“An article was released that detailed my last relationship.” I inhaled before continuing. “My ex-fiancé was abusive, physically and emotionally. It ended five years ago when I left him and moved across the country. The article tried to make it seem as if I was some vengeful man-hater who used my status as a divorce attorney to discredit the husband of a client. It also showed pictures of him and me together at a restaurant not too far from my current place of work, holding hands.”
“This was recent, then?”
I nodded. “A couple of months ago, I received a letter from Ethan, who wanted to meet. I put it off, but finally responded. We met at a bistro, and he apologized.”
Dr. Winston looked surprised. “He apologized? For the abuse?”
“He did. Believe me, I was surprised too, but when I sat at the table across from him, I felt like he meant it. I reached across the table to grab his hand to let him know I’d forgiven him, and that must’ve been when the picture was taken of us.”
“By whom?”
“What?”
“Who took the picture?”
“Oh.” I rolled my eyes. “It turns out an employee of my father’s law firm was having me followed by a private investigator out of spite. He was trying to get dirt on me. Apparently, he wanted to make me appear bad in my father’s eyes.”
“You said your father’s law firm?”
“Yes.”
“Aren’t you a lawyer too?”
I nodded.
“So, let me see if I’ve got this straight. You were with a man who physically and mentally abused you. You broke up with him, moving across the country. Now, five years later, he resurfaces to apologize, and a couple of months later, an article is written about you, depicting you as a vindictive man-hater, and come to find out an employee at your father’s firm was behind it?”
“Sounds about right.”
“Do you suspect your ex was a part of the setup?”
“I thought about that but honestly, I doubt it.”
Dr. Winston nodded as she continued to write in her notepad.
“Is there more?” she finally asked.
I nodded. “A couple of months before that, a client of mine and her three-year-old son were murdered by her husband in a murder-suicide. I was there.”
At that revelation, her eyebrows shot up and she tilted her head, peering at me over her glasses. “That’s a lot.”
“Tell me about it.” I turned my head to stare out the window, trying to ward off memories of Anne Marie and a bleeding Noah, only to be confronted by memories of that awful picture of me, bloodied and bruised. And then, memories of Xavier. Instinctively, I wrapped my arms around my waist.
“Is there more?” Dr. Winston asked, breaking up the silence.
“And…” I trailed off, not knowing how to phrase my next thoughts. I eventually just opted for total transparency. “I think I let the best thing that ever happened to me get away.”
Her silence begged for more details. I appreciated that she didn’t rush me.
“I was dating someone at the time all of this happened. Someone I cared for deeply, and he ended up leaving me too.”
“Too?”
I closed my eyes and inhaled. I hadn’t meant to say it like that. “I mean, Xavier left when the article revealed my past. I’d lied to him about the reasons of my breakup with Ethan.”
“Do you love him?”
“I think so.”
