37. Reaction Time
37 REACTION TIME
Daphne
The door knock at our cabin up north startled me. I crept up the steps and into a guest room looking over the driveway. I stared at women wearing ball caps—Chloe and Lanie. It wasn’t the press. Instead, my family found me in record time. I did not want to talk to them. So, I rolled up on the floor and prayed they didn’t stick around.
“I see the light is on!” Lanie called, annoyed. “I know you’re fucking in there.
“I can pick locks. It’s one of my skills!” Chloe added. “And we have so many snacks we could wait out here for days. Hope you are prepared!”
Knowing my sister and Chloe, they’d stick around to smoke me out. I debated waiting an hour, but worried they’d only escalate and actually pick the lock. So, tail between my legs, I slunk down the stairs and opened the door.
“Thank God!” Lanie said. “I thought we’d have to wait you out.”
She was more worried about time spent than my well-being, but I suppose it was good she didn’t think I’d actually do something stupid.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“We’re here to return you to Chicago.”
“I’m not going back,” I said. “I have enough in my bank account to survive a couple of weeks until my divorce is signed and my accounts are unfrozen.”
“Why?” Lanie demanded. “I know this is rough and unfair. I know he did this to hurt you, but Daphne, you were just named President?—”
“Davey is going to pull back.”
“Did he tell you that?”
I shrugged.
“Last I heard,” Chloe said, “he was trying to find a way to finesse it.”
“He should. I’m toxic. He says we need to talk about it now. Talk about it means I’m already out.”
Chloe said defiantly, “If my shares matter at all—and I think they do—I am not voting to remove you. You aren’t, either. Nor are your sisters. I don’t see how there are the votes to do it.”
Lanie hugged me. I wanted to fight her, but I couldn’t. It was the first hug I’d had since the morning before—just ahead of my world crumbling. I fought tears, finally breaking down.
“You aren’t toxic.” Lanie rubbed my back. “You are being abused by a man who doesn’t deserve you. He’s toxic. You’re not.”
“I don’t understand how he got away with this,” Chloe said. “Is the video real?”
“It is real,” I said. “He took it one night ages and ages ago. I forgot about it and told him to delete it. He got me very drunk.”
“That is rape,” Lanie said.
“No, it’s not.”
“Yes, yes it is,” Chloe said. “Either way, doesn’t that break a law? You didn’t consent to it? It’s revenge porn.”
“And who will prove it?” I asked. “The problem with the UK revenge porn statute is it is almost impossible to meet the burden of proof to even bring charges.”
“There has to be a paper trail.”
“To even get his internet records or anything is going to be complicated. We’d essentially need a warrant. And then Scotland Yard would need to agree to do forensics.”
“You really think he was smart about it?” Lanie asked. “I refuse to believe you are helpless here. Delphines are not helpless.”
“No, you’re stubborn as mules,” Chloe snickered. “C’mon. There has to be something. A guy like that is going to squawk to friends.”
“I dunno. I filed a report. I doubt it matters. The public will not care.”
“We do,” Lanie said. “The family does.”
“Cal does, too,” Chloe said.
“Cal is fucking stupid if he thinks he should still pursue me. He should cut his losses.”
“He hasn’t,” Chloe said. “Dumb or not, the man is trying to bring you home. Daphne, he loves you. He got blindsided by the video at a press conference.”
“I called him dozens of times,” I sobbed. “I tried. He ignored me!”
“He’s been fighting with the DNC?—”
“Trying to save himself and put a bit of distance between us, Chloe.”
“Let me finish. Well before the video came out, he was dealing with the police union and the DNC. I don’t think anyone even wants to discuss his speech right now—he doesn’t. He does, however, want you home safe. He’d be here if he wasn’t trying to do damage control—knowing it will help you. Daphne, this will pass. The cops will catch the obvious person at fault here. And you will get to call out his wrongdoing on your day in court.”
“But if you don’t go back, Mum will come up here and I suspect Cal will, too.”
“She hates road trips. Derrick offered to fly her,” Lanie said. “But we figured we wouldn’t do that to you, sweetheart.”
“How did you know I was here? And how did you manage to find me so fast ?”
“Dora Elizabeth looked you up on Find my Friends. You have yours turned on, dumbass! We watched you traipse up 94 and then 131. Once you got north of Traverse City, I knew you weren’t going to Sarah’s. We kept following you.”
“Shit!”
“Gen Z is out to get us,” Chloe snickered. “Thankfully, Dora only uses her powers for good.”
“I do not need Mum calling me an idiot. I’ll probably never talk to her again.” I sniffled and dropped to sit on the steps. “She can’t even look at me.”
“Mum is enraged—at Chandler and herself for ever defending him. She’s brokenhearted and just wants to take care of you. She wants to fight like hell for you.”
“That cannot be true.”
“It is. She keeps spinning her wheels worrying about what could have been if she never intervened at Sarah’s wedding.”
“And it’s not just her. We all want you back—that includes my dear brother. Even now, he’s gotta be pacing waiting for me to text him and say I’ve laid eyes on you and you’re okay.”
“It’s best if he never sees me again. I listened to his press conference while I was on my way out of the city. It was an ambushed disaster.”
“Why would you do that?” Lanie gasped.
“Because I knew when the Mail was going to drop the story, and I couldn’t help myself. I told myself it would tell me everything I needed to know. And… it did. He denied any connection to me like a very good boy. It’s best if we never talk again.”
My voice broke. I sobbed.
Chloe sat beside me on the stairs and rubbed my back. “You aren’t destroying his life. In fact, if you write Cal off, you’ll break his fucking heart, and I’ll lose my shit.”
I looked at her, tears running. “Chloe, this is complicated.”
“Love is complicated!” Lanie declared. “Which is why I avoid it. You, though? You’re different. You crave that sense of security. You’ve never really had it. You lied to yourself for years. Since you have been with Cal, Mum says that changed. She says things are better and you are happy. She hates that it’s with Cal.”
“That works out all around,” Chloe added.
“But she loves that he treats you well. So, don’t break his heart. Let him fucking love you at the time you need it most!”
Her voice boomed. I suspected Lanie wasn’t wrong, but knew the reality would be worse than she anticipated. Of course, if I didn’t go back, I’d never know what could have been. I’d regret it if I never took the chance more than if I did. I’d regret losing Cal.
“Okay,” I relented. “But I need to talk to Davey before anyone else.”