Chapter 16 #3
“She always said she had my life planned out. Every detail. And once I was delivered back to her from the station — escorted by one of their dirty officers — she told me what came next. I was going to marry him. Or else.”
She pauses. Her mouth quivers for a second. So does my heart.
“I didn’t see any way out. So I bargained. I told her I’d do it if they left you alone in prison and if she let Liz live with me. I wanted my sister as far from her reach as I could take her. Those were my two conditions.”
She closes her eyes, jaw tight.
“She agreed, of course she fucking did. But she didn’t stop there. No. She made me testify. Made me look you in the eyes in court, and lie.”
Her voice breaks at the end.
The dread is building inside me like thunder. Every word she says drags me closer to the deepest circle of Hell. Because I can feel it in her voice, this isn’t the worst part. There’s more, and it’s going to break me.
I was so sure I knew everything, but I didn’t know a goddamn thing.
“Bowie was her favorite,” she whispers. “She was absolutely delighted to have him as ‘family.’ He gave her full access to our so-called marital home. No questions asked. She’d show up almost every week to inspect the house, give me lectures about how I wasn’t a good enough wife.
That I didn’t clean well enough. Didn’t cook meals elaborate enough to be worthy of a man. Other things I won’t even get into.”
The thin hospital sheet wrinkles in her fists before she releases it, her fingers trembling.
“And I was stuck. Because I couldn’t risk them killing you inside, and because I couldn’t let Liz fall back into her hands. I had to wait until she was no longer a minor. Until I was sure she wouldn’t be dragged back to my mother.”
A single tear rolls down her temple. I want to wipe it. God, I want to touch her so bad it aches. But I don’t move. I don’t have the right anymore.
“I don’t even know why Bowie agreed to marry me. Maybe Sombra forced his hand. Maybe my mother asked for it directly. Or maybe…” her lips twist, bitter and broken, “maybe he just wanted it.”
She takes a breath like it weighs a thousand pounds.
“Bowie was a fucking nightmare.”
My stomach turns.
“I wasn’t allowed friends. He took every cent I made from my job. Controlled every part of my life. Beat me any time I broke one of his fucked up rules. And he always made sure to do it carefully. No bruises where people could see. No scars left behind. Never enough to warrant a hospital visit.”
Her voice drops lower.
“And my mother loved him for it.”
My hands curl into fists in my lap. Rage thrums beneath my skin. Too late now. Too fucking late.
“I did everything I could to shield Liz from the worst of it, but I don’t know what she saw or heard. When she started looking at colleges, I told her to aim for the ones that were at least two states away.”
Her gaze drifts back to mine, and I brace for another piece to splinter inside me.
“You said you were the one who made her scholarship in Italy happen. You looked at me like that was something cruel, like you’d done something heartless. But it was the only good thing you did, Ghost. You helped her get away from the poison we were both drowning in.”
Her voice is frayed, but gaining force now.
“When Liz was gone, I had nothing left to protect. You were out of prison. Liz was safe. So I decided I was done. I sat Bowie down, looked him in the eyes, and told him exactly how it was going to go.”
She looks back at the ceiling, jaw tight.
“I told him he would let me go, or I’d bury him.
I’d destroy the pretty picture he painted for the town, expose his abuse, and feed the FBI just enough dirt to get him and the sheriff both put in a cage.
I told him I had evidence. Recordings of him talking on his burner phone.
The kind that would make their way in the right hands if something happened to me. ”
“I didn’t have shit, but the stupid asshole believed me.”
I stare at her, every word scraping down my spine with claws made of steel.
“He agreed,” she whispers. “He didn't tell the cartel about my threat and I don't know if or how he got permission, but he agreed. As long as I took no money. As long as he was the one to file, so he could play the part of the betrayed husband. I didn’t care. I kept quiet. Hid the divorce from my mother. Waited until the day I finally signed.”
She closes her eyes, and for a second, I swear she stops breathing.
“And the moment it was done, I ran. Packed a small bag, and bolted from Willow Harbor without looking back. Two years later, you found me on the other side of the country.”
Her eyes open again. They’re cold. Hollow.
“When you went to prison, I did the same, Ghost. I lived in mine for a decade and just when I escaped, you came along and built me another one. Gilded the bars. Gave me fake happiness. Fake safety. And the whole time, you were just sharpening your knife. Waiting to fuck me one last time before you cut me open.”
Shame and despair knock against my chest, pulling at my ribs.
“You destroyed me because you couldn’t see past your own pain. You just wanted your revenge. And now you got it.”
I was so fucking blind. We were both finally free. I had happiness in the palms of my hands and what did I do? I spit on it.
“Adora,” I whisper, voice frayed like old rope.
“It wasn’t all fake. Yeah, I had a plan, but there were days — weeks, even — when I didn’t even remember how it all started.
Prison fucked me up more than I’ve ever admitted.
I couldn’t talk about any of it. I was afraid that if I did, I’d shatter the bubble we were living in. ”
I hang my head, and try to breathe through the pain.
“But in the end, I shattered it anyway.”
I look up, eyes burning, vision hazy. I don’t care if the tears fall now. There’s nothing left of me to protect.
“It’s so much more twisted — what I said — while holding that gun. Because those were all lies. Every word I spit at you… all lies. The truth is, I fell in love with you again. I don’t think I ever fucking stopped.” The words are cracked, my throat barely working. “I love you.”
But her eyes stay cold. Unforgiving.
“Love is not enough,” she says, her voice just as cold and unforgiving as her eyes. “Not for us.”
She turns her face away from me. “You finally got my truth. But that’s all you’re getting. I’ve paid enough for my lie.”
My chest constricts, panic rising like poison in my veins. I stand, fast, the chair scraping back.
“No,” I rasp. “We’re not done. We are not fucking done, Adora!”
Her eyes snap back to mine, narrowing like she’s about to gut me with her words. But the door opens before she can get them out.
“Leave, Boo-boy,” Ria announces, stepping in like her name is on the building. Her tone is ice. Her eyes could cut through me.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” I growl, already vibrating with tension.
“Who are you?” Adora asks at the same time, confused.
Ria turns to her and softens instantly. “Hi! I’m the woman who fished you out of a freezing river and kept you alive.
Well, Kitten fished you, but I kept you alive!
Nice to meet you.” She flashes a saccharine smile.
“I wanted to see how you were doing and they wouldn’t let me. But they let this asshole!”
She jabs a thumb in my direction. I snarl.
“Don’t growl at me like that! I heard everything. Door was ajar, and I have issues with boundaries.”
She glares at me and then she turns to Adora, blinking sweetly at her, full-on deranged smile locked and loaded.
“Sorry, I suffer from something called pathological curiosity. I couldn’t help myself.” Her smile stretches innocently, like she’s a blonde cherub from the heavens. It pisses me off. “I really am sorry, I just got sucked into your story.”
Then she turns on me again. “Now, I believe the woman asked you to leave, Discount Casper.”
“I’m not leaving, Discount Barbie.” Her jaw drops at the name, offended. “I’m her husband. I have every right to be here. You don’t. Turn the fuck around before I make you.”
She stares at me, slack-jawed for a second — probably not used to anyone talking back. But she recovers quick, arms folding over her chest like she’s about to crush me under her boot.
“Doesn’t matter who you are. Matters what the patient wants. It’s hospital law, Polterbitch.”
She turns back to Adora. “You want him gone, don’t you? Just press the button and call the hunky white coat. He’ll make your wish come true.”
“I already pressed it,” Adora murmurs, looking at Ria with awe.
Ten minutes later, after I’ve threatened to make the doctor eat his stethoscope and argued with three different nurses, I find myself slumped in the waiting room. In a fucking chair. Again.
I couldn’t take it too far. Not with her still lying in that hospital bed. Not with security already circling around me. So I let them usher me out. Temporarily.
I sit here, fuming, hollow, drowning in everything I can’t fix.
But I’m not done. She has nowhere to go, she’ll have to come with me when they discharge her.
Right?