Page 59 of Ex- Factor
I hated that part of myself.
I stayed quiet for a long moment.
“Talk to me. Please.”
I sighed. I didn’t owe him anything. But maybe… maybe I owed it tomyselfto say this—here, where I felt safe, with a wall between us.
“You were bad,” I said quietly. “You weren’t a villain. That would’ve been easier—just be outright evil. You were more like slow, sweet poison. You brought me banana pudding and held me when my granny died. You knew I depended on you. Loved you. And that’s what made the bad parts so much worse.”
I heard him shift on the other side of the fence, the creak of a floorboard under his weight.
“You broke me in the quietest ways,” I continued, the words flowing easier here, in Silas’s yard. “It wasn’t just the abortion. It was you asking for it. It was you marrying her. It was you showing up at my door, smelling like her perfume, andexpecting me to wait. You made me an accomplice in my own heartbreak. You made me complicit.”
My voice grew steadier.
“You broke me by making me believe that crumbs from your table were a feast. You broke my faith, Donte. You made me stop believing in love. You made me look at my own reflection and see a fool.”
I could almost hear his breathing.
“I know you didn’t mean to,” I said at last. “You’re just selfish, and nobody taught you not to be. But intention doesn’t erase impact. You can’t put a bandage on a wound this deep.”
I stepped back from the fence.
“And beyond all that… the fundamental, unchangeable truth?” I drew a breath. “We were never meant to be, becauseyou chose to be someone else’s.”
The silence on his side was absolute.
Then I heard it—the sliding sound of his back door, followed by it slamming shut.
Out front, a car door closed. A moment later, Silas walked onto the patio. I was still standing near the fence.
“Everything alright?” he asked, his voice a low rumble that instantly soothed the frayed nerves inside me.
Before I could answer, his eyes flicked to the fence, then back to me—curious but calm.
I walked toward him, away from the ghost next door and into the solid, present reality ofhim. I took the bag of food from his hands and set it on the counter.
“Everything’s fine,” I said—and for the first time, I truly believed it. “The past was just stopping by to say a final goodbye.”
The war was over.
I was on the right side of the fence.
Chapter thirty four- Eshe
The Scrabble board was my battlefield, and I was determined to win.
My tongue pressed against my teeth, eyes scanning my tiles. Silas sat across from me, looking smug as hell with his goofy self, lounging back like a king waiting for me to fail.
“You cheating,” I said, narrowing my eyes when he droppedEXACTINGacross the board.
He leaned forward with that cocky smirk. “Nah, just smarter.”
“Smarter my ass.” I flicked a tile at him.
He caught it and laughed, the sound bouncing around the room—warm and alive.
Then his phone started buzzing. Once. Twice. Again. Relentless.
