43. Charlotte
Ican’t believe it had taken me this long to leave Adam and move on with my life. He was still slightly lingering, but I felt freer than I had done in years. Elijah ticked every box for me and seemed to be occupying any free space in my head at the moment.
Theo was skipping along beside me as we walked home. I almost felt like skipping, too. It wasn’t too long of a walk and I could do with the fresh air.
“Mommy, when are we going to play at Elijah and Lucas’ house again?” he asked.
“Elijah’s actually coming to play at our house tonight.” Theo beamed. I felt a squeeze in my chest at his question. He seemed to genuinely enjoy spending time with them and it made me happy. I hoped we were going to be spending a lot more time with them and it was important to me that Theo was happy with that.
No matter what, he would always come first.
“Do you like Elijah?” I asked cautiously as we walked along.
“He’s one of my best friends,” Theo said happily. I ruffled my hand in his hair. That was exactly what I wanted to hear. Elijah was always kind and gentle with Theo, he was a natural at it. It seemed so effortless the way he interacted with Theo. The rest of the Weatherstons were brilliant with him, too. I loved this new family we had found ourselves with. When my parents cut me off, I thought I had lost my chance at having a family. Now here I was a few years later, having found a completely new one. The Weatherstons had accepted me immediately as one of their own and I was grateful to them. I looked forward to continue to get to know each and every single one of them. I looked forward to summer BBQs, birthdays, and Christmases with them. I looked forward to finally feeling like I belonged somewhere.
When we walked up to the front door of my apartment, I spotted the window of Theo’s room was open. I must have forgotten to close it a few days ago when we left. I cursed myself for being reckless, I was lucky something bad hadn’t happened. Theo ran ahead of me as we walked in. I saw him freeze when he entered the living room.
“Daddy?” he asked his voice shaking. My heart dropped when I walked in the room and saw Adam sitting at the kitchen table.
“Where have you been, Lottie?” His voice was cold. He was supposed to be locked up. How was he here?
“Theo, can you go in the bedroom, sweetheart? Maybe take some of your cars with you?” I pushed his shoulders lightly, nudging him towards his bedroom. He obliged, but looked back of me before he closed the door. I could sense how unsure he was.
“Where have you been, Lottie?” Adam asked again after Theo was gone.
“At a friend’s house.” I don’t know why I was explaining myself to him. I felt like I did before I left, like I needed to answer his every wish. That I owed him an explanation to my every move.
“With Elijah Weatherston?” There was a bitterness in his voice as he said his name. I didn’t realise he even knew Elijah’s name, but I guess after the arrest it wouldn’t have been hard for him to figure out. “You didn’t take long to move on from me, playing house with your little police officer boyfriend. Did you think that would keep you safe from me?” I felt the hairs on my neck stand up on edge.
I was still stood in the same spot as when I first entered, unable to move myself.
“You need to leave, Adam.” He rose from his seat and moved closer to me. I reached in my pocket for my phone, but Adam reached his arm out and smacked it out of my hand. Bringing his leg up, he stomped on it multiple times and I watched it crumble beneath his feet.
“You are going to go in that room, pack a bag, and we are going to go home, Lottie.” He grabbed my wrist, shoving me forcefully towards the bedroom. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to call Elijah to get me out of this situation. I was going to have to get myself out of this one myself. I turned sharply towards him.
“No!” I yelled as loudly as I could.
I don’t think I had ever said the word no to Adam before. There was something exhilarating about standing up to him. “You are going to turn around and leave my house. Now, Adam.” I held my ground even though I was terrified. I wasn’t going to let him push me around not anymore. He was not about to take everything away from me. I was never going to let him take anything from me ever again.
“Enough! Don’t you dare speak to me like that.” He spat back at me, pushing my back against the wall by the kitchen. His hand slapped me hard across my cheek, I fought the tears that threatened to come. I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of seeing me cry. “You are nothing, Lottie, do you understand? You are worthless without me.” His words hurt more than his fists. There was a part of me that used to believe him. Whenever he would tell me that before I agreed with him, I did feel worthless without him. That was until I met Elijah. In the few weeks I’d known him, he’d made me feel important. He’d made me feel cared for and special, like I meant something. All I’ve ever wanted was to mean something to someone.
“You don’t scare me, Adam.” I held my ground. His hand came to my throat and I thrashed my arms against him to try to get him to loosen his grip. I felt my breathing restrict as I struggled again him. I managed to get a good kick in him and he loosened his grip on me. With frustration, he threw me to the ground before walking into the kitchen. Once I caught my breath I screamed. I screamed as loudly as I could. I needed to try to alert my neighbours’ attention to my situation.
“Shut up.” he yelled, pinning me on the floor. “You’re not getting away from me this time.” His hand came over my mouth as I tried to keep screaming. “Why can’t you see that I’m doing this because I love you? You’re making it harder for yourself.” I stopped fighting and he loosened his grip on me. A moment later I kicked out as hard as I could, pushing him off me as I scrambled towards the kitchen. When I got to my feet I grabbed a knife from the butcher block.
“Leave, Adam! Now!” I held it out shakily towards him. I was not a violent person, but there was nothing I wouldn’t do to protect Theo. Nothing. Adam jumped towards me and I swiped the knife at him, but I missed. He grabbed my wrist, turning it until I dropped it and pushed me away from it. I let the tears fall as I watched him pick up the knife and walk towards me.
He embraced me as he plunged the knife into me, whispering “This is all your fault, Lottie. Maybe I should start punishing our son to keep you in line.” I tried to bite back my scream, but I couldn’t. Yelling out in pain as he pulled the knife back out of my stomach before launching it in again. I knew if I didn’t start fighting back, I was a goner. I couldn’t let him get to Theo. I thrashed again, trying to grapple onto the knife and failing. We wrestled for a few minutes as I tried to overpower him and failed. I managed to dig my nails into the side of his neck and he screamed out in pain, backing away from me. The break was short-lived as he swung the knife into my arm and I yelled out in pain. He stood up, staring down at me.
“This could have been so much easier, Lottie. If you had come with me none of this would have happened you know.” He rubbed his neck. “Why couldn’t you just do what you’re told?” he yelled. I was stuck on the floor now, unable to move myself at all.
There was a crash and I heard the sound of footsteps through the door. I couldn’t focus my eyes on the room as I felt them getting heavy.