I gasped and grabbed the nightstand before I fell.
The gaming room door flew open.
“Can you stop acting like a baby?” Adam snapped. “It’s just a broken leg.”
I froze.
This was the man I was supposed to marry in eight weeks.
The man who had promised everyone he would take care of me.
“I needed my medication,” I whispered.
“Then take it.”
He pointed vaguely toward the dresser, then walked back into the gaming room.
The laughter started again before I had even managed to climb back into bed.
I did not sleep that night.
I lay in the dark listening to a stranger play games down the hall.
And something inside me went very quiet.
The next morning, my mother let herself in with the spare key.
She had pastries in one hand and her car keys in the other.
She found me sitting on the edge of the bed, still in yesterday’s clothes. My hair was matted. My eyes were swollen. An empty water bottle lay on the floor beside me.
Her gaze moved around the room.
The untouched plate on the dresser.
The medication bottle lying on its side.
The overflowing trash full of empty bottles.
For several seconds, she said nothing.
Then she looked at me, and I saw the worry in her face turn into anger.
“Oh, sweetheart.”
I tried to smile.
“He’s just stressed, Mom.”
She set the pastries down.
“Kate.”
“He doesn’t mean it. He’s overwhelmed. I’ve been asking a lot. Once the cast comes off—”
“Kate. Stop.”
So I stopped.
She sat beside me and took my hand.
“Tell me everything.”
At first, I hesitated.
Then she gave me the same stern look she used when I was a child and she already knew I was hiding something.
So I told her.
The sighs.
The eye rolls.
The warm half-filled water.
The plate left on the counter with instructions to “just hop over.”
The medication.
The laughter.
The locked door.
The way he looked at me like I was a burden.
Mom listened without interrupting.
By the time I finished, her face had gone pale.
Then her expression changed.
The softness disappeared.
Determination took its place.
“Listen to me, darling,” she said quietly. “I’ve never been able to explain it, but something about Adam has bothered me for a while.”
I frowned.
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know. Maybe I thought I was being overprotective. Maybe I told myself I was seeing things that weren’t there.”
Her eyes moved again to the mess around me.
“But after seeing this, I don’t think I was.”
“He’s just stressed,” I whispered.
“Maybe.”
The way she said it told me she did not believe a word.
Then she squeezed my hand.
“You’re coming home with me.”
“What?”
“For a few days. Let me take care of you properly.”
“And then?”
Her mouth tightened.
“Then we find out what’s really going on.”
When I told Adam I was going to stay with Mom for a week, he barely looked up from his headset.
“Yeah,” he said. “That’s probably best.”
He was already reaching for his controller.
His relief hurt more than I expected.
The next afternoon, Mom sat across from me at her kitchen table and picked up her phone.
“Who are you calling?” I asked.
“Priya.”
“My wedding coordinator?”
Mom nodded.
When Priya answered and heard my voice, she went quiet.
“Kate,” she said softly. “I’ve been sick about this.”
A knot tightened in my stomach.
“What happened?”
