Chapter 43

Chloe’s POV

I did not know how to escape what I had stepped into.

I only knew that I was alone.

Two weeks passed.

Fourteen days of silence.

Drake did not come.

He did not call.

He did not send a message.

At first, I counted the days. Then I stopped. Time lost its meaning inside that house. Morning blended into night. I woke up tired and went to sleep exhausted. The silence pressed on my chest until breathing felt like work.

My body began to fail me.

It started with nausea. A sour taste in my mouth that would not go away. I ran to the bathroom one morning and threw up until my throat burned. I thought it would pass. It did not.

I could not keep food down. Even water made my stomach twist. Mrs. Grace watched me closely, her face filled with worry.

“You need a doctor,” she said.

“I do not want one,” I replied weakly.

“You are getting thinner,” she insisted.

“I just need rest,” I said.