I’d locked my bedroom door.
Since I was a teenager, I’d always thought of myself as headstrong. I wouldn’t take any messing from anyone.
But, with this… a part of me had gone, knowing I’d been vulnerable to him before.
Knowing he took without permission. He’d already done it. With brutality.
But it wasn’t just my body. He’d taken my voice, my confidence, my fight.
On the outside, I’d smiled and nodded.
The inside was a different matter.
Even from beyond the grave, I couldn’t escape him.
I clicked the article almost aggressively, my heart still fluttering faster and faster.
There were very few details. The date. No name. The blurry picture he’d taken of us in bed that haunted my dreams.
But, at the bottom, it read, ‘This is a live story. New information to be released.’
Live? It was over a year ago.
Raayhadn’t published it. But her newspaper had.
I sat. I sat and stared, hands heavy at my sides. I sat and stared until I had sat and stared for so long that the screen went black and I was sitting and staring at my reflection in my dark hotel room.
The same girl who had been carefree and set on taking on the world.
My eyes felt dry as if I had cried. But I hadn’t.
I couldn’t even do that.
I reached for my phone and, though Nix’s name was on my favourites, I couldn’t cope if he didn’t pick up.
My brother was too far away.Salihawould get angry and research it to the high heavens. I just needed peace.
I calledLuca. He asked no questions other than who he could kill. I’d seen him box. He could do it.
Instead, he was gentle and let me sob without tears into his shirt until I fell asleep.
Chapter 30
I’d woken whenLucasnuckout at 6 am to go to qualifying. He sent me a text once he’d departed.
LUCA: Take the day off. I’ll make an excuse for you. Maybe avoid the internet for the day.
He’d helped me turn my notifications off after I showed him my laptop screen without saying a word.
Did that mean there were more articles? I knew how these things worked. One newspaper reported on it and though another might not have any more details, they would report that someone else had reported on it.
It was ridiculous.
This was exactly how it had gone forVinny.
When the picture of us leaked. The one making the rounds again.
But I lifted the lid of my laptop, took a deep breath and typed my name.
