Page 73 of Handsome
He laughed and the voice pierced me with remembered terror, though I refused to move as he said, “He’ll tire of you, and then you’ll be like me, left with nothing.”
I took a deep breath, paused my tumbling thoughts, then shrugged and said, “That’s not how love works, Darren. Now you have ten seconds to get out of here and never come back.”
“You heard her,” Cyrus said from behind me.
His support mattered. Darren glanced over my shoulder and said, “Whatever she told you isn't true.”
“I believe in Sarah,” he said, while he rested his hand on my back in silent support.
While Darren and Cyrus stared at each other, I straightened and took a deep breath. I’d never let anything happen to Cyrus.
Then Darren backed away and almost bolted in the direction of the stairs on the other side of the building.
I whooshed out a breath and then unlocked the door, refusing to give Darren another thought.
We went inside, and he locked the door behind me as he said, “You should file charges.”
I tensed. Rape wasn’t an easy thing to talk about. I went into Leah's bedroom and said, “I don’t ever want to see him again.”
“He might have hurt others besides you and your sister.”
Cyrus’s insight shook me.
If I didn’t do something, who knows who might be hurt next? And unlike the girl I’d been, I was… different now. I could handle it. And honestly, I now had the world. I stopped in front of the bedroom closet where she kept her files and looked over my shoulder at Cyrus.
Cyrus knew me so well.
I nodded and said, “I didn’t think about that. Will Jeff be my lawyer?”
He brightened and joined me. “No pressure from me. I want you to be happy.”
“I want to do it,” I said, before I changed my mind. I was strong enough now to handle anything.
I reached into the closet for her box. It was heavy, so Cyrus took it from me and said, “Jeff will run point to make sure you have the best lawyers money can buy.”
He put the box on the bed while I said, “Then let’s do it. I’m not afraid of him anymore.”
“Good.”
I and sat on the edge of the bed, but when I flipped open the box I said, “My sister’s mysteries don’t really matter to me.”
He scooted up next to me and rubbed my back as he said, “They might matter to Joshua one day, so let’s finish this. Then we’ll go home and plan our wedding. It’s good you’re letting Maddie do the planning so she can finally earn her certificate.”
His sister-in-law was finishing a degree in wedding planning, and I remembered she had great ideas at the party.
I nodded and said, “Christmas is a happy time for so many, so it’s going to be amazing to celebrate my new beginning with you then, and every Christmas for the rest of our lives.”
We discovered my sister's loans had already been paid off.
She’d lied to me about her life over and over again.
We sorted everything, and found paperwork about Joshua’s birth, which I added to his medical records file.
Then Cyrus said, “Any thoughts on what you want to do next?”
“Good question. Your mother mentioned at the party that I might want to take over some charities for the family, and I’d like to start there.”
“We’ll both figure out what we want to do, then.”
