He walks behind me like a bouncer escorting me from his establishment. I’m right on edge. If he was anyone else, I’d have dropped him by now. But I need to keep this family together. Not destroy it.
Just as I reach the door, I hear Eliza’s footsteps upstairs. I look back to see her chasing after me, pain streaking across her face, tears coating her cheeks. “Caleb—!” she shouts, but my mom catches her, holding her back.
“No, sweetie,” she whispers. “Let him go.”
It’s a punch to the gut. I know this image will be burned into my mind for as long as I live. I want to swing out, shatter everything around me. But I can’t. All I can do is grab my keys and step out into the night.
Each step I take to the truck feels impossible. Like trudging through eight feet of snow. My heart pounds like a drum as I wrench the driver’s side door open and get in. My hands are shaking as I start the engine, and just before I pull off, I drive my fist into the steering wheel, letting the pain distract me, even if it’s only for a second.
Daniel thinks he won. Thinks he got rid of me.
But I’m coming back for her. And next time, there’ll be no negotiating.
She’s mine.
10
ELIZA
The house feels wrong.
I lie in bed, staring at the ceiling, feeling deflated. My dad is doing what he’s been doing since Caleb left yesterday. Pacing. Around and around the downstairs. He’s probably worn a path in the hardwood by now.
Sara has been quiet. She hasn’t even come in to see me. I skipped eating breakfast and lunch with them but finally gave in and came down for dinner, where neither of them said his name.
I keep telling myself that he left because he had to. He promised he’d be back. I saw the look in his eyes, and I know he meant it. But it’s absolutely killing me. Because underneath my certainty, my trust, my love, there’s one thing that’s chewing a hole in my soul.
Fear.
He said he’d come back to me, and he doesn’t lie. I can’t stay here waiting. If he doesn’t come for me, I’ll go find him.
I can still see his eyes as he said the words that have been replaying over and over in my mind.
“I’m leaving so they can’t take you from me.”
I saw the truth there. I believe him, but believing hurts, and I’m still scared—terrified of losing him.
A knock on my door nearly sends me to the floor. Clutching my sheets, I call out. “Yes?”
“We need to talk, Eliza.” It’s my father’s voice, cold and controlled. Just the tone I never like to hear. I actually prefer it when he’s yelling. At least then I know what to expect. “Come downstairs now.”
I know he’s my dad, and I know I live in his house, but I resent the way he speaks to me like I’m a child. I’m nineteen. I can make my own decisions now.
“Okay,” I call back. I get out of bed and slide into a bulky pair of pajamas and a sweatshirt, covering myself with the hood. It somehow feels…safer.
When I get downstairs, he and Sara are both sitting in the living room together, side by side on the couch, like a couple of judges. “What is this, court?” I mutter as I slouch down in the recliner across from them.
What I wouldn’t give for Caleb’s hand on mine. His body beside me. His warmth wrapping me up like a heated blanket.
“We need to talk about your future,” my father says. “How we’re going to…fixthis.”
“Fix what?” I quip back. Sara’s eyes flash, and she looks at him. He takes a deep breath and lets it slowly out.
“Caleb manipulated you, honey—”
“He did nothing of the sort,” I snap. The fear inside me is starting to morph into anger. A hot, molten core of emotion that has my pulse scorching. I turn my eyes on Sara, who sits complacently by. “How can you let him talk about your son like that?”
Daniel takes her hand before she can speak. “We both think that what would be best for you is to get some therapy.”
