“So what, I just stay away from Zayn and you’ll leave my family alone?” Devastation drowns my voice, making it unrecognisable. Just when I thought this nightmare was nearly over, reality comes crashing down on me once again. My lungs feel like they’re in a vice grip.
“That, and you’ll drop the divorce. We’ll go to counselling, you can get over your issues and then move back in to our house.”
I gape at him.Issues?The way he says it implies I’m mad he didn’t take the trash out.
“And then what? Go back to how we were? Me trying to have a baby while you go around fucking anything that moves?” He’s delusional if he thinks I’ll agree to this. But what choice do I have? I can’t let him bankrupt my parents, my brother. Tony has a family to look out for. A son and another baby on the way.
Daniel scoffs and folds his hands over his chest. “I realise some of my actions were unsavoury. I’m willing to admit that. I won’t be sleeping with anyone else once we’re back together.”
He’s eyeing me like he expects me to break into a roundof applause. As if the woman he raped would be thrilled that her rapist will only be sleeping with her from here on out. I want to vomit.
“Fine,” I somehow choke out, gripping the bench behind me like a life raft.
Daniel raises a skeptical brow. I’ll agree to anything he wants right now to get him the fuck out of my apartment and give me a minute to think this through, and I think he knows it.
“Fine?”
“Yes, fine.” I retort, injecting a hint of anger into my voice. “You’ve hardly given me any options now have you? Now please leave.”
He narrows his eyes but starts to back away toward the door. “Fine, then. You’ll be hearing from me soon.”
Yeah, I think to myself as he shuts the door behind him,I’m afraid that’s the problem.
33
The second Daniel leaves, I pack a bag and head to Anna’s.
I know it’s only a matter of time before Zayn shows up at my apartment to finish our conversation. I don’t know where I stand with him at the moment, if he even wants to continue whatever it is developing between us, but Daniel’s taken that decision out of both our hands regardless.
I can’t see Zayn until I figure out what the fuck I’m going to do.
I can’t go back to Daniel. Not even all the therapy money can buy could erase the past. But I can’t leave my family to ruin, either.
So whatever way I look at it, I’m fucked.
“You should tell Zayn what’s going on,” Anna says from beside me on her couch. “He’s a lawyer, he might be able to help with the situation.”
“He might not want to help me anymore.”
I told Anna everything when I called her home fromwork and showed up on her doorstep with a bag. All about my years with Daniel. The assault. The meeting and what followed at my apartment. My head might feel heavy with emotional exhaustion, but my heart somehow feels lighter. She held me and we cried together, and that’s the best therapy I could ever get.
The unwavering support of my best friend is priceless.
“We both know that’s not true,” she scolds gently, blowing on her tea. I stare down into my own steaming cup, my legs tucked away underneath me. I’ve had time to think since I left Zayn’s office.
“I know. He loves me.”
“That he does.”
I take a deep breath and glance up at her. “He’ll offer me the money to help my family,” I say with conviction. “He’ll do anything to free me from Daniel. I can’t let him do that.”
Anna just nods, her face blank in that way I know too well. She’s trying hard to think of a solution. I reach out and squeeze her hand. “Thank you.”
“For what?” she asks, her brows furrowing. The fact she doesn’t even know that she’s doing it just speaks to her character. Daniel might have looked down on Anna, but he never deserved to have her in his life.
“Just for being you. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“Psshh.” She waves me off. “Did you confirm Daniel’s story with your dad?”
