The Christmas He Lost Her

They went at it until the middle of the night.

By morning, when the door opened, clothes and used condoms were scattered all over the floor.

The sheets were wrinkled, smeared with sticky fluid. My favorite set of bedding.

The maid stood in the doorway, looking at me awkwardly, unsure what to do.

I glanced at the mess, face cold. Not a flicker of emotion.

"Throw it all away."

Chloe fed Leon a glass of milk, the faint red marks on her chest impossible to miss.

"Sorry for messing up your room so much."

I kept tending the potted plants on the balcony and ignored her.

Before, every time Leon brought a side chick home for the night, the disgust would have me throwing up nonstop.

Now that I didn't care anymore...

It was actually a lot easier.

Seeing no reaction from me, Leon spoke, almost like he needed to get a rise out of me. "Where's the pendant I gave you?"

My hand paused while trimming a branch.

Just for a second.

I set the scissors down and brought out a neatly kept box.

Inside sat a pendant engraved with the Fabian family crest.

Leon gave it to me when we first started dating.

"Wynne, this gets passed down to Fabian daughters-in-law."

Back then, I'd been overwhelmed. I treasured it for almost ten years.

Now I placed it straight into Chloe's hands.

"Leon's right. Only this pendant matches your beauty."

The second the words left my mouth, his face darkened. The glass in his hand shattered in his grip.

"Wynne Wronski, what exactly are you playing at?"

I had no answer.

Nothing I did ever seemed to please him.

Once, Leon kept a favorite side piece around for three months. He asked me for one of my moth orchids to give her.

I was so furious I cut every stem to pieces. Made a whole ugly scene.

The girl cried. Leon snapped at me in front of everyone, grinding my dignity into the floor.

"Wynne, do you have to be this petty? It's just a pot of flowers. Why are you fighting her over it?"

Now I was handing over the Fabian family pendant—the thing I'd treasured most.

So what exactly was he still mad about?

My tone stayed calm. "Didn't you want me to give it to Ms. Sutton? Or if you'd rather give her something else, that's fine too."

Leon's eyes narrowed. He forced the words out through clenched teeth. "Fine. Fine. Fine! If you're gonna act like this, then get out of this house and give the title of Mrs. Fabian to Chloe!"

I paused. "Right now?"

"Yes. Right now." He sneered. "What, can't stand to leave?"

I didn't answer. Just lowered my head and packed.

Five years in this house, and everything I owned fit in one twenty-inch suitcase.

Leon's face kept getting darker.

Right as I reached the door, he stopped me.

One finger hooked my coat. "This coat—I bought it. Now I think it suits Chloe better."

I glanced at the snowstorm outside, then back at Leon.

No hesitation. I unbuttoned the coat and draped it over Chloe's shoulders.

Then I met Leon's annoyed stare and said flatly, "What else do you want? I can give her anything."

His jaw tightened. Then he shoved me straight out the door.

"Wynne Wronski, you're really something!"

Bang.

The door slammed behind me.

I flew back several feet. My knees hit the ground and split open, blood soaking through, but my suitcase stayed in his hand.

The freezing wind hit like a blade. Even my bones felt cold.

I forced myself up and limped back to the door, pounding on it.

"Leon! My suitcase! Give it back!"

My clothes, money, phone—every document I had was inside.

Nothing.

No answer.

***

The snow-covered street was dead quiet.

I had on nothing but thin inner layers. My hands and feet turned red, then numb, the cold biting deeper by the second.

If this kept up, I'd freeze to death.

I gritted my teeth and pushed toward a nearby mall.

The security guard took one look at me and blocked the door. I begged. Tried to explain.

He looked sorry, but his voice stayed firm. "It's not that we want to make things hard. It's Mr. Fabian's order..."

I stared out at the massive city of Nowevik.

Not one place for me to stay.

Leon... how could you be this cruel?

My feet were already numb, but I kept moving.

If I stopped, I'd freeze.

Nowevik was brutally cold.

The only warmth left in me was my tears.

Eventually, I found space under a bridge.

Cardboard boxes. Old blankets. Rock-hard scraps of food.

And a frozen homeless man.

The wind cut through everything. Shaking with fear, I hid in the far corner.

When I was thirsty, I ate snow. When I was hungry, I slept.

The frostbite sores flared up. The pain had me crying every day.

Whenever I heard footsteps, I dragged the stiff body in front of me like a shield.

That was how I spent two days.

Next to a corpse.

My hair was a total mess, knotted everywhere. My clothes were filthy. I looked like I'd been living on the street for years.

On Christmas Eve, I finally dragged myself out to beg for food.

The giant screen outside the mall was blasting headlines about Leon and Chloe.

Apparently, to welcome Chloe to the family estate, Leon had dropped a ridiculous amount of money lighting up the entire city.

Everything would go off at midnight.

Under the screen, a kind shop owner handed me a bread roll. I scarfed it down, thanking him again and again.

Didn't matter that I stayed tucked in a corner. Security still came over and chased me off.

Night fell.

My whole body shook as the last bit of warmth drained out of me.

Three. Two. One.

Fireworks burst across the entire sky, bright enough to turn night into day.

Right before everything went black, a car rolled to a stop in front of me.