Sonny Corinthos didn’t pull his hand back, merely left it hanging and when he didn’t answer, Sam slid her hand into his and allowed him to pull her to her feet. “What are you doing here?” she asked.

“Mike called,” Sonny replied. “Mentioned you might need a ride somewhere.” He scratched his chin. “I hear you got yourself into a spot of trouble.”

Sam chuckled bitterly. “Don’t be nice to me. You don’t mean it. I blew up my life and now you’re here to pick up the pieces.” She narrowed her eyes. “Why, exactly, are you going to the trouble?”

“Because of our daughter,” Sonny said bluntly. “I will watch out for you, I will worry about you for the sake of our daughter. But don’t for one second think that I’m taking your side in this. Jason didn’t deserve this, Sam.”

“We don’t deserve a lot of things that happen to us,” Sam said caustically. “Doesn’t stop them from happening all the same.” She stepped away from him. “I don’t need you. I don’t need Jason, I don’t need anyone to fix this.”

“That’s usually what Carly says right before she makes things worse,” Sonny warned.

“I’m not Carly,” Sam retorted. “I’m not your selfish and insane ex-wife, I’m not your perfect saintly sister, I’m not pretty porcelain Emily and I’m sure as hell not damsel in distress Elizabeth. I’m me.” She flattened her hand against her chest. “I’m wrong side of the tracks, white trash, con artist Sam. And I’m so sick and tired of pretending to be otherwise. So, yeah, I blew up my life, but maybe my life was just a fucking wasteland, Sonny.”

“You and Jason loved each other–”

“Jason loved the person I was trying to be,” Sam interrupted. “And I don’t like that person. That person had no life. Had no ambition, no life separate from Jason. And it was fine for the first year because it was nice to feel loved and wanted but I woke up one day and I realized that I didn’t know who that was in the mirror. My life revolves around Jason, and that makes me sick. And he didn’t even realize that I wasn’t real. So what the hell was this grand love all about?”

“Sam–”

“And as for your saintly pity and concern,” Sam spat, “you can shove it because I don’t need you feeling sorry for me for the sake of a daughter you couldn’t give a shit about. You didn’t even bother to name her before you shoved her into the ground. You told the doctors not to bother.” She shoved him. “So get the hell out of my life and stay out. From now on, I’m on my own.”

“I don’t believe for that one for one second,” Patrick shook his head.

“Oh, it’s so true. I was thisclose to being the Face of Deception,” Elizabeth said earnestly. “But I decided I didn’t want to be a model and finally Lucky accepted the decision so Gia was chosen.” She wrinkled her nose. “Is it so hard to believe I could be a model?”

“That’s not a trap or anything,” he replied. “I remember when Brenda Barrett was the Face,” he said, fondly. “I had her picture in my locker for nearly a year in high school.”

Elizabeth snorted. “Don’t tell Robin that, that’s her best friend.”

Patrick straightened. “Are you kidding? Robin’s Brenda is the Brenda Barrett?” his face lit up. “Well, clearly, we’re going to have to go visit her in Italy.”

Elizabeth whacked him in the arm. “Pervert.” She narrowed her eyes. “So, what, I’m not model material?”

“Oh, you are definitely pretty enough to be a model,” Patrick said quickly. “But you don’t have the personality.” He shook his head. “You’re happier having dinner at home with your kid.”

“Hmm…nice save.” Elizabeth studied him for a moment. “Okay, well that was my closest brush with fame. And it’s my turn to ask a question. Were you ever in love before Robin?”

“That’s not sneaky or anything,” Patrick grumbled. “Without admitting anything, no. I was never in love before. You?”

“Before Lucky, no,” Elizabeth shook her head. “But I’ve been in love twice before I married him. Lucky was in a fire and we thought he was dead, so Jason and I became close–”

“What is with all the women in this town and Jason freaking Morgan?” Patrick muttered. “Robin moves heaven and earth to save his life, Carly offers to sleep with me if I’ll perform the surgery, you dated him–”

“Carly will offer to sleep with a dog if she thinks there’s something in it for her,” Elizabeth said dryly. “And Jason is a wonderful person. You just don’t like to share the spotlight. Anyway, Jason and I were close but he left town and Lucky came home. When Jason came back, things were complicated but there was definitely something there. And I don’t think it was until he came home the last time that I realized that I had been in love with him since I was eighteen.” She sighed. “But our timing was never right so that fell apart. And then there was Ric, my first–and my second husband. I loved him but I never knew him, not really.”

“Three great loves,” Patrick remarked. “So much for the theory that there’s one person for all of us.”

“I still believe there is,” Elizabeth said. “I just don’t think I’m ever going to end up with him.” She sighed and tilted her head up to the stars. “Thank you for staying, Patrick. You really got my mind off things.” She paused. “But I think I’m ready to go now.”

“Great.” Patrick got to his feet. “So Brownstone? So I can take you to Robin and Bobbie?”

“No, I think I’d rather be alone,” Elizabeth replied honestly. “Seriously, I appreciate the effort and I will be sure to tell Robin that she’s got a very sweet boyfriend–”

“We’re not really into labels,” Patrick said uncomfortably.

“–but I’m just going to go and see my son at my grandmother’s.”

“Fine,” Patrick nodded. “I’ll walk you there.”

Elizabeth narrowed her eyes. “I can make it on my own.”

“I’ll just walk behind you if want you, but I’m not letting you walk around Port Charles by yourself at this time of night.” He shook his head. “Not going to happen.”

“Listen, if I wanted someone to be in charge of my life, I never would have moved out of my grandmother’s house,” Elizabeth said hotly. “I don’t need to be told where I can go and who I can go with.”

“Miss Webber, thank God!”

Elizabeth and Patrick turned to find Max Giambetti at the top of the stairs. “You would not believe how many places I have looked for you tonight,” he began.

Elizabeth frowned. “And why are you looking for me?” she asked curiously.

“Because Jason sent me to look for you–he’s got a few guys combing the city for you. I’m under orders to bring you back to the penthouse,” Max told her, joining them.

“Well, don’t worry, I’ve got it covered,” Patrick said arrogantly. “You can tell your boss I’m looking after her.”

“You are not,” Elizabeth said, irritated. “Max, I appreciate it–”

“If you’ll just come with me, Miss Webber, you can tell Jason to leave you alone but I got my orders–”

“I don’t give a damn about your orders,” Patrick stepped in front of Elizabeth. “I’ve got it under control and I’ll make sure she gets home safely–”

“And you were too sissy to do anything but throw a pool ball in bar fight,” Max remarked sardonically. “How you gonna protect Miss Webber if you’re not willing to get your hands dirty?”

“Hey, I was not injuring my hands over Emily Quartermaine,” Patrick retorted. “These hands are worth more than eight of you–”

“Exactly my point. You can see why I’m not leaving Miss Webber with a pansy ass neurosurgeon,” Max returned. “Now if you’ll just come with me–” he glanced around. “Miss Webber?”

Patrick frowned and turned to where he’d last seen Elizabeth. She was gone. “Elizabeth?” he called.

“Great, you lost her,” Max said disgustedly. “I just spent four hours looking for her and now I have to find her again.”

“I lost her?” Patrick repeated, offended. “Hey, buddy, she wasn’t running away from me until you showed up. This is clearly your fault!”

So in Part 5:

Do we get Lucky’s side of the story?

Does Jason find Elizabeth?

Does Patrick get out of the doghouse?

0

Elizabeth blinked at Patrick. The wave of confusion filtering through her brain was the first emotion she’d allowed herself to feel in hours. She tilted her head to the side and pursed her lips. “Why?”

The doctor grinned and stepped closer. “You want the ulterior motive or the selfless one?”

She narrowed her eyes. “I’ve had about all I can take of men and their lying tonight so why don’t you give me the ulterior motive?”

Patrick sighed. “Okay, so Robin and Bobbie wanted to check on you. They couldn’t find you, I figured if I could deliver you to Robin, she might not be so damn mad at me.”

Elizabeth folded her arms underneath her breasts and scowled at him. “What’d you do to her? Cheat on her?”

He hesitated. “No. But she thinks I did—look, it’s not important. So let me just take you back to the Brownstone–that’s where they’re waiting. I’ll take you back, you’ll do the girl thing with the ice cream and creating voodoo dolls, and I’ll have myself back in Robin’s good graces. Everybody wins.”

“Maybe if you men kept your pants on, you wouldn’t have to worry about it,” Elizabeth retorted. “Is sex really that important? I mean, is it really worth destroying everything you’ve built? Blowing your life out of the water? Making your children’s lives miserable?”

Uncomfortable, Patrick slid his hands into the pockets of his slacks and rocked back and forth on his feet. Clearly, she wasn’t going to go without a fight. Tracking her down had made a lot more sense an hour ago. “Well, it’s important but I don’t see the point in cheating,” he said after a moment. “Which is why I don’t make commitments so I can avoid hurting people like you’re hurting now.”

“Right,” Elizabeth drawled sarcastically. “It’s so much better for Robin to think you’d rather be with a lot of women and that you enjoy rolling from her bed to another woman’s. That’s so much more compassionate of you.”

“Hey, how did I become the villain here?” he demanded, a little put out. “I came looking for you out of the goodness of my heart–”

“You came looking for me because you wanted to further your own agenda,” Elizabeth shot back. “Don’t delude yourself. You men are all alike–”

“Hey, just because you’re pissed at Lucky–and rightfully so because he’s an ass–it doesn’t mean you get to dump all over me,” Patrick interrupted. “Ulterior motive be damned, I don’t see anyone else standing here.”

Suddenly tired, Elizabeth slumped on a park bench. “That’s because there is no one else. Nikolas is Lucky’s brother, Emily was Lucky’s best friend long before she was mine and I bet anyone else gave up the search a long time ago.” She shook her head. “Thank you for the attempt, as lame as it is.”

Still a little chagrined, Patrick jerked a shoulder. “Whatever. And for the record, it’s not my fault Carly decided to list all her past deeds in an effort to make Sam look even worse. And there was barely any attempt to seduce me so really, I don’t know what Robin’s all put out about.”

“Maybe because Carly almost single handedly destroyed Robin’s life the last time she lived in town.” Elizabeth frowned. “What did Carly do tonight?”

“She laid into Sam, and then Sam tried to turn it around on her. It would have been more amusing if she’d left me out of it.” He held out a hand. “Come on, I’ll take you back to Bobbie’s, so you can curse men around people who’ll appreciate it.”

“I’d rather not be around people right now, if it’s all the same to you.” She hesitated. “However, I will be sure to tell Robin that you very nicely came after me and that she’s lucky to be sleeping with the one jackass in town that’s not completely worthless–”

She stopped talking when Patrick sat down next to her and stretched out his legs, clearly settling in. “Can I help you?”

“Nope, I’m fine. I’m just staving off the hitting that’ll come from both Bobbie and Robin if I left you in the park after dark. So you just sit there with your thoughts, I’ll sit here with mine and then I’ll walk you wherever you want to go.”

Elizabeth stared at him for a long moment before turning her attention back to the fountain. She’d walked all over Port Charles that evening but had found herself back here–a place that she had rarely visited in the nine years since the rape. “Don’t you have a hot date tonight?”

“I would have if Carly hadn’t chased her away,” Patrick scowled. “Though I don’t know how many hot dates start as double dates with one’s father.” He paused thoughtfully. “I blame Robin for this you know.”

“For what?”

“A year ago, I could have ignored the entire situation, even if it had happened to someone I knew. And I’d be out, trying to pick someone up.” Patrick shifted. “Thanks to Robin, I’m sitting in the middle of the park, being verbally abused by someone who has hit me with a chart every time I’ve tried to pick her up. Thanks to her, my dinner dates are at a diner with my father and thanks to her, I’ve haven’t slept with anyone else since December.” He scowled. “So I blame Robin for this.”

“Yes, feel free to blame Robin for teaching you about compassion, kindness and the value of being selective with one’s partners. Oh and for giving you back your father. Clearly, she’s a menace to society and must be stopped,” Elizabeth said dryly.

“You’re not kidding,” Patrick grumbled.

There was a long silence before she spoke again. “Thank you,” she said softly. “For not walking away. People usually find it easy to walk away from me. Or to let me go. So thank you.”

Highly uncomfortable now, Patrick shrugged. “I’m only doing this to get Robin to not be irritated with me. It has nothing to do with you.”

Not convinced, Elizabeth smiled faintly. “Of course not. You just go out of your way for all of Robin’s friends. It’s nice that she’s important to you.”

“That’s not–I never–” he glared at her. “You’re a pain.”

She patted his arm. “Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me.”

She’d been crying for hours, or maybe it had been minutes. It was all bleeding together into one long miserable nightmare. She had sabotaged the best thing that had ever happened to her for an affair with someone who had run after his wife. Lucky didn’t love her–Sam didn’t delude herself about that, and if Jason had ever felt anything other obligation for her (she was not convinced he’d ever really loved her but she didn’t really know what love felt like so maybe he had) it was gone now, replaced with disgust and hatred.

But Jason could never hate her as much as Sam hated herself.

A hand appeared in front of her face and Sam looked up, blinking through her tears. “What do you want?” she demanded.

0

Samantha McCall knew panic. She knew what it was to taste it, to feel it in her bones, for it to choke at her throat and black out everything in sight. She knew panic, she knew desperation–she had been here before.

But it was keener this time, its edge sharper and dug more deeply into her flesh. She grabbed at the sides of his leather jacket, desperate to keep him from leaving her, from turning his back and walking away but at the same time, knowing it was inevitable.

“I can explain,” Sam assured him. “There’s an explanation and it’s a good one, you just–you–”

Jason Morgan reached up and pried her fingers from his jacket. He released the slender digits as though the very touch offended him, as if he’d touched scalding water. “I don’t have to do anything,” he said coldly. His stony gaze flickered around the dining room–to the eyes of those who pretended they weren’t watching, weren’t hanging on every single word. He looked to the sympathetic eyes of his best friend and the confused eyes of her son.

He never met Sam’s eyes.

“Don’t be at the penthouse after tonight,” Jason said. “I don’t care where you go, but I want you out.”

“Jason–” Sam reached for him but he was already slipping away from her. Stepping back, stepping towards the double doors of the diner. Walking away from her, from their future and their life together. He was walking away, turning his back and he’d never turn to her again unless she stopped him. “Jason, please–”

“You make me sick,” Carly Corinthos muttered. She stepped forward and grabbed Sam’s arm to keep her from running after him. “You’ve wrecked one marriage tonight and broke Jason’s heart. Aren’t you finished yet?”

Sam yanked her arm from Carly’s grasp. “You have room to speak,” she spat. “How many marriages have you destroyed? How many lives lay in your wake, how many hearts have you smashed?” She waved her arms at those standing around them. “How many of those people are in this room?”

Carly smirked. “Michael, go in the back with your grandfather.”

“But, Mom–”

“Now!” Carly ordered. After Michael had huffed and stalked into the back room, Carly put a hand on her hip and pointed to a table in the back of the room where her mother was sitting with Noah Drake, his son and Robin Scorpio “I think there’s only two here tonight. There’s my mother–whose husband I seduced and there’s Robin. I seduced her boyfriend, ran her out of town and then tried to seduce her newboy toy.”

She paused and thought for a moment. “Jason–he just left–but I destroyed his life more than once. Sonny’s not here but I turned him into the Feds once.” She paused. “Well, twice, but the first time was an accident. We can’t forget AJ–I drugged him and then lied to him for months about the paternity of his son.” Carly arched an eyebrow. “If you were trying to make me feel guilty or ashamed, Sam, it didn’t work. You know why?”

She didn’t wait for an answer, only took another step closer to the brunette. “Because I have never tried to pretend that I am anything less than I who I am. I’m not the con artist who came to town, got pregnant and then decided I was the Virgin Freaking Mary. You’ve pretended that your shit doesn’t stink since the second you latched on to Jason but we both know who you are and where you come from.”

Carly leaned closer and put her lips next to Sam’s ear. “We’re the same, you and I. But you know what sets us apart? I accept myself. I know who I am and I don’t care. You’re ashamed to be in your own skin and you’re just going to keep destroying your life until you learn to accept that you came from trash and part of you will always be trash.”

She stepped back and yanked her coat from the back of the chair. “You know, Jason’s going to need comfort, someone who understands him and has never let him down.”

“And I suppose that’s you,” Sam said caustically.

“No.” Carly tilted her head to the side, her hair cascading over one shoulder. An unholy glimmer of amusement slid into her eyes. “But you know, Elizabeth and Jason have been friends for a very long time. And right now, she’s probably feeling as shell shocked and heartbroken as he is. It wouldn’t surprise me if the lovely Mrs. Spencer found him on her doorstep.” Her smile widened then. “You know, just to check on her.”

“You don’t even like Elizabeth,” Sam retorted.

“No, but I like her a hell of lot more than you right now.” With taking her eyes from Sam, Carly raised her voice. “Michael, we’re going.”

Michael, whom Mike hadn’t been able to keep from eavesdropping ran out from the back and looked at his mother questioning. “Mom, what’s seduced mean?”

“Adult word, I’ll tell you when you’re older.” Carly gripped his shoulder and led him from the diner.

Sam stood alone in the middle of the diner for another long moment, feeling the stares of all those present. Humiliation began to sink in. Her face flushed and her hands shook. But Sam did not run, she didn’t flee. She turned on her heel and stalked out of the diner, keeping her composure until she was out of the courtyard and in the parking lot. And then she sank to her knees and began to cry.

Inside, Jesse Beaudry sat back in his chair and grinned at his girlfriend. “Man, I love living here. That kind of stuff happens every week.” She scowled at him and kicked him under the table.

“That’s your partner that just cheated on his wife that that hussy,” Maxie Jones huffed. “You should go after him and kick his ass, aren’t you supposed to be his friend?”

“I don’t really think Lucky wants to see anyone right now–” Jesse began but the glare from her silenced him. “Okay, okay, I’m going.”

Robin tossed her napkin on the table and turned a fulminating glare at the man seated next to her. “Carly tried to seduce you, huh?” she demanded. “When?”

“I don’t think that’s really all that important,” Patrick Drake began carefully. “What’s important is that you should, ah–” he looked to his father for help but Noah just held up his hands as if to say you’re on your own, son. “I bet Liz could use an ear right now,” he said in a lame attempt to deflect attention from him.

“I’ll go check on her,” Bobbie practically leapt from her seat in an attempt to escape the situation. Robin glared again at Patrick before grabbing her purse and getting to her feet.

“This isn’t over,” she warned him before following the redhead out of the diner. Patrick slumped his chair and glared at his father.

“Thank you so much for all the help, you lousy bastard.”

Jason waited by her apartment door for nearly an hour before realizing that Elizabeth didn’t intend on returning. He put the word out on the streets that he was looking for her and even pried Max away from Sonny and ordered him to find her.

To concentrate on Elizabeth and her well-being focused him, kept him from remembering the slicing pain that had ripped through him when Elizabeth had barreled past his table, followed by her half-dressed husband and Sam, buttoning her shirt rapidly.

He hadn’t needed a second look, hadn’t needed to consider that the scene was anything but what it was. He’d let himself feel it, and then he’d shut down. It was easier to worry about Elizabeth, she was the one who had walked in, had found them, had had the betrayal shoved in her face.

It had happened this way once before for her, four years ago. She walked into a room–he wondered briefly it was the same room–to find Lucky with someone else. She’d fled the scene, had found him and he’d been there for her.

He wanted to be there for her again and maybe she’d be able to tell him how you lived with that image in your brain. Because somehow, this was worse than Sonny and Carly. He knew now that he hadn’t loved Carly, not really. But he’d loved Sam. Planned a life with her.

He wondered if Elizabeth could tell him how to forgive the unforgivable.

She’d walked the street of Port Charles for hours–Elizabeth had had every intention on going home and packing before picking Cameron up at Emily’s and then going to her grandmother’s. But every time she tried to turn her feet in that direction, they’d disobeyed and gone the opposite way.

She wasn’t yet ready to go home.

Footsteps bled out from the darkness behind her and Elizabeth whirled around, planting herself against the side of the business, still edgy from being at the fountain. “Who’s there?” she demanded shrilly.

A familiar figure came into view. “I’ve been looking for you everywhere,” he said.

0

So, I guess in 2006 I decided to go with a recent trend and start a story where I would write a part, offer two choices on how the next part could go, people would comment, and I’d write the next part with that input. For whatever reason, I stopped after Part Four.

I’m cleaning out my writing folders, making sure that everything that needs to be on my site is there, and I found this. I actually don’t hate it, so I thought I’d post the first four parts and see if I can make this happen again.

So at the end of Part 4, I’ll offer a series of questions. You guys answer them, offer some suggestions. I’ll write the one that seems the most fun 😛 Make it difficult for me, people. I get bored easily.

So, this is set in 2006. Sam wasn’t shot, Lucky’s not on drugs. Jesse’s not dead, so Maxie is less skanky.

Part One

There is a theory that in every life, there is a turning point. That one decision puts your life on entirely different path than it would have been if you’d made another choice.

There is not one person in the history of the world that has not looked at their life and felt that if they had just done that one thing differently, everything that came after that would be all right.

For Elizabeth Webber Spencer, that moment felt as though it had come a thousand times. The night she decided to hop on a plane and fly to Port Charles. The night she walked through a park instead of going to a school dance. The night her first love died in a fire. The morning she walked through the snow and found her friend bleeding to death. The day she decided not to marry her first love. The day she found out she was pregnant for the first time. The moment she found out she had lost her child. The moment she held her son. The moment she looked into her first love’s eyes and saw a future once again.

All were defining moments in her life but none of those was the quintessential turning moment. Her turning moment–one that would abruptly separate her life into a before and after was the moment she opened a door.

It was a door that she had passed through a thousand times in her nine years of living in Port Charles, in the six years that she had worked in Kelly’s and in the two that she had lived here. It was a door that matched the other four on the floor above the diner. It was a door that led to a room that she had once slept in, lived in and shared moments with her now-husband in.

She opened the door and everything she knew to be true was found false in that moment as she relived a nightmare that she thought was four years in her past.

She opened the door and would have thought she’d stepped back in time except the woman clutching a sheet to her bare breasts was a brunette and not blonde. The woman with the wide eyes and startled gasp was not her sister, but the fiancée of her best friend’s brother.

And the man in the bed with the guilty eyes was not her sort-of boyfriend who no longer remembered their love. The man with the apologies spilling from his lips was not the sweet first love of her youth, but the husband that she had stood before God, family, and friends and pledged her eternal devotion.

Elizabeth Webber Spencer would always remember that before she opened the door, she had the perfect life of a wife, mother and nurse and that afterwards, she was still all of those things but the perfection had been shattered and she wondered if it had ever existed at all.

“I’m so sorry,” Elizabeth murmured. She stepped back and calmly shut the door before hurrying down the hallway. She could hear shouts and some thuds from the room but still she fled.

Her steps quickened as she heard the door open and he called out her name. She clattered down the steps and flew into the kitchen, her breathing as fast as her pace. The further away from that room, the more her breathing hitched, the more the tears burned behind her eyes.

In the dining room of Kelly’s, a crowd of people that she knew were seated. They were gathered at different tables, there for different purposes, but all she could focus on was that they were present at the scene of her humiliation. She hesitated in the doorway and thought that she might escape from the back door when she heard his footsteps on the steps.

She rushed through the dining room and heard no less than five people call after her but she ignored them and broke into a run when the door to the diner swung shut.

She ran so hard and so fast that her heart was pounding in her chest and she thought for sure any moment it would burst and she almost wanted that because then this would be over and she wouldn’t feel like this anymore.

When she couldn’t run anymore, when her legs simply gave out and she collapsed, she gave into the grief that had choked at her since the moment she opened the door to Lucky’s old room above Kelly’s.

Her head buried in her hands, her sobs ripping from her throat as though she’d surely die if they did not escape, she did not even register the scene of her breakdown until she heard the water rushing into the fountain behind her and it was only then she took in the concrete benches surrounding the fountain at the Port Charles Park.

It was a sick joke that her life would end here, that it would end again the way it had ended so brutally eight years ago.

A voice broke through her misery and Elizabeth reluctantly raised her eyes to the compassionate ones of an old friend. “Go away,” she muttered. She swiped at her eyes and ignored the hurt look in Nikolas Cassadine’s dark gaze. “I d-don’t want anyone to see me.”

“Liz…” Nikolas knelt down and held out a handkerchief to her. “I don’t have to ask what’s wrong, I already know.”

Her head snapped up, her eyes met his and the horror of what he admitted seared her soul. “You–You knew?” she demanded, brokenly. She sat back on her heels and stared at him. “You k-knew and you l-let me go on l-looking like a fool?”

“No, no–” Nikolas held up his hands. “Lucky came down after you and not far behind–well, it was an unfortunate moment for them to choose to…because Jason was there with Carly and Michael, too. It was pretty clear what happened since neither of them was fully dressed.”

“Oh, God…” Elizabeth’s hands started to shake. “I d-don’t u-understand, N-Nikolas. What’s going on? Why?” She shook her head and dragged herself to her feet. She wanted to snap at him when he put an arm around her waist to steady at her but she needed the support too much to complain. “We were happy, weren’t we?”

“I thought so,” Nikolas murmured. He gently led her to a bench and helped her sit down. “Elizabeth, I wish I knew what to say, what to do.”

“There’s nothing.” She swallowed hard, ignoring the bile in her throat. She took a deep breath, and forced her insides to freeze. The only way she could survive this experience was to be numb. When she felt like she could speak again, when she could function again, she looked at him. “There’s nothing you can do. I have to go to the apartment, I have to pack some things and go to my grandmother’s.”

She felt his body tense but she gave him some credit, his expression remained neutral–remained concerned. “Are you sure you want to do that?”

“The only thing in my life that I am absolutely sure about is that I just found my husband in bed with Samantha McCall,” Elizabeth said. “And I’m not sure you’re the right person to give me advice since you left Emily for a married woman.” She pushed herself to her feet and felt a calm settle over her.

There was no going back, there was no changing what she had seen. The only thing she could do was move forward, to make a decision and to figure out the next step.

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