Debbie returned to her room, pacing like a caged
animal. She couldn't believe she had let herself fall into another impossible situation.
Why was it always her? Why did the world seem to
conspire against her happiness? She thought about her mother, worn down by debt and self-doubt, and her father, distant and emotionally unavailable. She thought about Pasco, who had broken her heart without a second thought. And now Felix, who had brought her into his life only to reveal a burden she hadn't asked for.
She collapsed onto the bed, tears streaming down her face. "Why me?" she whispered into the silence. "Why is it always me?"
Memories of her struggles flooded back—the nights she cried herself to sleep, the days she forced a smile while her world crumbled around her. She thought she had grown stronger, but now she felt like that scared, helpless girl all over again.