The silence holds, and I let it hold for one more breath before I continue.
"I want to be clear about something, because I know the narrative that's been running. You've seen the interviews. You've read the headlines. You've watched a man perform grief for a city that believed him, and I understand why they did — because I spent ten years helping him craft that performance. I was very good at my job." A small, sad smile. "Too good, as it turns out."
A few cameras shift. Nobody speaks.
"Colt Monroe is a charming man. He has always been a charming man. That charm is not incompatible with what you saw in that footage — in fact, it depends on it. Abuse doesn't announce itself. It doesn't come with warning labels or obvious signs. It comes disguised as love and protection, andI only do this because I care about youandyou made me do thisandwho would believe you, anyway." I pause. "He was right about that last one… for a very long time."
I look at my parents in the back of the crowd. My mother has both hands over her mouth now. My father is very still.
"I'm not here today to ask anyone to feel sorry for me. I'm here because I made a choice over and over again for ten years to stay silent, and that silence cost me more than I can quantify. It cost me my health. It cost me my pregnancy and my future as a mother. It cost me my sense of self. It cost me things I willneverget back." I try to keep my voice even. I've practiced this part. "And if I stay silent now, it costs someone else theirs. I'm not willing to do that anymore."
I take a breath.
"To every woman watching this who recognized something in that footage — something familiar, something you've been telling yourself isn't that bad, isn't bad enough, isn't worth the disruption of leaving — I want you to hear this directly." I look into the nearest camera. "Itisthat bad. Youareworth the disruption. And thereislife on the other side of it that you cannot imagine yet because you're still inside it. I couldn't imagine it either."
I straighten.
"Effective immediately, the Alexander Sullivan Protection House is available across the United States and soon, globally. If you or someone you love needs to be removed from a domestic violence situation, get somewhere safe and dial or text 811. There are teams that will come to you within hours and ensure you are safely relocated to one of dozens of protection houses across your city." I glance back at Bennet for just a moment. "I'd like to personally thank Sullivan and Associates for their participation in this effort and the properties they've donated to make it possible. Due to their generosity, we were able to move quickly. Thank you."
The silence breaks.
The applause starts somewhere in the middle of the crowd and spreads outward in a wave, and I stand at the podium andlet it wash over me and breathe and think about everything it took to get to this exact moment.
I look back at Bennet.
He's not nodding anymore.
He's crying.
And I think that might be the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
BENNET
"Don't cry, baby." Blaire says, wiping yet another stream of tears from my face.
I bury myself in the curve of her neck and hold her, probably a little too tight. "I'm so fucking proud of you."
"For the first time in my life," she says quietly, "I'm proud of myself too."
It's been impossible to stay away from the footage. I tried. I avoided it as long as I could, but clips started trickling into my timeline everywhere I looked, and eventually I stopped running from it.
I thought I had an idea of what she went through. I didn't. Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw.
He. Beat. Her.
Some clips showed him dragging her by the hair; some showed his fists connecting with her face over and over again. The one that made me want to hire a hit man was him beating her until she practically looked lifeless. If she weren’t in my bed sleeping, I would have thought she was dead. He left her bleeding and unconscious on the floor for eighteen hours. Eighteen fucking hours. He walked by her periodically, pushed her with his foot, slapped her around to check if she'd wake up, and walked away again.
I vomited after that and stayed away from anything social media for a while.
Hours after the footage was released, Colt was arrested, and he’s been denied bond due to being a flight risk. The judge called him a monster that didn't deserve to see sunlight again, and I found myself agreeing with every word.
Blaire got her settlement. That part I did have a small hand in. If she ever asks, I'll tell her the truth. But for now, she just thinks Colt had a change of heart.
Not that I flew to Houston onbusiness, found him at his country club, and had a very direct private conversation with a blade to his neck that left him with a clear understanding of exactly what his new terms were going to be — terms considerably more generous to Blaire than what she'd originally asked for.
When her attorney called with the news, Blaire was shocked.
