The next morning arrived like the long-delayed climax of a film, sudden and brutal.

My period came. For a moment I simply stared at the proof of it, a strange, electric shock singing through my veins. Relief hit first. sharp, dizzying. I wasn’t pregnant. I was free.

Or at least… I was going to be. Then the realization settled slowly, like a blade sliding between my ribs. If I wasn’t pregnant, Alessandro would have no reason to keep me. No reason to let me stay. The farce would end, and so ...