He walked over to the chair again. “I figured that would be one way to get through to you.”
I looked away from him, shame washing over me. I allowed myself to let my guard down, and now, now she would be in danger.
I rocked back and forth.
I can’t let them know.
They can’t know.
They can’t know.
I sprung up from my bed, and within seconds, I’d pounced on Dr. Greene. He fell back, landing with a thud on the floor. Immediately, I straddled him, gripping his hands above his head. He was taken aback and started to try to break his hands free, resulting in me digging my nails into his wrist.
“Alyssa! Stop it!” He wriggled free and held onto my waist. His calm exterior was gone, a frown creasing his forehead.
I started to smack his face, and he gripped my hands, pulling me to his chest. “Do not make me hurt you,” he said out of breath.
He let my hands go but held my gaze, and I stilled for a second. He was not the bad guy. I climbed off him and made my way back to the bed.
Dr. Greene caught his breath and stood to sit in the chair while rubbing his wrists.
I wasnotsorry.
He’d manipulated me and made me speak when I didn’t need to.
“What the hell?” He frowned at me. When I said nothing, he took his coat, opened my door, and left.
What was I thinking?
I knew that would be confinement for me, no light and one meal for the day. Not to mention, the taunting from the guards and nurses.
I lay on my bed, and the tears came. I hadn’t cried in a long time. There was nothing left to cry about, but tonight, the black hole opened and threatened to suck me in, never to return. I’d spoken, and Dr. Greene would tell people that. He would tell them I was pretending, although deep down, I knew I wasn’t. The things I had seen would always haunt me. What they were doing had to stop, it just had to, and now,nowI’d messed it all up in one moment of sheer weakness.
ChapterSix
Luke
All the lights were out when I arrived home. I’d called Audrey earlier in the day to let her know I would be home late. I hadn’t expected to fall asleep and get home this late. I’d been burning the midnight oil on this case, and it was taking a toll on me.
When my wife’s response was that she’d had enough and would be spending a few days with her mother, I wasn’t surprised. For someone who’d known me as long as she had, she sure did assume I was an idiot. She wouldn’t be at her mother’s. She barely spoke to the woman. They disliked each other. There was no doubt about that. No, she would be withhim, the man she had been cheating on me with. It’d been going on for a year, and I found out about it because her alibi didn’t quite check out one time. I had no idea who the fuck he was. She said it was over. Itjust happened. I laughed when she’d said that. It was a standard response to being caught. What pissed me off was we were friends two years before we’d started dating, and we hadn’t even been married three years, and she was already fucking around.
To be honest, it was fucking demeaning. Audrey said I smothered her, made her want to break free, but all I’d ever done was love her.
Still, after many tears and begging on her part, I stupidly agreed to give her and us another chance, but it wasn’t easy.
When I was at home, I wanted to be anywhere but there. The thought of sleeping with her was near appalling.
I’d thrown myself into my work ever since. Dragging myself home late, I stayed up until the odd hours of the night or until I fell asleep in the chair I was in. The truth was, a lot was lost, including trust. I didn’t miss that her cell phone was always turned to silent or how she looked at it guiltily at times. I noticed she wasn’t home for most of the day or that she didn’t answer her calls. You can tell these things when you have an eye for detail like I do.
We’re not good for each other, not anymore. I had wanted to give her the world at one time, but it’s obvious I was not enough for her. Let’s hopehewas worth all the shit she put me through.
I walked in the front door to the sound of silence and switched the lights on as I made my way into the kitchen. Opening the refrigerator to pull out a bottle of water, I noticed she’d left me a plate of food, but I didn’t feel like eating. It was one of those days where I just wanted to crawl into bed and forget everything. My wrists burned, and I looked down at the angry red marks from where Alyssa had dug her nails into my skin. She spoke, though, and it was all that mattered.
Something was silencing her, and I needed to find out what it was.
After a while, I made my way up to the guest room and plopped down on the bed. It didn’t take me long to drift off. The crazy thing was the last thing I saw before I drifted off was Alyssa. She was wild, determined, and ready to do anything to protect her secret. Then when I’d told her to stop, that vulnerability in her eyes was all I needed to know. She was not some manic killer. She was a woman who had gotten herself in too deep.
It’d been a week since the incident with Alyssa—a week since my wife walked out on me. I hadn’t bothered to contact Audrey. She could contact me when she was ready to act like an adult and own up to her mistakes. She’d fucked me over, plain and simple. I’d reached out to my lawyers and finally did what I should have done a year ago—ending this disaster of a marriage.
