“Don’t tell me to fucking calm down!” I ball my fists at my sides, losing my cool completely. “And Danielisthe fucking devil! He’s blackmailing me, Tony!” My chest is heaving, but I’m too far gone to stop there. “He abused me our entire marriage and now he’s trying to keep me locked away in his fucking torture chamber for good!”
“Wait, wait, what?” Tony’s head jerks back with shock. “What do you mean he abused you?”
Tony grabs my shoulders and stares into my eyes, as if demanding the answers to reveal themselves in my irises. I shake him off and cross my arms again. I don’t want to tell my brother that Daniel raped me. That’s far too personal and I don’t want to deal with the backlash of exposing that kind of secret, but I’m also not covering for Daniel any more.
“He was mentally, emotionally and financially abusive our whole marriage,” I say as tears prick the back of myeyes. My life is spiralling out of control. In the last week, I’ve told more people about my secret than I ever thought I would, and I feel like I’m grasping onto the last semblance of control with slippery fingers. I reach into my purse and hunt blindly for a tissue. My makeup is flawless and I refuse to let Daniel ruin one more fucking thing in my life.
Tony just stares at me, dumbfounded.
“But how? What- ?”
“I hid it well. We both did. But the last ten years of my life have been miserable, Tony. He controlled every single thing I did. And now I’m finally free, and, and,happy…” I think of Zayn and tears threaten to spill over for a whole other reason. “And now he’s blackmailing me to stay married to him!”
All of a sudden, anger like I’ve never seen contorts Tony’s features. “He fuckingwhat?”
“And it’s your fault!”
Tony steps back, his shoulders rigid. “What have I done?” He gasps, ashen.
“The money you and Dad borrowed! He’s threatening to withdraw it from the business and bankrupt you if I don’t co-operate with his demands.”
Tony’s brows fold. “But Gia, we paid that money back within a year of him lending it to us.”
My pulse starts to quicken. What did Tony just say?
“You what? Are you sure?”
“Of course I’m sure!” Tony says, running a weathered hand over his buzz-cut, his shoulders visibly loosening. “I have the documentation I can show you if you don’t believe me.”
I slump down as relief showers over me. The dead-weight that’s been sitting on my chest and slowly crushing me for the last two weeks begins to lift.
“Why didn’t you bloody well say that when I messaged you about it?” I hiss between my teeth.This all could have been resolved two weeks ago!
“You didn’t ask for details or if we paid it back, you just asked if we borrowed it. Which we did.”
I glare at Tony, and at least he has the decency to look sheepish. Then, the depth to which Daniel was willing to stoop starts to register. “That fucking asshole!” I breathe. HeknewI wouldn’t bring it up with my family,knewI would want to protect them.
“That’s the kind way of saying it. I’m going to fucking murder him.”
I can’t even muster the desire to mirror Tony’s sentiment. It’s over. Daniel can’t touch me now. My arms shake. I’ve been living in a constant state of terror since Daniel came to see me, just wondering when I would be forced to be alone with him again.
“Hey, Gia, what’s wrong?” Tony rushes toward me and catches me right as my legs seem to give out. He holds me up and rubs my back awkwardly as I sob into his shoulder, makeup be damned.
“I’m relieved,” I sob, wrapping my arms around him, and I’m sure that I’m scaring the shit out of my brother, but I don’t care. We can get back to our usual bickering soon. Right now it’s nice to have his comforting embrace while I process what this means for me. For Zayn. For me and Zayn.
After a minute, I step back and dab under my eyes with a tissue while Tony lingers awkwardly with his arms out, scared I’m about to collapse again.
“I’m fine, idiot.” My smile is watery.
“Good. Don’t think I was going to catch you again,” he lies with a smirk, and just like that, order is restored. “Tell me how I can help.”
“I’m fine,” I repeat, and I mean it. After looking forward to this gala for over a month, I now can’t wait for it to be over so I can go see Zayn. Will he be happy to see me, or angry that I didn’t tell him what was going on? Will he even want to see me? I brush off the thoughts that make my stomach churn and fan my cheeks to try dry the remaining moisture.
“Is that what all this is really for?” Tony asks, circling his finger in the air. “The women’s shelter?”
I had told my family this fundraiser was a part of a uni assignment. Tony put the pieces together quicker than I thought he would.
“Yeah, sort of.” I shrug, looking over Tony’s shoulder to where Anna stands in the crowd, her shoulder rubbing against Percy’s. The smile on her face as she listens to Percy talk gives me a small one of my own. “I started volunteering at Hope House after I left Daniel. I guess I felt a connection to the women who come through these doors, and it’s healing for me to help them, even if it is only in a small way.”
