Page 140 of Demise

“They have a picture! Of you, of mom.”

“Oh my God,” she whispers to herself. “You don’t think they’d leak it, do you? I haven’t told Collin yet…I don’t want to, ever. If you think they’ll spread it, I need to, though. He has to know it wasn’t consensual, that I would never.”

“From the sounds of it, the picture does not depict consent,” I assure her.

Another cry rips from her chest as she sobs. I sit on the phone for several minutes, just listening to her heart break.

“I always knew they were evil. I knew what they did to her, but to live it? To feel the…pain. The…disgust.”

“It’s unforgivable, it’s despicable,” I say.

She sniffs several times, exhaling roughly.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart. You don’t need to listen to me fall apart.”

I frown. “You don’t owe me your strength, Steph. Not right now. I know that you’re a strong woman, but it’s okay to fall apart right now.”

“No, no,” she says as she banishes more and more emotion from her voice. “If I fall apart, I’ll never pull myself back up, andthat’s not an option, so….so,” she says matter of factly, like she’s decided she will never cry again.

“Have you spoken to anyone?” I ask softly.

There is a long pause before she says, “No.”

I nod at that. “I think, maybe you should try. You don’t have to give over the top details, but…you need someone completely unbiased to dump on. You know I want to be here, but something tells me you won’t open up to me the way you need to.”

“You’re right.” She laughs derisively, like she hates herself for it. “All I’ve ever done is try to protect you from this world, Sky. I don’t want you dragged into it even deeper.”

I huff at that. “Trust me, I’m in it as deep as I can be.”

“And I hate that for you. She would have hated that for you.”

My heart aches at her words. I hate it for me, too.

“Anyway, how are you? Everything okay for now?”

Okay is relative. I just found out one of my boyfriends has been keeping a major secret from me since the moment that I met him. Also, just found out that my lovely father-in-law knew about my stalker and who he was the entire time, yet did nothing to stop him. Apparently, he is also trying to dig up information on me, for what, who knows. I can promise nothing good.

I don’t say any of that, though. Mainly because, as sad as it is, the chaos and drama that is my life has actually begun to be quite typical. Little can shock me these days. The other part is I really can’t find it in myself to hate Wesley, no matter how much I want to. He was in the wrong, absolutely, but…he didn’t owe me anything in the beginning, and for him to risk everything to protect me before we were even together…I just…in a world this terrible, I can’t afford to lose one more person that I love.

“We’re fine,” I say simply, and I can practically hear Steph’s relief that more shit hasn’t hit the fan.

“Good. That’s good.”

We’re both quiet for a few moments before she speaks again.

“I love you, Sky. You know that, right?”

I frown. “Of course I do. You know I love you, right?”

“I’m the luckiest auntie in the world for it.”

That makes me smile. We small talk for a few more minutes before she makes an excuse that she needs to get to bed. Truthfully, I just think she wants to cry a little more and doesn’t want to do it with me on the phone, which I respect, but also wish she would let me be there for her like she has always been there for me.

A soft knock at the door comes and I anticipate it to be Liam. Whenever there is tension, he is always the sacrificial lamb they send. Maybe because he’s never the one I’m angry with. Or maybe it’s because he’s able to diffuse any situation, no matter how intense. It’s like a gift.

Instead of Liam though, it’s Wesley. I’m honestly shocked they let him up here. I stand up a little straighter as he peeks his head in.

“Can we talk?” he asks softly.

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