Living Without
Parts 13a and 13b
Casa Santos (Monday, Sept 4th):
Carmen walked into the room after exchanging a few words with a messenger, who had given her a package from Escobar Ramirez. She stopped short when she saw Danny sitting with both his feet resting atop her desk, a silver cased pen twirling between his fingers. There was something bothering him. She could tell by the look on his face. She only prayed it had nothing to do with that Bauer girl.
"Danny," she spoke up as she continued in. "Aren't you supposed to be at SanCorp?" she asked, glancing at her watch.
"I took the day off," he replied without looking up from the pen he was fiddling with.
"This is no time to joke, Danny," Carmen said as she put down the small box she had on the desk before picking up a few papers. She began shifting through the documents when her son's continued pen tumbling caught her attention.
"You're serious??" she asked and Danny raised his eyes at her and then lowered them back to the pen. "Give me that!" she attempted to snatch the object away from him, but he was faster than she and Carmen ended up on her chest on top of the desk.
Danny stood from his position and tried to stifle his amusement as his mother straighten herself up and picked up the things she had knocked to the floor, returning them to the desk.
"What is wrong with you?!" she asked, still checking her clothes. God forbid anything stain it. "You can't have a day off!"
"Why not?" Danny asked, sticking the pen in his pocket as he moved from behind the desk. "What's this?" he questioned, showing Carmen what he now had in his possession.
"What does it look like, Danny?" she asked. "It's a package."
"From who?"
"What does it matter?"
"What's in it?" Danny continued with his questions and raised the box above his head as Carmen reached for it. "Must be very important. Something you don't want me to see, maybe?"
"Don't be ridiculous-"
"Look how nervous you are."
"I am -- I am not nervous. Just give it to me."
"I think I'll open it first," Danny said, bringing the box back down and Carmen immediately took it from him.
"What has gotten into you?" Carmen asked, more relieved than anything that she had gotten that package from her son.
"What has gotten into YOU?" Danny asked back. "What is that?"
"It's nothing you need to worry yourself about," his mother replied. "It's personal. Nothing to do with you," she added, but she knew Danny was skeptical. "What is this day off all about anyway? You've had the whole weekend off!"
"I don't recall having signed any contracts that said I had to work five days a week," Danny said. "If I don't feel like going in, then I won't and today is one of those days that I don't feel like going in."
"Danny," Carmen started and sighed. "What of the Rodriguez deal? Have you closed it?"
"Mario will take care of that-"
"Mario?!"
"Tell Warren to handle it! I don't care! I have other places to be."
"Other places?!" Carmen was about to lose her mind. "What's more important than SanCorp?"
Danny looked his mother dead in the face and gave her one of those snide factious smiles of his. "My life doesn't revolve around that company of yours, Mama," he replied.
"Your life? Company of mine?" Carmen didn't like how he was suddenly alienating himself. No. His post-Michelle Bauer mentality couldn't be returning. "Where were you last night?" she decided to ask.
Danny was quiet as he stared at his mother.
"Well? Aren't you going to answer me?" Carmen asked.
"I don't ever tell you where I go, Mother. So what makes you think I'll start telling you now?" her son asked.
"You left the children here for hours! I have a right to know where you went!"
"You have no right!" Danny snapped back. "It's NONE OF YOUR DAMN BUSINESS!!"
"Nieto! Carmen! What's all the commotion about?" Maria asked as she directed her wheelchair towards them. "Why the harsh words, Daniel?" she asked, grabbing a hold of her grandson's hand.
"He's not going in to SanCorp today he tells me," Carmen remarked calmly while circling to the other side of her desk. "He claims to have other places to be. More important places. He's telling me to tell Ben to close the Rodriguez deal! He knows that a deal that sensitive cannot be handled by anyone else but himself!"
"Then maybe you should handle it!" Danny told her.
"Carmen, could you leave us alone?" Maria asked and once Carmen had left, she pulled Danny down to her level.
"Abuela-"
"Escucharme por favor, mi nieto," she said and Danny obeyed. "What is the matter? Don't try to lie to me," she added just as he was about to answer. "I am not Carmen. You can be honest with me."
"I know."
Maria lightly touched his chin and he brought his eyes to look at her. She patted his hand and gave him a comforting smile.
"You've grown into such a handsome man. I already know that your son will be every bit as handsome as you. You're going to have a very big problem when it comes to fending off men from your daughter," she said and she received a faint smile from Danny. "I hate to see you so sad, mi hijo. Life can't be that bad."
Danny laughed sarcastically. "Hmm. Well, I beg to differ."
"Why are you doing this to yourself? Such unhappiness is not warranted."
"My children make me happy. That is enough."
"And what about Michelle?"
"What about her?" Danny asked, his tone instantly changing.
"She brought you all the happiness in the world," his grandmother replied. "Including your children."
"She's out of my life-"
"How can that be when you spend most of your thoughts on her?" Maria asked him. "Don't bother denying it. It's written all over your face. I can see her in your eyes," she said and Danny looked away from her.
Following a brief pause, Maria continued with the conversation. "I hope you know what you are doing, mi corazon. Carmen knows of her presence in Springfield."
"How did-"
"The walls do have the biggest ears, my child," she answered before he could finish. "Whatever you do, be careful."
**
At the church:
"Thank you so much for coming by when you did," Ray spoke as he and Elisabeth escorted the doctor out of the room.
"You were lucky to have Elisabeth here," the doctor remarked. "That woman could have died."
"So she will be fine?" Ray asked.
"She'll be just fine. There were no broken bones as Elisabeth had suspected, but she did suffer some bruising. She's stable now, so I think it would be okay if she not go to the hospital at this point. However, if future complications were to arise-"
"We will be sure to send her to the E.R.," Elisabeth said. "Gotcha."
"She needs plenty of rest and try to get her to move around a bit. Don't keep her confined to the bed. She should also refrain from any kind of strenuous activity for a few days. Her health depends on it."
"We understand," Ray replied. "Are you sure that this is all she needs to take?" he asked, showing the doctor the prescription he wrote.
"Yes. Just one in a few hours and the other at night. If the fever should reoccur, please bring her in."
Ray and Elisabeth exchanged a few more words with him and then he was gone. Elisabeth exhaled once the doors had closed and she turned to Ray, who too exhaled.
"Maybe you should go get something to eat. Lay down a while? I'll watch her. Take all the time you need, okay?" Ray told her and she agreed, heading off in one direction as he headed in the other.
Ray stepped into the rectory and made himself comfortable on the sofa that was there. He lifted his feet onto it and laid his head back on one of the pillows. Exhausted from his long night, his eyes slowly drifted close.
"Sleeping on the job, are we?"
Ray's eyes barely cracked open and when he saw who it was, he shut them again and adjusted himself.
"I doubt that God got around to cutting your tongue yet."
"I am very tired, Danny. Let me alone."
"Did the doctor come?"
"He just left."
"Did he help her?" Danny asked.
"Yes! Now let me be."
"Where's Juan?"
"I'm not his keeper. Go look for him yourself."
"I'm sensing some hostility-"
"You're sensing right."
Danny sighed and was silent for a brief moment. "I need to talk to you."
"Make an appointment."
"I want to make a confession."
"Come back at 6 p.m. on Wednesday."
"Mama knows about Michelle," Danny went on anyway and Ray's eyes flew open. "Abuela told me," he added as he roamed about the small room. "I guess that would explain why my mother was on edge this morning."
Ray sat up from the sofa, drawing in a chest full of air before exhaling it all out again. He hadn't got a second of sleep because of this deranged man and here the same person was again, robbing him of his shut eye. He watched his cousin move from one side of the room to the other, wondering when he'd just cease his pacing, say what he had to say and leave. In the middle of Ray's thoughts, Danny came to a stop in front of a picture bearing Mary and baby Jesus.
"Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned," he spoke.
"What are you doing?"
"It's been 4 years since my last confession," Danny continued and Ray immediately took up the appropriate stance and motioned the sign of the cross as he dug in his pocket to pull out a much needed vestment. He kissed the cross stitched in the middle of the purple article before draping it around his neck. He again forced out the air in his chest and said a silent prayer to himself.
"Why have you been away so long?"
"I lost my faith in God," Danny replied after a long pause and a shocked Ray was tempted to turn to look at him, but remained facing forward.
"Lost your faith how?" he asked.
"He took back everything good that He had ever given me-"
"You have your children. Aren't they two of your many blessings?"
"They are my only blessings."
"That is not true," Ray objected. "You have your life, your health, your family. You cannot say that the Lord took everything."
"I can and He did," Danny said. "That's what drove me to almost killing someone."
"Michelle."
"She walked out on me and took everything along with her."
"I am fine. Please, I can make it on my own," Michelle was saying to Elisabeth who had followed her out of her room. "I'm okay. Thank you. I'll be there before you know it. I just want to talk to Ray," she added and the woman finally agreed to let her go alone.
The door of the rectory was slightly ajar as Michelle neared, and she stopped cold when her name was mentioned. The rate of her heart instantly increased tenfold and she suddenly felt a chill come over her. She had to know what they were saying. She looked to see if anyone was around before quietly stepping closer.
"That's no excuse to kill anyone. There is no excuse to kill..."
"Oh, give me a break, Ray!" Danny exclaimed. "Okay, let's cut out of this confession mode. I'm talking to you as my cousin! You've killed before!"
"I didn't like it."
"That's not the point."
"Till this day, I still regret all that I had done, and you would've been in the same situation had you chosen to go through with killing Michelle."
"I don't care! She left my children for her own selfish reasons! What kind of person is that?! She deserves whatever I do to her!!"
Michelle closed her lids when she felt tears sting at the back of her eyes, and she moved away from where she had been standing. She didn't want to hear anymore. Danny was dead wrong about her. About everything. Dietz had been right when he told her those years ago that Danny would eventually believe his twisted version of what truly happened.
"And who are you to judge?" Ray asked. "Who are you to cast that first stone?"
"I thought I was talking to my cousin," Danny commented.
"You are. Did you think I'd condone what you almost did?"
"If you hadn't been inhaling so much incense smoke, yeah. Now you sound like a Bible," he commented.
"The price of being a priest, Danny," Ray remarked. "You really don't know what happened between the two of you-"
"Fine! Then I'll go talk to her."
"No!" Ray was quick to jump in front of him. "No. You can't do that. Doctor's orders. No stress."
"Do I look like stress?"
"You're the one who brought this on her. You figure it out."
"I'm not going to do anything," Danny assured him. "If you want, you can have those two old church ushers supervise us. They'd hold me back if I have the sudden urge to strangle her."
"That isn't funny," Ray told him. "And you will not see her."
**
Michelle made her way into the parish kitchen, which resembled a mini version of her school cafeteria kitchen at Springfield Senior High. Pots and pans were suspended from hooks drilled into the ceiling and all the appliances were all stainless. The room reeked the kind of sterility she was so used to finding in hospitals.
"Done with Ray already?" Elisabeth asked when saw Michelle.
"Something like that."
"Did you even get to talk to him?"
"He had an appointment and I didn't want to bother."
"Oh. Okay, well, uh...are you hungry?"
"No," Michelle answered. "I'll just have a glass of water."
"You really should try to eat. You haven't had anything in the past two days and you're still very weak from the..."
"What do you care??" Michelle rudely cut her off. "Don't you work for my kidnapper? Isn't it part of the plan that I die anyway?"
"I don't work for Danny and I don't know what his plans are. I was actually called by my brother. You know Juan."
"He's your brother?"
"Half-brother. When he got you, you were really in bad shape and he asked me to come and make sure that you were okay."
"I don't understand why. He treated me like shit!" Michelle remarked. "And I don't see the point of you helping me then and I still don't now if I was going to get shot at regardless!"
"You should try to calm down, okay? This isn't helping you none-"
"I am NOT calming down!! Don't you tell me to do that because right now I am so SICK and TIRED of everything!!" Michelle yelled. "I don't know why all of this is happening to me! Why I can't contact my family, why my life has been made such a living hell!! God, why don't you just take me away from all of..."
"Oh, my God! Michelle!" Elisabeth dropped what she was doing and ran over to her just as she was collapsing to the floor. "Michelle!! Michelle? Ray!! Ray! Anyone, please help!" she cried frantically. "Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God," she chanted repeatedly as she checked Michelle's vitals. "This can't be happening. Ray!!"
________________________________
This part is rated NC-17 for use of adult language
Later that day:
Michelle was fine. Well, fine as in still alive. Elisabeth deduced that her passing out had to do with her having not had anything to eat in the past two days. As soon as Michelle woke up from the five hour nap she had fallen into after the incident, Elisabeth knew she had to get her to eat, for Michelle needed to replenish much of her lost strength and get something in her stomach in order to take her prescribed medication. When Michelle did open her eyes, Elisabeth was quick to order something to be cooked up for her. She then helped Michelle to the bathroom for a shower, and once she was done, she escorted her back into her room.
"Think you'll be up to some food this time?" Elisabeth asked as she walked Michelle over to the bed, and she nodded. "Great!" Elisabeth smiled. "I'll go make you a plate and I'll be back with your medication."
Michelle exhaled once Elisabeth had made her exit. She rubbed on her arms at the slight chill that she felt, and looked around her, wondering what she was to do next. She had to wait for Elisabeth. She had to eat something or she'd surely die of starvation, if not of whatever it was she was ailing. She couldn't let that happen. She was still breathing for a reason and maybe it had to do with her last minute prayers to God to keep her children safe. Maybe it had nothing to do with her children, but that was all she had to hang on to right now.
"My children," she whispered to herself as she blankly stared with tear filled eyes and twisted on the wedding band that had adorned her finger for the past seven years. "God, I have to see them. I don't care how. I just have to. I know that I said I was contempt with knowing that they were happy, but...I'm not. I have to have them! You gave them to me!" she exclaimed and then instinctly lowered her voice. "Their lives depend on what I do from now on. This is the second chance that You've given me and it won't go to waste."
Elisabeth had closed the door behind herself and was about to step away from it when she saw Danny coming in from a side entrance. This wasn't good. If he wasn't coming in from the front like everyone else normally did, then Ray doesn't know that he was back from wherever the heck he had ran off to earlier and he surely didn't know of him coming to the room.
"Where do you think you're going?" she stopped him. "I'm asking you a question," she said, when he attempted to go past her. "Michelle cannot have any company. Especially not yours."
"Can you get the hell out of my face?" Danny asked and Elisabeth stood her ground, arms folded across her chest. She had this look on her face that dared him to do anything. Just one thing.
"What are you, her bodyguard now? Who's side are you on anyway?" he asked.
"This isn't about sides, Danny. If you haven't noticed, I don't exactly look like Juan, who sticks by you no matter how stupid, irresponsible, and thoughtless your actions may be. Under Ray's instruction, no one but me is to enter this room."
"Lis, would you just get out of my way before I-"
"You what? Shoot me? I don't think so," she was saying when Danny roughly grabbed a hold of her arm and pulled her away from the door. He pushed her some distance away and entered the room, slamming the door behind him and locking it.
"Danny!!" Elisabeth screamed as she banged on the door. "Danny, open this door!!"
Michelle jumped up from where she sat when she heard the commotion and turned around to find Danny standing by the door. She suddenly felt like she was suffocating. The room started getting smaller and it was as if she were going to choke on her heart.
"Danny!!" Elisabeth banged again before giving up. He wasn't going to let her in. She had to get Ray and quick.
Once Elisabeth's racket couldn't be heard anymore, silence enveloped the room for the longest ten seconds either of them had ever experienced. They stared at each other, evil glares being exchanged before Michelle looked away and moved from where she was standing.
"Came to finish what you started?" she began first, covering up her chest area with the robe that she was wearing even further.
"I came to see if you were alright," Danny replied and Michelle burst into laughter.
"Oh, you could do better than THAT!" she told him. "See if I'm alright?? Please! You don't give a damn about me! Now come on! Where's the gun? You're bound to whip it out sooner or later, so you might as well do it now. Spare me any surprises."
"It's just you and me," Danny replied as he leaned against the desk that was there. "No gun."
"Changed your tactic maybe. Pocket knife? Hammer? Pen you'll use to jab me in the throat?"
"I told you that I don't have anything..."
"Why the hell not?" Michelle asked. "You want me dead, so why would you leave your murder weapons at home? You've already taken my children from me. What else do you want? I'm guessing that you won't stop until I'm 6 feet under."
"What the hell are you talking about?! You left them!!"
"Left them?? They were taken from me, Danny! Taken!"
"Right. Taken. By me."
"Yes! Exactly!" Michelle yelled. "Why are you acting like I'm lying?"
"Because you are! You left them, Springfield, the whole damn state in pursuit of your medicine filled dreams!" Danny accused.
"WHAT?!? I did no such thing!"
"Oh, no? So where have you been all this time? Living in some dark cave with amnesia?"
"If I told you what really happened, you wouldn't understand. You wouldn't believe me."
"There's nothing to tell because I already know what happened..."
"No, you don't," Michelle cut in. "You don't know a damned thing about anything!"
"You lost the love you had for my kids and so you left."
"You are way off base here, Danny! I love OUR kids and I will continue to the day I die!"
"You didn't want anything to do with them!!" he yelled back. "You've been out there, going to medical school, making a name for yourself! You weren't even thinking about either one of them!"
"Wha...?! Where the hell do you get this shit?!"
"You've been hanging around with your doctor friends," Danny droned on. "Living the high life! Having not a care in the world."
"Oh, yes, Danny. I've been having such a blast! I even got remarried while I was at it!" Michelle exclaimed. "I'm sure you know a little something about that!"
"And I'm sure you know more than a lot when it comes to having affairs!"
"Excuse you??"
"Don't play innocent, Michelle! You were having a dirty little affair with Diego that you never wanted anyone to know about."
"I was what?!" Michelle couldn't help but to laugh. "God forbid! How could anyone fathom such a thing?! That is the most bizarre thing you have said so far! Are you even listening to yourself? You think that I was sneaking around on you with Diego?!" she hollered. "God, Danny! I did not sleep with your fucked up cousin! You know how much I couldn't stand him. The man repulsed me! I couldn't even bear to be in the same house with him, let alone breathing space! I did not have any kind of relationship with him. And if you're going to say that I killed him too, you're sadly mistaken there," she added.
"Killed him? What are you talking about?" Danny asked and Michelle looked over at him and from the expression on his face, she knew that he hadn't been told of her involvement with that miserable man's death. "What are you talking about?!" Danny barked when she didn't immediately answer.
"Ray, hurry up, he's going to rip her apart," Elisabeth was saying as Ray fumbled with the chain of what seemed to be made up of a gazillion keys.
"Danny!!" Juan banged on the door and then listened. "Danny!!" he called again, but neither one of them would be able to hear them over their clamor.
"We have to get in there before he makes her pass out again! She can't be stressed like this!" Elisabeth commented.
"I'm trying. I'm trying," Ray said as he fit key after key into the lock.
"I was there," Michelle simply said and she stepped back when Danny came up closer to her. "I had nothing to do with it."
"Nothing to do with what?" Danny asked, staring at her intently.
"Dietz has this tape," Michelle started. "A video that shows me going into Diego's apartment the night he was killed. Could you please back away some?" she asked, suddenly feeling nervous at the proximity of which he was at to her.
"Fine," Danny agreed and he moved back some. "What were you doing at Diego's place?"
"I got this call from some guy who said he knew where the children were and that they were in danger-"
"Hold up. Where were the kids?"
"I don't know! I asked him where he was and all he said was that Dani and Mikey were in Suite 411 at Towers, and then the connection was cut. I didn't know what to think! I immediately called SanCorp, then your phone, your mother's, Pilar, and no one knew where you or the children were, so I rushed off to Towers."
"And you had no idea that was where Diego was staying."
"No! I had never been there in my life! I got to the room and I knocked. The door was ajar and I called for someone and I got no answer. I had barely stepped in when someone grabbed my arm, pulled me inside, and shut the door. The place was complete darkness. I couldn't see a thing! I felt this prick in my arm and the next thing I know, I'm laying on the floor next to Diego."
"You two had a wild night..."
"I didn't sleep with him," Michelle told him. "At least I don't remember."
"That's fantastic! Now you don't remember!"
"Everything was hazy," she explained. "Hours had gone by and I couldn't even remember them. All I knew was that I was pulled into the room and that I woke up next to a dead man," she paused before adding. "And I had a semiautomatic in my hand." Danny's face went bland. "I didn't kill him!" Michelle was quick to say.
"How can you say that when you claim not to even remember?!?" his voice had become elevated again. "You not only killed my brother, but you killed my cousin too!!"
"I didn't!!" Michelle cried. "I didn't do it! I-I don't th-think I did," she tripped over her words. "I was unconscious and when I woke up, blood was everywhere-!"
"And the gun so happened to be in your hand, right?!"
"Yes, but-"
"Danny!!" Juan continued with his banging. "Open the door! Danny!!"
"You shot and killed him, and then you bounced out of Springfield!" Danny said. "You killed your lover. No wonder you left everyone."
"I was set up, Danny. And he was never my lover."
"Set up," he laughed derisively. "Set up?!" he knocked over one of the lamps in the room and Michelle jumped in terror as it crashed noisily to the floor. "You weren't set up. You killed my cousin and then you left before anyone could find out!"
"That is not true!"
"You hated my cousin. Was that a lie?"
"No, but-"
"And you did go to his apartment that night," Danny cut her off.
"I did, but not for the reasons that you are thinking! I thought the children were there!"
"You met up with him in his apartment, had a little rendezvous, a fight afterwards, and then you killed him!!"
"That is not what happened, Danny!! Would you just listen to me?!" Michelle cried. "I was set up!! Dietz knows about the whole thing! He was there! He's the one who gave me the ultimatum! He's the reason why I left!"
"Stop this!!" Danny ordered. "This is bullshit! ALL of it!!"
"I have never been unfaithful to you," Michelle told him as tears streamed from her eyes. "Not for one second. And I did not kill Diego. I know this because Dietz was saying how I couldn't prove that I hadn't. That my finger prints were all over the place and all over the gun that had been registered under my name. Danny, you know I didn't own a gun!"
Danny just stared at her with his look of disgust.
"And Dietz had said how I was the only one caught on camera coming into his room and how I will be the only person seen going out. I was told that I should leave town or else my children would be killed...."
"This isn't making any sense."
"Why would I make up something like this?" she asked. "I don't know what his intentions were, but he wanted both Diego and I out of the way."
"Why didn't he just kill you?" Danny asked.
"I must've been some essential part in his scheme. I don't know! That man never made sense. Danny, you've got to believe me! I never left my family intentionally!"
"Now you're admitting that you left??"
"Yes! N-no! The children were taken from me! Some thugs had broken into my Aunt Meta's one night and took Danielle and Michael. I didn't see who they were, but they said they were from you."
"Nah. No way. That's not possible. I never ordered such a thing."
"They said that you weren't going to allow me to take your children from you and that you no longer wanted anything to do with me. I called the Springs and I called your mother's and no one would let me to talk to you. Everyone was against me!"
"What's taking so long with those keys?" Elisabeth asked as Ray stuck another one into the lock.
"Is there another way into this place?" Juan asked.
"I had to take the children and go to Aunt Meta's after that one murder threat was made. I couldn't have Michael and Danielle..."
"Stay with their family!" Danny cut in.
"Remain in harm's way, Danny! I was protecting them. If you were a real father, you would have known that! But then again, you were never around!"
"And that was something Ed was for you?" Danny asked.
"Don't even drag him into this!"
"Don't you talk to me about being a father!!" he shouted. "You're the reason why we suddenly became targets in the first place! You're the one threatening me with my children if I didn't turn the business around in a year! You said that you were going to leave me and take Dani and Mike with you!"
"That's not what I said-"
"You went to your Aunt Meta's-"
"I just explained why!"
"And the next thing I know, you're sending the children back to me!" Danny completed.
"I didn't send them to you! They were taken from me!" Michelle shouted.
"Just shut up!! I've heard enough of your lies! All I know is that you fucked my cousin, you killed him, and you abandoned my children!!" Danny was saying just as Ray was able to get the door open. "Bravo, Michelle! What are you going to do for an encore? Fuck and kill the priest too?"
"Danny!" Elisabeth exclaimed.
"Oh, look! There he is! Here's your chance, Michelle! Look at her!" he told them as he pointed. "Slut of the year! She murdered not once, but TWICE!!"
"That's enough, Danny!" Ray yelled, preventing him from returning to Michelle.
"Adulterous bitch! I should've killed you when I had the chance!" Danny spat out before Juan and Ray forced him out of the room.
Tears quickly filled Michelle's eyes which remained glued to the spot Danny had been standing. She was shaking and noticing that, Elisabeth helped her over to the bed. She was nauseous, so very sick. Her ears had been cursed with unbelievable accusations, none of which bore any truth. She felt lifeless. Nothing was in her. She was nothing. Danny's words had degraded her to a level lowered than dirt. He stripped her of her dignity and spat in her face. She had never been so humiliated and disrespected in her life. The mere accusation that he made about Diego...
Michelle hunched over and vomited the little that she had managed to eat on the floor.