Page 10 of Against The Tide

I take a deep breath, trying to ground myself as I close the file and put it in one of the kitchen drawers.

What would Dad do? I ask myself, avoiding Rafe’s gaze.

He would close ranks and protect his home. That’s exactly what I have to do.

“You need to leave,” I tell him, starting for the door.

Rafe follows behind me, stopping in the open doorway when I hold the door for him.

“I know it’s a lot to process, but I’m here and I’ll do everything I can to help you and Iris.” He pulls out an old-looking cell from the pocket of his slacks and holds it out to me. “You can call me anytime.” When I don’t take it, he puts it in my hand, giving it a gentle squeeze before he leaves.

I can’t think. I can’t talk. I can’t even cry even though my eyes are stinging and my throat is swollen. I’m beyond choked as I fall to my ass on the stairs, staring at the door and the phone in my hand.

I thought I was on a parallel universe before, but now, I’m being sucked through a black hole. Every part of me is being pulled apart and twisted, and I have no idea when or how I’m going to be spat out.

CHAPTER 4

AVERY

The front door slams closed, a sign that Carl is finally home. It’s dark with the exception of my screen. I’ve sat here for hours staring at it blankly, hoping that it would give me answers to questions I don’t even know how to ask.

The low clack of his shoes on the hardwood gets louder as he nears, and I close the file in front of me, my gaze going to the flip phone beside my MacBook.

Call me. Anytime.

The words echo in my head while I watch Carl drag his feet to the fridge. He takes out the milk and pours himself a small glass—something he does after he’s had a few too many drinks.

“How was work, babe?” I ask, watching as he gulps down the entire glass in one.

It’s a stupid move on my part. Nevertheless, I flick the switch, turning on the light above the breakfast bar as I shut my laptop and stare at the file on the counter. The feel of his stare on me makes me shudder, and it’s an odd moment to realize that I don’t care about him at all.

In a way it’s a relief; in another, it angers me that I’ve sat here all evening wondering what to do with all the information when I should’ve packed a bag and left with my daughter.

“What did you say?” He stands on the other side of the breakfast bar, looking at me with his brow all kinds of scrunched up with incredulity.

“How was work?” My bravery tucks its tail between its legs when he leans forward, his hands flattening on the file. “Good day?”

“It would have been if my fucking wife wasn’t entertaining other men.”

I freeze. My pulse skitters icily through me as it dawns on me that he knows Rafe was here. He knows and his anger is bordering on rage as he rounds the counter and comes to stand in front of me.

“What the fuck did I tell you? Are you fucking stupid?”

His dark plum lipstick–smeared collar peeks from beneath his suit jacket. All his late nights at the office, the slew of days he’s spent away from home boil down to the stain on his shirt. The proof of my suspicions right in front of my eyes cuts deeper than it should. I’m done.

“Is this true?” I take the file and hand it to him, before taking the cell that Rafe left and slipping it into my pocket. “Did you do it?”

Without looking, he rips it in two and throws it in my face as I manage to get down from the stool and put some distance between us, but he’s faster than me even in his half-drunken state.

“That’s why my father stopped working with you, isn’t it?”

It makes sense now. He wasn’t shunning Carl at all—he knew, and even when we fought about it, he tried to protect me from the truth.

The copper tint of his mussed hair glints in the dim light as he hulks over me. He’s tall and broad, and there is nothing about him that’s warm. Even his anger is cold.

It’s only when we’re like this that I realize how much bigger he is than me. How easily he can overpower me.

In a panic I try to push him away, and before I can get away, he slaps me so hard that I collapse into the corner of the wall and kitchen cabinet. The pain rings loudly, echoing around my head in a daze that leaves me incapable of finding my feet.