PIPER
I've been swaying side to side with Benjamin for what feels like hours.
Maybe it has been. I'm not sure. I've lost track of time.
Since Timofey left me in the dining room, my mind has been too full to keep track of something as trivial as the passing of the seconds.
Except now, my good arm is sore from cradling a squirming baby and exhaustion burns the backs of my eyes.
Benjamin woke up only a few minutes after Timofey and I parted ways, and he hasn't been happy since. I changed him, fed him, burped him. I did everything I was supposed to do, but he's been somewhere between a whine and a cry for ages, and I'm at the end of my rope.
I would ask Timofey for help, but…
I shake my head, dismissing the thought before I can even consider it. The less I see him, the better.
I'll ruin you.
Financially? Physically? What did he mean?
Probably both, I decide. God knows Timofey has that kind of power. It wouldn't take much, anyway. I don't have much of a life left to ruin.
