“I realized a while ago that I might need it.”
“I was hoping he was gone for good this time.”
“Me, too.But I’m not going back.I don’t know what I’m going to do, but I’ll figure something out.”
“Maybe you should finally tell your brother just how bad it’s gotten.”
Isla had resisted that with every fiber of her being.Denny’s strenuous objections to her marriage had caused a rift between her and the older brother who’d finished raising her after their parents died in a helicopter accident.When they saw each other, Isla had pretended everything was fine, because she’d been determined to find a way out on her own.
The last thing she’d wanted to do was tell Denny he’d been right about Gabriel, or that she was in big trouble.
“I’ll think about that,” she said to Mrs.V, knowing she had few options other than to call her brother at this point.He’d checked in regularly, but they weren’t close anymore, and that’d been almost as painful a loss as her parents’ deaths when she was in eighth grade.
“This is no time for pride, sweetheart.You need help, and he’s your family.”
“I know.”
Mrs.V hugged her.“Get some rest while you can.”
“I’ll try.”
Isla went to the sofa and sat, trying to regulate her breathing and get her heart rate back to normal.Her body hummed with adrenaline, her fight-or-flight response still fully activated, even though Gabriel was in police custody.The thought of him being locked up, even after everything he’d done to deserve it, was devastating.
She took a series of cleansing breaths and then reached for her phone to call Denny.Even if he was tempted to say, “I told you so,” he would still help her.Of that, she was certain.She’d hoped to figure out a plan on her own before she had to make this call, but now she was completely out of options.
“Hey,” he said, “what’s up?I’m on my way to a gig on Sunset.”He played lead guitar in a sixties and seventies cover band called Canyon that was so popular, they could’ve played seven nights a week if it weren’t for their pesky day jobs.“What’s up?”
“Something happened.”
“What?Are you all right?Are the kids?”
“We are now, but Gabriel… He… he smashed up the apartment.”
“He didwhat?Where were you and the kids?”
“Hiding.”
“Isla, what the hell?Where were you hiding?”
“I made a place behind the closet wall if we ever needed to hide from him.”
“You… youpreparedto hide from him?”
“Just in case.”
“Can you hear howinsanethat sounds?”
“Yes, I can, Denny, but what was I supposed to do with two little kids, no money and no way to move out?”
“You should’ve called me!”
“So you could tell me how you were right and I was wrong from the start with him?”
“Have I said that?”
“No, but I couldn’t bear the fact that I didn’t listen to you and ended up in this impossible situation with two precious little kids to care for.”
“Where are you now?”
