“Why?” I snort. “You have Elsa. Why are you here?”
His eyes crinkle at the corners in agitation and his hands curl into fists.
“You’re fucking joking, right? No matter how you dress it up, you’re here because of me.”
“I’m here because my so-called best friend stitched me up rather than owning her shit.”
“I’m going to deal with her,” he vows.
“I don’t care about that right now, she gave such a good performance she almost had me believing her. Dad said to wait for my lawyer, and he’ll sort it out but I haven’t heard anything from him.”
“Do you know what he’s going to say.”
“No.”
With nothing else to say, I go to stand when he grabs onto my wrist and forces me back onto the chair.
“We’re not done,” he grinds out.
All the anger that’s been simmering erupts.
“You were right when you said I’d grow to hate you. I do. Clare sold me out, but this is all on you. When I get out ofhere I’m going to make sure you never see my daughter. You do nothing but ruin lives.”
Anger flashes in his eyes but he doesn’t scare me. I’m done letting him affect me, always bending me to his will.
“I get that you’re angry and scared but don’t threaten me withourdaughter again.”
“Who said it was a threat? One call to my dad and…”
“And what? I’m working with your dad to get you out of here. He isn’t going to do shit, I’m a good dad and I take her to see him every day.”
He reaches for my hands, but I pull them away and shove them in my lap.
“Amelia, I don’t want this for you. Like fuck you belong here, just get through the next couple of weeks and this will all be cleared up.”
“It better be because I hate it here, I can’t remember the last time I slept properly. The woman I’m sharing a cell with is nice to me but I’m always waiting for her to flip. She’s in on a murder charge but claims it was self-defence. Then I have to deal with the food, I have to force it down just so my stomach doesn’t hurt but it makes me feel sick so I can’t win. You have to wear plastic flipflops to shower because you’ll end up with diseases on your feet. I can’t do this and it’s not because I come from money, it’s because this place is just that awful.”
His cologne wafts across the table and it’s the best thing I’ve smelled in days.
“This isn’t going to be for long, I swear…”
I can’t listen to this any longer. He has no idea what I’m going through and I can’t talk about it any longer, it doesn’t change anything.
“If that’s all, you can go now.”
“We will get you out of here,” he promises.
“No offence, but one look at you and the judge will think I’m guilty. Let my dad handle this.”
I leave the visitors room without looking back. I’m taken back to the pod and my body thrums with unvented frustration. I don’t know if I need to cry, scream, fight or sink.
“Bad visit?” CeCe asks.
“It wasn’t good.”
“I hear you had a hot as fuck visitor?”
“How did you hear that?” I try not to snap.
