Page 89 of Teach Me to Fly

“He hurt me,” she whispers. “Again.”

“Again?” He blinks.

“He raped me at the Big Apple Ballet Company,” she says after a pause, finding her voice now. “I told my mother, hoping she’d help, but she pulled me out to protect him, the money his parents donated, and the company.”

My father’s entire face goes still, and so does mine as I look at her.

Her own mother didn’t protect her?

My rage reignites and I vow to myself I’ll find a way to make her mom suffer for not choosing her daughter over a company. Over money. Over a man.

“I’ve spent months trying to pretend it didn’t happen,” she continues, voice shaking. “But it did. And tonight, if it wasn’t for Reign, he was going to rape me again.”

Wendy steps forward, lifting her phone. “I recorded the whole thing.”

Charlie stares at Alec, who’s still wheezing on the ground, blood leaking from his mouth.

“This can’t be real,” he mutters, rubbing his hand down his face. “I invited this man here. I thought you’d be so happy to see him. I didn’t know that he—” his voice cracks.

“No one did,” she says, softly.

My father’s silence stretches before he looks at me. “Get her out of here,” he says, his voice dangerously low. “Take her home. I’ll deal with this.”

I don’t move. “You mean?—?”

Is my father capable of killing?

“I’m calling the police,” he says, pulling his phone from his jacket. “There will be legal action. This won’t be swept under the rug the way it was at The Big Apple Ballet. Not this time.”

He swipes his phone screen and begins dialling the emergency line.

“Ms. Wu, please stay with me. I’m sure the police will want to see your video recording,” he says to Wendy, before looking at Angelique again, his face twisted with regret and guilt. “I’m sorry, Angelique. I promised your father the day you were born that I’d protect you like you were my own. I should have asked if you were okay with me inviting him.”

“It’s okay,” she says, but her voice breaks on the last word, and we all know it’s not.

I take her hand and lead her to where my car is parked, leaving Alec on the ground with my father and Wendy. But I know this isn’t the last time I’ll be seeing him. Because the next time I see him, I won’t have anyone around to stop me from finishing him.

Chapter 31

Angelique

The world blurs around me on the ride home as I sit in silence beside Reign, numb and exhausted, barely aware of the road winding through the trees, or of the shadows chasing us in the rearview mirror.

My dress sticks uncomfortably to my skin, stiff with sweat, and my hands won’t stop shaking as I hold on to Reign. But I can’t feel it. I can’t feel anything. My mind is far away, floating somewhere above the car, above the estate, above all of this.

When we pull up to the house, Reign parks the car but doesn’t move. Instead, he turns in his seat and silently stares at me, like he’s afraid I’ll shatter if he says the wrong thing.

“I’m fine,” I whisper.

I see the way his eyes narrow for a second at the lie, but eventually he nods. “Come on,” he says softly. “Let’s go inside.”

He helps me out of his car, but he doesn’t touch me the whole time, choosing to hover close instead, and it’s exactly what I was afraid of. Now that he knows what Alec did tome, I’m just another girl with baggage and a body deemed damaged goods.

I walk beside him up the stone steps and through the front door, pointe shoes in hand. My skin is buzzing, like I’ve been peeled open and left out in the cold. Inside, everything looks the same, but nothing feels familiar. I hold his gaze, knowing he has questions, but I don’t think I have any answers for him tonight, so I look away.

“I just… I need a shower,” I say, forcing my voice to stay even. “I need to… get him off me.”

Reign studies me, eyes flickering over every inch of me like he’s reading between the lines, but he doesn’t ask questions. He nods once and lets me go.

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