Page 115 of XOXO

She looked up at me with her big eyes, breathing so quickly I thought she might be hyperventilating.

“I…can’t...breathe,” she uttered.

“Panic attack,” Matteo stated, before leaving us.

“Hey, Beautiful. Take a deep breath with me,” I said, cupping her face. “One, two, three, four, five.”

She attempted to inhale with me. It was choppy as she inhaled and her exhale was smoother.

“That’s it. One more,” I said, breathing with her. “Now tell me five things you see.”

“You…sink…toilet…shower and glasses,” she said, her words breathy.

“Good,” I cooed. “Now, four things you hear.”

A door slammed shut, making Violeta jump from the sound. “Door…my crying… you…footsteps and…and a car honking.”

“Vi?!” Ru yelled.

“Hey, look who arrived,” I said, wiping her face.

Ru walked to the bathroom, pausing to take in the scene before picking her up and taking her to the room to sit on the bed.

“That’s good. Nice and even,” he said, holding her close and glancing at me as I walked to them as Matteo entered the room with a glass of water. “Give me one more good deep breath.”

She took a deep shuddering breath, crawling onto Ru’s lap, holding onto him tightly.

“Hey, what happened here?” I pointed to her ankle that had a wrap on it, along with several cuts and some bruising.

“I fell at the Acropolis,” she sniffled.

I inspected the rest of her body for any other injuries, seeing her hand with a big Band-Aid.

“Shit.” Matteo came to us, giving her a glass of water. “Are you ok? Do we need to go to the hospital?”

She shook her head as her lip trembled. “I’m…ok.”

“Vi, I think we should get an x-ray,” I said, seeing how swollen her hand and ankle were.

“I’m sorry,” she cried, shaking her head.

“You don’t need to apologize,” Ru said, holding onto her tightly. “We better get you checked out, just in case.”

“No, I’m fine,” she hiccuped. “I’m sorry about the photos.”

Ru froze, looking forward. “You sent the photos?”

“No, but it’s my fault, I⁠—”

Ru stood up, putting her on the bed gently. “I trusted you. I told you my fears and…and this is how you treat me? Selling our photos to a source and what? Asking to not be blurred out? What the fuck, Vi?”

“I didn’t want this to happen. It was him. I didn’t know he was having me followed,” she cried, standing up. “He’s been⁠—”

The front door slammed shut, cutting Violeta off.

“No, fuck,” she cried, wincing as she stood up, limping into the bathroom grabbing her make-up, coming out quickly, grabbing her bag. “I’m sorry, but this is the only way.”

“Violeta,” Matteo said, trying to grab her arm.