Page 85 of Always Right

Hannah shook her head, and a lone tear ran down the side of her face. “It wasn’t your fault, Derek. I had a lot of unresolved issues, too. I just didn’t feel worth it anymore, not until I found out I was pregnant. Those girls...Isa and Annie quite literally saved my life.”

Her scars didn’t start with you.

Carter’s words echoed in my head, and their meaning finally sunk in.

The person who was supposed to love her, had completely broken her. She had never learned how to live without having to meet someone else's expectations. Her mother had ruined her much like mine had ruined me.

“I know you tell me I'm not responsible for this, and maybe I'm not but Derek, it's very hard for me to believe it when I know it could have been avoided had I not made the choices that I made,” she whispered.

I couldn't say she was wrong and she knew it.

I leaned in and kissed her gently, resting my forehead against hers.

She was right.

Her past had made her plenty of enemies—powerful enemies—which she managed to steal from...made them go bankrupt.

They were already corrupt to begin with, so who the hell knew what they were capable of.

To say the list was extensive was an understatement.

“Do you think this will ever end?”

My chest felt tight, like it had since we had found out what was happening and I knew it would continue until we could figure this out...if we could.

The odds were stacked against us.

This person had been following Hannah for over a year, knew exactly where she lived, where she worked and we had just found out they existed and it was only because they wanted us to know.

Shit.

I’d never had a panic attack because I was usually drunk enough to avoid them, but this sure as hell felt like one.

“I'm not sure,” I admitted. “But I know I'll be with you through it all.”

Hannah looked up at me, her pretty eyes shining with the moonlight that poured through the window. I wished I could tell her it would be over soon...that everything would be okay but the truth was, I wasn’t sure it would be. She knew it, too.

“You don't deserve this.”

With a half smile, I replied, “Neither do you. No matter what you think, you don't.”

Another silent tear ran down her face, followed by another and then another. She covered her face with her hands and I took her in my arms, holding her as she quietly sobbed.

“I don’t know what will happen,” I murmured, “but we made a promise a few days ago, baby, and I plan on keeping it. I meant every word I said. I'm not walking away. For better or worse, Hannah, I'm here with you, every step of the way.”

She nodded against my chest, and for a few minutes, it was only the sound of her sobs that filled the air.

I tilted her face up so I could see her and smiled at her, brushing my lips against hers. “I need you to promise me something.”

“What is it?”

“If you ever feel yourself falling into that depression again, if you ever have those thoughts, just tell me.” She looked down, as if ashamed and I quickly tilted her chin up so I could see her. “No...don’t do that, Hannah. There’s no shame in what you did. We all go through things...you’ve never judged me for my alcoholism, have you?”

“No.”

“Then why would you think I’d judge you for your trauma?” Quietly, she shrugged and bit her lip. “Hannah, when I say I love you I mean all of you. I accept you for who you are...I always have.” I pulled her lip from underneath her teeth with my thumb, hearing her shaky exhale. “I wish you could see yourself through my eyes so you could love yourself as much as I love you.”

The wheels in her head turned. I could see it as she struggled to find anything to say, except, she didn’t say anything at all. Instead, Hannah wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled me down to her, locking her lips with mine.

---