Page 6 of The Life We Left Behind

She didn’t waiver in her hate. The words she threw at me were the cruelest things anyone had ever said to me in my life, and at just sixteen years old, I didn’t have any idea how to deal with them. The fear of having this woman standing over me and judging me was enough to have me rooted to the spot, my mouth opening and closing as I desperately wanted to advocate for myself and yet had no idea of how to do it.

But as I stood there panicking, my mind racing at a million miles an hour, there was one thought that broke through. Trace would never act this way. With numb fingers, I pulled my cell phone from my coat pocket and quickly brought up his information, ignoring his mother as I called him, convinced that he’d tell me all of this wasn’t true. That he’d never treat me this way.

Four rings, and then the call went to voicemail.

I hated the satisfied look on her face before I stared at the phone in shock.

Trying the call again, it went straight to voicemail this time, and it didn’t take a genius to realize why. He’d turned it off.

My breaths started to come quicker as my world crashed down around me, and I realized how much worse this situation was than I’d originally thought it would be.

Trace wanted nothing to do with me. Nothing to do with our baby growing inside me.

It was over.

He was done with me.

Looking up, I thought I saw a flicker of pain cross Mrs. Farrington’s face, but it was quickly replaced by that cold, hardlook again. She slid the envelope closer to herself before picking it up and extracting the papers from inside.

“This is a non-disclosure agreement that you will sign confirming that you will not tell a soul about Trace’s involvement in your predicament. Upon signing this document, you will receive this.” She slipped a piece of paper closer to me across the surface of the desk, and I stepped forward to see what she was talking about.

It was a check.

She was buying my silence.

“If you decide to go through with this pregnancy, you will not contact Trace or anyone from this family again. He will not be liable to provide you with any further financial assistance, nor will he approach you for any parental rights in respect of the child. Should you choose to pursue the option of a termination, the money will still be yours.”

I picked up the check and silently stared at it.

$500,000. That was what our relationship and child were worth to him.

What was I supposed to do? Surely, I wasn’t old enough to be dealing with this sort of legal paperwork on my own.

I gently placed the check back on the desk and took a step back. I could feel my back straightening and my will hardening as I came to a decision. “I don’t need your money,” I seethed. “You don’t get to buy me.”

Mrs. Farrington rolled her eyes before she relaxed back in her chair, crossing her legs and smoothing the non-existent creases from her black fitted pants. Ever the lady, even when she was trying to blackmail a child?

Her eyes squinted in annoyance before she opened her mouth, and I knew whatever she was about to say would be the final nail in my coffin. “Your father has a very large mortgage on your home. Did you know that? His entire business is reliant ona lot of people in this town and a lot of businesses that carry the Farrington name one way or another. You will sign these papers, child. If you don’t, life will become very difficult for your family. You don’t get to cross my family and then walk away from it free and dry.”

She was right. I knew she was. She could ruin my father just because she felt like it. The Farringtons held so much power in Willowbrook that it would be impossible to survive any kind of wrath she sent our way. No one would dare say no to her. It was kind of ridiculous that I was even considering it.

But I was about to crush my father with this news. He’d be so disappointed in me. He’d always wanted me to go on to do great things, and those dreams were gone now. I was going to be a mother, a teenage mother. Life wasn’t going to be easy, but it would be fulfilling in so many ways. The least I could do was not put this added pain at his feet.

I felt the first of my tears trail down my cheeks before I stepped forward and grabbed a pen from the desk. Turning to the final page, I scribbled my name on the bottom before throwing down the pen and shoving my hands in my pocket.

It was done.

I might not have Trace anymore, but I’d be more than enough for this kid. That was one promise I was keeping tonight.

Mrs. Farrington stood, gathering up the papers like she thought I was going to grab them and make a run for it. Then she picked up the check and delicately folded it in half.

I’d never hated a single person more than I did her right now. It should have been Trace that faced the full amount of my ire. He should have had enough respect for me to do this himself. Although if there was one thing I was taking away from tonight, it was that Trace had never been the man I thought he was.

Maybe that was the problem. He was a child, just like me. Only I didn’t have the luxury of walking away from my responsibilities.

Swiping at the tears on my face, I swore to myself that I was done shedding tears over Trace Farrington. The baby inside would be a James. And it would be loved like a James. It wouldn’t grow up in a big cold house where the only things that mattered were impossible levels of perfection and everyone’s perceptions of you.

Holding my head high, I slowly walked to the bedroom door. Getting out of this place was the only thing I wanted right now. Putting the Farringtons behind me was the only way I’d survive the heartbreak currently racking through my body.

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