She looked beautiful. The black dress hugged her curves, her hair loose over her shoulders, a light pink gloss on her lips—clearly thrown on in the thirty seconds she'd spent walking down the hall.
"What's up?" I played dumb.
"My friend just got dumped. She wants to grab drinks." She paused. "If Olei wakes up, let him know, okay?"
"Have fun. But don't drink too much. Stay safe." I leaned against the doorframe, holding her gaze. "Need me to send a driver?"
She blinked, quickly shook her head, said she'd call a cab, then turned and left. I watched her until she disappeared around the corner. Then I went back inside and changed.
After that, I opened my phone. On the screen, a little red dot marked Anthea's location. It was moving slowly.
Chapter Twenty
Anthea
The neon lights in the bar painted Sarah's face in shades of blue and purple as she knocked back her third tequila.
"That bastard!" She slammed the empty glass on the bar, loud enough to turn a few heads. "He says we need a break. A break? The only break I'll give him is to never show his face again!"
She gritted her teeth, her eyes red-rimmed.
"He's gotta be into that new intern at his office. Last time, he took her to some fancy restaurant. We've been together for years, and he's never done that for me." Her voice rose. "Men are trash, absolute fucking trash!"
I raised my glass, clinking it against hers. The liquor burned down my throat, scorching all the way to my stomach. I'd lost count of how many I'd had. Everything blurred, light and fuzzy.
"Men are assholes," I echoed.
After venting, Sarah turned, her drunken eyes fixed on me. "What about you? You said on the phone you had some shit going on. What's eating you? Guy trouble too?"
I stared at the dregs in my glass, Silas's face flashing in my mind.
"I..." My voice came out dry. "Me and Olei's dad, Silas Thorne, we had something before."
Sarah's eyes widened. "What? I thought he just had his eye on you recently. Those teachers said when he dealt with Marcus, he called you his woman, but I figured it was just talk. You mean you two go way back?"
Gossip spreads like wildfire; the field day incident had made the rounds among the nosy teachers.
"Yeah, we met six years ago. Olei's my kid," I said.
"Holy shit, Anthea," she leaned in, her breath reeking of booze. "You never told me? So that guy who's hot enough to make your knees weak, driving a limited-edition Rolls-Royce, with bodyguards everywhere—he knocked you up six years ago?"
"Because..." My throat tightened. "He hurt me bad back then. Everything from six years ago was too painful. I couldn't even think about it."
The alcohol chipped away at the grievances and pain I'd buried for six years. I started spilling to Sarah in bits and pieces, sometimes forgetting mid-sentence what I was saying.
"He made me believe he loved me," I said, tears streaking my cheeks without warning. "Gave me a ring, made promises, said I'd always be Olei's mom... then what? The moment I gave birth to Olei, his dad and fiancée took my baby away. I waited for Silas to show up, to stop it, but he didn't. Sarah, I didn't even know what Olei looked like..."
Sarah's warm hand squeezed mine. "I'm so sorry, hon."
"Then I got chased out of the States. I thought he didn't give a damn about me, but now, now he's back. Says I misunderstood him, wants to start over. He's changed—more gentlemanly, thoughtful. He even learned to cook, you know? He wasn't like that before; he was bossy, a real jerk."
I covered my face in agony.
"He's worming into every part of my life. Those scars I thought would never heal, he's filling them with something new. I feel like I'mfalling, knowing there's an abyss below, but I can't stop. I'm so scared..."
"Scared of what?" Sarah's tone softened.
"Of him hurting me again." I closed my eyes, my heart stabbing. "I don't think I could take it a second time."
