CHAPTER SEVEN
Nora
I couldn’t sleep that night, no matter how hard I tried.
Every time I closed my eyes, my mind took me back to the library.
I remembered the argument with Liam, him saying he’d been following me before the attack, and the look on his face when I said I’d call the police.
And then I thought about the kiss. I hated that it had happened.
I hated that after everything I’d learned about Liam, he still thought he had the right to kiss me.
The more I tried to forget, the more it came back to me.
I spent most of the night turning from one side of the bed to the other, pulling the blanket over myself before throwing it off.
I told myself to stop thinking about it.
That didn’t work. Every thought led back to Liam, and every memory reminded me that he’d made decisions about my life before I even knew him.
By morning, I felt more tired than the night before.
The room looked the same when I opened my eyes.
The sunlight came through the curtains as it always did.
The bed was still there. The small bookshelf was against the wall.
Nothing had changed, but I didn’t feel like the same person who’d walked into this room yesterday.
Something had changed inside me, and I wasn’t sure how to fix it.
The thought of leaving my room made my stomach tight.
I’d spent days hiding in the library to forget that I was trapped in someone’s home.
Now I couldn’t imagine walking through that door.
I didn’t want to go to the library. I wasn’t ready to see him again, so I decided I wasn’t leaving the room.
I didn’t want another conversation, explanation, or apology.
I wanted one day without thinking about him, but I knew that was probably impossible.
There was a knock at the door that pulled me out of my thoughts.
I didn’t move. The knock came again, louder this time, but I stayed where I was.
Whoever it was could come back another time.
I didn’t want to open that door today. I couldn’t stay in the bed for another minute, so I stood up, walked to the window, and looked out into the garden without seeing anything.
After a few minutes, I turned away, crossed the room, and stopped beside the wardrobe.
I opened the doors, stared at the clothes hanging inside, and then closed it without taking anything out.
I walked over to the desk, ran my fingers over the surface, and looked at the chair before walking away again.
Every corner of the room seemed to pull me in for a moment before pushing me away.
I was tired of replaying the conversation with Liam in my head.
I told myself to sit down, but I didn’t last more than a minute before I was on my feet again. I still felt angry about what had happened with Liam.
My legs finally gave out, and I lowered myself into the chair beside the window and let out a breath. For the first time that morning, I stopped trying to do something just to keep myself occupied.
I simply sat there, staring out through the glass with no idea what I was looking at. I felt completely lost until something moved near the gates at the edge of the property.
A black car turned into the driveway and started making its way toward the house.
I watched the car without interest, assuming it was another visitor for Liam.
The black car rolled to a stop in front of the house and the driver’s door opened.
A woman climbed out of the car, and I leaned forward before I even realized I was moving.
Maeve? For a second I simply stared through the window, wondering if I was seeing things.
Then Maeve closed the car door and looked toward the house, and every doubt disappeared.
It was really Maeve. Relief rushed through me so quickly that I almost laughed.
Since arriving at Liam’s house, every face I’d seen belonged to Liam’s world.
Maeve reminded me that there was still a part of my life that existed outside this house.
Then another thought pushed its way to the front of my mind.
What was Maeve doing at Liam’s house? I frowned as I watched Maeve walk toward the front door.
Maeve couldn’t possibly have known where I was.
I hadn’t called Maeve. I hadn’t called anyone.
As far as I knew, Maeve didn’t even know Liam. So how had she found me?
The more I thought about it, the more confused I became.
I turned away from the window and went straight to the door of my room.
My hand was already reaching for the handle before I remembered where I was.
There was no point opening the door, because someone downstairs would bring Maeve up to my room.
I stepped back and waited. It couldn’t have been more than five minutes, but each one seemed longer than the last. At last, there was a knock on the door.
“Nora?” I was already crossing the room before Maeve finished saying my name. I pulled the door open without a second’s hesitation.
When I saw her standing there, I walked toward her and put my arms around her.
I didn’t plan to do it; my body just moved before I could think.
Maeve hugged me tightly. For a second I forgot about the attempted kidnapping, Liam’s kiss, and everything else that had happened.
When we stopped hugging, Maeve kept her hands on my arms and looked at me with concern.
That made me realize how tired I must have looked.
“How are you doing?” Maeve asked.
“Good, good,” I replied. I moved aside to let Maeve in, then closed the door. She sat down in the chair opposite mine, and I went back to my seat by the window.
Maeve asked how I was feeling, if I’d been eating properly, and if anyone had been looking after me. I answered her questions because it was easier than talking about what was on my mind, but one question kept coming back to me.
“Maeve, how did you find me?” I asked. “I haven’t spoken to anyone since all this happened.”
“Liam called me,” she said. “He said he thought you needed someone you trusted.”
I stared at her, trying to make sense of it. “I didn’t even know you knew Liam.”
Maeve explained that she’d met Liam through Sean some time ago, but there had never been a reason for his name to come up when she and I spent time together.
I let out a breath and looked down at my hands. “What did Liam tell you?”
“Only a little,” Maeve replied. “Liam said you’d been through something and that you needed someone you trusted. He said the rest was your story to tell.”
I wasn’t planning to tell anyone, but it felt easy with Maeve.
The words came slowly at first. Once I started, they just kept coming.
I told Maeve about leaving the bar, the men who’d grabbed me, and Liam appearing to rescue me.
Maeve listened without interrupting. She never looked away.
By the time I finished speaking, I felt as though I’d been carrying those words for years.
She stayed quiet for a moment before answering.
Maeve told me she understood why I was angry.
Hearing those words lifted some weight from my chest. Then Maeve’s expression softened as she said that if Liam genuinely believed someone wanted to hurt me, she could understand why he’d made his decisions.
I looked at Maeve in disbelief. I’d thought Maeve finally understood me, but clearly I’d been wrong.
“So you understand Liam,” I said quietly.
Maeve simply nodded. Disappointment settled over me immediately.
“You are taking Liam’s side, Maeve,” I said.
When I’d seen Maeve in the driveway, I thought I’d finally found someone who would get why I couldn’t stay here.
Instead, I found myself listening to another person explain why Liam was justified in keeping me here.
I folded my arms and looked out at the garden.
The view was still the same as it had been this morning.
“I thought you’d understand,” I said quietly. I didn’t look back at her. “I really did.”
Maeve let my words sink in before she answered.
She didn’t argue with me or tell me I was wrong.
She just reminded me that understanding why Liam did something didn’t mean I had to agree with it.
She said that Liam following me without my knowledge was wrong.
She didn’t try to justify the kiss or say that keeping me here against my wishes was the solution.
She wasn’t asking me to forgive him. She was asking me to see why he made those decisions.
I shook my head. That wasn’t enough for me.
“He can’t decide what happens to me just because he’s afraid.
I’ve spent years building a life where nobody tells me what to do or where to go.
They might not always be the right decisions, but they’re mine.
Liam walked into my life and started making decisions for me without asking me what I wanted.
I know he saved me that night, and I’ll always be thankful for that, but saving my life doesn’t mean he owns it. ”
Maeve listened to me without interrupting. She’d always been good at that. She waited until I’d said everything I wanted to say before she spoke again. When she finally did, her voice was calm. I could tell she’d chosen her next question carefully.
“Nora, who were those men?”
That question caught me off guard. I turned away from the window and looked at her.
I slowly shook my head. “I’d never seen either of them before.”
Maeve accepted that answer, but she wasn’t finished. She asked who I thought wanted me enough to send strangers after me. I felt all my strength drain out of my body. It was the one question I’d been avoiding, and I already knew where it would lead.
“It doesn’t matter,” I whispered. “I’m not going back.”
“I know you’re not,” Maeve said gently. “I’m asking because if someone is looking for you, we need to know who that someone is.”
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Keeping the answer to myself suddenly felt harder than saying it out loud. There was one person I could think of. One person who would want to drag me back into the life I’d escaped.
“My stepfather,” I said at last. The words brought back years of memories I’d tried to bury.
“When I left, I took money to survive until I found work…fifty grand. I thought they would eventually stop looking for me. My mother knew what he was like. She saw everything that he did, but she never stopped him. I kept telling myself they would be happier if they could pretend I didn’t exist.”
We didn’t say anything for a moment. I didn’t need to look at Maeve to know her expression had changed.
Saying those words out loud had changed something in me.
What had felt like an old fear suddenly became real again.
I couldn’t pretend the attack was random anymore.
When I finally looked up, Maeve was looking at me with a sadness I hadn’t seen before.
She reached across the space between us, took my hand, and spoke so quietly and I almost missed the words.
“Nora...I think Liam may have been right about one thing.”
Part of me wanted to tell her she was wrong, but another part of me knew she wasn’t defending everything Liam had done. She’d listened to me from the moment she’d walked in, and that counted for something.
“I still think he was wrong,” I said. I looked at the garden outside.
“Saving my life didn’t give him the right to control it.
He followed me without my knowledge. He brought me here without asking me.
He’s not letting me leave. Then he kissed me like my opinion didn’t matter.
I don’t know how to look past all that just because he thought he was protecting me. ”
“I’m not asking you to forgive Liam. His actions hurt you, and I think he should have done things differently. Now that I know about your stepfather, I know the attack wasn’t random. And that’s important.”
I turned to face her, and I saw concern in her eyes. She wasn’t worried about Liam’s actions. She was worried about my safety. That made this conversation harder.
“I don’t want to stay here,” I said. “Every time I walk through this house, I remember I’m here because someone else decided I should be. I don’t like feeling trapped, Maeve. I promised myself years ago that nobody would control my life again.”
“I believe you,” she said gently. “That’s why I’m asking you to think about this as your decision.
Forget what Liam wants. Ask yourself what you would tell someone in your position.
If you knew they’d escaped an abusive home, the people they’d escaped from found them, and they had no idea who else might be involved, would you tell them to go outside before they knew they were safe? ”
I opened my mouth to answer, but nothing came out.
Her question left me standing there without an argument.
I hated that. I wanted to leave this house, but I couldn’t ignore the fear that settled over me when I thought about my stepfather.
The silence between us felt thoughtful, like we didn’t want to speak again until we had the right words.
“I still don’t forgive Liam,” I said. “I’m still angry. I don’t know when that will change. Maybe it never will. But leaving today because I’m angry won’t make me safe.”
Maeve nodded.
“I’m staying,” I said. “Not because Liam told me to. Not because anyone else expects me to. I’m staying because I decided I need to know for sure if my stepfather found me before I go back home.”
The tension on Maeve’s face relaxed. She got up, came over, and hugged me again. Then she said she’d be back in a few days. She reminded me that I didn’t have to deal with everything on my own, and that I could call her if I needed to.
After she left, I stayed where I was. I watched her car drive through the gates until it was out of sight.
The house still didn’t feel like home. I didn’t think it ever would.
I was still mad at Liam, and still unsure about the kiss.
I hadn’t figured out what to do when we saw each other again.
For now, I’d made one decision: I would stay at the house a bit longer. It was my choice this time.