh scares easily. Don't go frightening him.""Your father sent me," I said flatly.Lily blinked, and irritation crept into her expression. "He told you to go and you just went? Since when do you listen to him?"I was sitting on the couch, my father's medical chart in my hands. I glanced up at her. "Some things need to be settled, one way or another."She frowned, clearly thrown by how cool I was being toward her. She came over, her eyes landing on the chart in my hands, and her tone softened."How's your dad doing?""About the same."My father had kidney failure. He'd been on dialysis for two years now. Whatever else you could say about Lily, she'd never once been stingy about paying for his treatment.She sighed and sat down beside me, leaning in like she wanted to rest her he

The resuscitation effort lasted two full hours.I sat collapsed on the cold hallway floor, shaking without control. The old, familiar dread of being abandoned by the entire world came crashing back.I thought of my mother, the gambler, of the rainy night she'd walked out on Dad and me, only to die horribly under the wheels of a car. I thought of all those years Dad spent bleeding himself dry to pay off her staggering debts, dragging me through one hard, grinding day after another just to survive.I pressed my hands together and prayed, tears striking the backs of my knuckles.'Please. Don't take Dad from me. I already have nothing left. Don't take him too.'But heaven never listens to the prayers of the unlucky.The doctor came out, shaking his head with genuine regret."I'm sorry. We did everything we could." He hesitated, then added, "His condition had been stable. Something must have caused a severe shock, and it triggered cardiac arrest...""A shock?" My mind went blank f

Raymond was as good as his word. Men cornered Josh in an alley and beat him savagely, snapping the bone in his left arm.The news reached me while I sat on a train, on my way to my father's hometown. They told me Lily had rushed to the hospital like a woman possessed, guarding Josh with that same fierce devotion she'd once shown me, years ago. For weeks, she barely left his bedside, too consumed to even go home. So by the time I had fully vanished, and the dust had settled over our empty house, she never noticed at all.At first, I imagine the freedom felt refreshing to her. Without my constant restraint, without that perpetually wounded face of mine hanging around, the air itself must have tasted sweeter. But little by little, I knew she'd start to miss me. And sure enough, the novelty with Josh began to wear off.During those weeks at his bedside, they ended up in bed together—as these things tend to go. Josh's young body and his skill between the sheets gave her a thrill she'd

Josh looked at her like this, and let out a wild, deranged laugh. "Lily, you had this coming! This is exactly what you get for playing with people's hearts!"You're nothing but a selfish piece of trash. And look at you now: your husband's gone, your body's falling apart, and your father-in-law's dead because of you. You're going to end up alone, for the rest of your life!"Lily's head snapped up. Her bloodshot eyes held nothing but a cold, dead calm.She rose slowly off the floor and walked, step by step, toward Josh, who was still laughing like a madman."What do I get?"She repeated the words softly, the corner of her mouth curling into something that made his blood run cold."If it's payback we're talking about, then let's make sure no one gets to walk away from this."The killing intent in her eyes stopped Josh's laughter cold. He flinched back on instinct. "You... what are you going to do? Murder is a crime!""Kill you?" Lily looked down at him. "That would be letting you