CHAPTER NINE #2
When we were alone, Victor was different.
He didn’t do everything all at once. Looking back, I think he was testing us to see how much we could take before we stood up to him.
He started by controlling our money, saying he was better at it than my mother.
Then he made rules about where we could go and who we could talk to.
By the time I understood what was happening, our lives were already very small.
My mother noticed what was going on, but she stopped fighting.
I spent so long trying to understand why my mother gave up.
That hurt me more than anything Victor did.
When Victor yelled or broke things, my mother would just look down and apologize later.
Saying sorry didn’t change anything. I thought my mother was scared back then, but that didn’t make the bad things go away or make me feel less alone As I got older, Victor stopped pretending to care about me.
He thought he could control my life just because he said so.
I had to ask him before I made any decisions, and if I tried to make plans for my future, he would get angry.
I knew that if I stayed with him, he would hurt me, but I didn’t have enough money to leave.
I started crying without even realizing it.
Tears fell onto the letter in my lap as I stared at the floor.
I wondered how I’d ever thought I’d left my past behind me.
It only took one letter with my name on it to bring back all the memories.
My room was quiet, but in my head the past was loud and clear.
For the first time since I moved to Boston, I knew that my past wasn’t finished with me yet.
I had no idea how much time passed before I heard footsteps stopping outside my bedroom door again.
The house had been really quiet for a while.
I’d hoped Liam had given up, but I knew Liam would never leave something like this alone.
Liam never walked away from a problem just because it was hard to solve.
The handle turned halfway. The door didn’t open.
A few seconds passed before three firm knocks echoed through the room.
I closed my eyes and pulled my knees closer to my chest. I was holding the letter so tightly that it was crushed beneath my fingers.
I knew Liam was waiting for me to answer, but I couldn’t say a word past the knot in my throat.
“I know you’re there. I know you’re scared. Hiding behind a locked door isn’t going to change what’s waiting on the other side of it. Open the door and let me help before whoever sent that letter gets ahead of us.”
I pressed my forehead against my knees and stayed exactly where I was. The silence between us stretched so long I thought Liam might leave. Then I heard another knock. It was softer than the first.
“You don’t have to tell me everything about your past today,” Liam said.
His voice was lower now. Still firm. “I’m not asking because I’m curious.
I’m not trying to judge you. Somebody found this house, Nora.
That changes everything. If there’s something in your past that’s connected to this letter, then I need to know what it is.
I don’t fight without knowing what I’m up against.”
I wanted to believe that telling Liam everything would make the fear go away, but life has taught me that the truth always comes with a price, and I’ve paid that price too many times.
I heard Liam move on the side of the door before he spoke again.
This time, his voice was quiet and certain.
That frightened me almost as much as the letter had.
“Whoever thought they could threaten you inside my house has made a mistake. I’m going to find out who they are before they get another chance to come near you.
You can keep your secrets for as long as you think you need to, but understand this, Nora: the moment they brought this to my door, they became my problem, too. ”
My eyes filled with tears again. I lowered my head because I couldn’t bear the thought of opening the door while I looked like this.
I’d spent years surviving on my own, and the idea of putting that burden on someone else felt impossible.
For a moment neither of us said anything.
I could hear Liam breathing faintly through the door.
That sound reminded me that he was still there, waiting for me.
“Stay in your room if that’s what you need to do,” Liam said. “My men are locking this place down. Nobody gets through those gates without answering to me first. Take whatever time you think you need.”
A second later I heard Liam’s footsteps moving away from the door.
They gradually disappeared down the corridor and the house was quiet again.
The silence didn’t bring me any comfort.
Every word Liam had spoken stayed with me long after he was gone.
Liam hadn’t begged me to trust him. He hadn’t promised that everything would be all right.
He’d just made it clear that whoever had reached into my past had now crossed into his world as well.
Something about the certainty in his voice made me realize that this nightmare was no longer mine alone.
Whether I liked it or not, the nightmare was now his, too.
The threat wasn’t far away anymore. It had found me at the house.
It knew my name. It reminded me that the people I’d been running from were still out there.
Another truth kept bothering me: Liam deserved an explanation.
He’d taken me in without asking for anything and surrounded me with people who were trying to keep me safe.
He put himself between me and the danger.
I knew he hadn’t asked me questions because he wanted to control me or judge me. He’d asked because someone had threatened me and he wanted to understand the danger. Knowing that should have made it easier to tell him everything, but the words wouldn’t come out.
Where would I start if I finally told him the truth? Every memory was connected to another one. Every answer led back to a life I wanted to leave behind. Every version of the story made me relive a part of my life that I’d survived by refusing to think about.
The weight of those memories felt heavy on my chest. I lowered my head and closed my eyes.
I just couldn’t bear the thought of standing in front of Liam and watching him not understand.
I’d imagined this conversation before. I’d thought that one day I would eventually find the courage to tell someone everything.
Now that the moment had arrived, fear was stopping me.
I hated that fear still had that power over me. I’d fought hard to build a life where fear didn’t control me. It hurt to know that Liam was trying to protect me and I couldn’t give him what he needed to do it properly. The letter fell to the floor, and I didn’t pick it up. I knew every word on it.
Deep down, I knew I couldn’t keep my past hidden.
The truth had already come into the house.
Sooner or later I would have to tell Liam everything.
Accepting that was one thing; finding the strength to say it was another.
As I sat there with tears on my face, I realized I didn’t know how to be ready to tell him the story that had haunted me for so many years.