Left for Dead Came Back for Everything novel Chapter 103

Just then, a taxi with its available light on pulled up. Eliza violently shoved Miriam away, ripped the door open, and threw herself into the backseat.

"Drive, please!"

"Hey! You ungrateful brat! Where are you going? Did you hear me!"

"You think you're so grown up now! I can't even criticize you!"

Miriam jumped up and down on the sidewalk, screaming in a furious rage.

Eliza buried her face in her hands. What started as muffled sobs quickly turned into a gut-wrenching wail.

It was as if every repressed emotion had suddenly shattered through her defenses.

The older cab driver glanced at her through the rearview mirror, let out a sympathetic sigh, and pulled a tissue from the center console, silently handing it back to her.

"There's no hurdle in life you can't get past, sweetheart. When you run into bad people and bad luck, just cry it out. Once the tears dry, the sun will still rise tomorrow."

The driver comforted the complete stranger in a warm, thick local accent.

Staring at the offered tissue, Eliza broke down even harder.

A random stranger could show her basic human kindness, yet her own family only wanted to bleed her dry.

"Thank you..." Eliza took the tissue with trembling fingers and wiped her ruined face.

"Please, take me to the nearest bar."

"Sure. A drink might do you some good."

She didn't want to be sober anymore.

Sobriety hurt too much.

She just wanted to find a dark corner and drink herself into oblivion.

She drank from sunset until midnight.

By the time Gwen found Eliza tucked in the back booth of the club, she was completely wasted.

Five or six empty liquor bottles were scattered haphazardly across the sticky table.

Eliza was slumped into the leather sofa.

Two dry tear tracks stained her luminous complexion.

Her fingers were loosely wrapped around a half-empty glass of whiskey.

Gwen didn't say a word, just gripped her shoulders tightly.

"Because I'm broke! Hahaha..." Eliza's laughter quickly dissolved into fresh tears.

She dropped her head like a child caught doing something wrong. "I don't even have the money to get drunk! I called you here to pay my tab... Hahaha, I'm broke. I don't have a single cent to my name..."

Hearing her self-deprecating ramble, Gwen pulled Eliza into a fierce, heartbreaking hug.

"It's okay, it's okay, I've got you..." Gwen choked back a sob, gently rubbing her back.

"It's just money. We can always make more! My money is your money. If you want to bathe in expensive champagne every day, I'll buy it for you!"

Eliza leaned heavily against Gwen's warm shoulder.

At first, she was just giggling.

But the giggles morphed into a soul-tearing, agonizing wail.

"But Gwen..."

"My money is gone... my husband is gone, and my baby is gone..."

She violently pushed Gwen away and began frantically hammering her fists against her injured right leg, screaming in pure despair, "I can't even get on a stage anymore! I can't dance! I'm totally useless!"