Chapter 73

• Alexandra
• Moving towards Layla, I bend down and reach for her hands in mine. Underneath her cheerful face and her contagious laugh that manages to steal the spotlight in any room lies an endless hole of darkness. Her and I are more alike that I had thought, both fighting to make it through to another day while trying not to suffocate over the pain that someone else imposed over us.
• “You survived,” I tell her, “and that’s something he’ll never be able to take from you.”