Page 40 of Embracing the Dark Side

“Write a letter.”

Jolie groaned. She had a feeling that was going to be the answer. To send a letter to Adrik would be impossible. Everything she did was monitored.

Then the answer hit her. Jolie hung up and found her mother’s number, but she hesitated.

Her mother had learned about Adrik. She saw a news report, and then, with a fast Google search, there were no more secrets from her. Jolie called her the momentshe got the phone, desperate for her mother’s love, but instead, all she received was disappointment.

Since then, phone calls have been sparse.

“Momma, I need a favor.”

“Oh,” Heather sneered. “You need a favor.”

Jolie sighed, exhausted already.

“Well,Ineed a favor,” Heather responded. “I need you to get your head out of the clouds and be a responsible adult. I need you to use your brain. I don’t know where I went wrong with you. How could you think that he would be a good husband? A good father? Can you imagine what life is like for his child?”

Jolie knew exactly what life was like for his child. And it burned her that she couldn’t fight against her mother’s righteous speech.

“You are so smart and so beautiful. You don’t need to settle. You can have it all, Jolie. Why do you date these men who do terrible things? Doesn’t that matter to you? Doesn’t God matter to you?”

“Enough!” Jolie snapped, “I don’t have time to listen to you complain. I know what I’ve done. And I’d do it again. This isn’t like Vincent.”

There was a pause before Heather whispered, “I feel like I don’t even know you.”

It stung, and tears burned the back of her eyes. She never wanted to disappoint her parents, but there’s always been a part of her that didn’t want to be perfect. Living up to their expectations was exhausting. With Adrik, she felt like she could slip from that facade, and he’d still want her.

“Did you hear about the fire in downtown this morning?” The change of subject was a peace offering, but Jolie didn’t care to latch onto it. This wasn’t somethingthat was going to go away. “It’s terrible. A whole block, gone.” Jolie had seen it and could see the black smoke from her window, but she said nothing, sitting in silence. Heather huffed. “You aren’t going to tell me, are you?”

Jolie sighed. “Tell you what?”

“That Vincent’s out. Think I wasn’t paying attention?”

Her shoulders sank. There were only so many lies she could tell. And every lie felt like a brick on her back. “I didn’t know.”

“Sure. Has he tried to talk to you?”

Her back broke, but instead of pain, instead of coming clean, Jolie latched onto anger. “Are you afraid he’ll tell me what you did? How you stole every letter? How you denied every call?”

Heather scoffed. “You did know. I knew he’d go right back to you.” It was a mumble, a bitter, breathless whisper. And then she strengthened her stance. “I’m sorry, but in my defense, Vincent robbed a bank at gunpoint. Did you honestly think there was a future there? Do you honestly think Adrik’s going to get out? They are charging him with murder!”

“It doesn’t matter! Listen to me. It wasn’t your right to keep Vincent’s letters from me. I spent months blaming myself, thinking he hated me. It took years to get over him because there was never any closure. Maybe if you let me solve it, I’d have figured it out myself. Instead, I was bullied out of my town, and everything they said I thought was true. That wasn’t fair, momma.”

“Yes, I’m such a terrible mother for wanting you away from a bank robber.”

“That’s not the point. You’re not listening!”

There was silence between them, each holding fast to their side. Jolie had never needed her mother more,and now she felt that even this one little piece of solace had been taken from her. She was on her own. It broke something inside her, numbing her.

“Well, I want to see you,” her mother demanded. “We can talk in person because I don’t know what’s happening, and I need you to explain it to me step by step. I need to know you’re okay.”

Jolie wiped a cold tear off her face. She wanted to tell her mother what was happening, but Heather would go to the police, and Jolie couldn’t risk it. She needed to stay here for Helina.

“I’ll see when I can get time off.” She had told her mother she was still working at the Morozov residence with Adrik’s wife. It was an easy lie because it was easy to believe. Jolie never wanted to be good at lying, but it was becoming a talent. “Please, I need you to write a letter.”

The door pushed open, and her mother’s disgusted response sounded like it was underwater as Jolie stared at Vincent. His hands were in the pockets of his khaki pants. “Tsk, tsk, tsk.”

Jolie stammered. “I have to go.”

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