Page 15 of Awakening the Wild
"I told you, I'm not coming back."
"Don't be ridiculous. You can't survive without me, and we both know it." Michael's laugh was indulgent, like I was a child throwing a tantrum. "You've proven your point. You're independent, you're strong, blah blah blah. Now come home before you get yourself killed playing pioneer woman in your grandmother’s cabin in Vermont."
"I'm fine where I am."
"Are you? Because I've had some research done on your new... friend." The way he said 'friend' made it sound dirty."Kevin Pike, thirty, no college education, runs a small-time maple syrup operation. Really, Tonya? Is this the best you can do?"
Beside me, Kevin's jaw clenched, but his expression remained dangerously calm.
"That's none of your business," I said.
"Everything about you is my business. You're still my fiancée." His voice hardened. "I've spoken to your parents again. They want me to bring you home to Manhattan with me."
Of course they'd sided with him. They always did.
"I don't need my parents' permission or yours to live my own life where ever and with whomever I want." I looked up at Kevin and he nodded encouragingly at me.
"You need someone's guidance, clearly. Look at the mess you've made. Stranded in the wilderness, dependent on some backwoods nobody who probably hasn't seen a woman in years." His voice turned cruel. "He's using you, sweetheart. Men like that always do. Taking advantage of a vulnerable woman for as long as it's convenient."
I looked at Kevin, who was listening to every word with narrowed eyes. But Michael was wrong. Whatever Kevin felt for me, it wasn't about using me. He was helping me.
"You don't know anything about him."
"I know he's not good enough for you. I know he can't give you the life you deserve. And I know that by tomorrow morning, you'll be ready to come home where you belong."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well, for starters, I've been tracking you since you left. Did you really think I wouldn't put a tracker on your luggage?" He sounded smug, satisfied. "I know exactly where you are. Sugar Maple Ridge Road. Very remote. Very isolated."
That bastard! I was going to take an axe to my Louis Vuitton and chuck it in the landfill.
"Secondly," he continued, "I've discovered some interesting things about your financial situation. Remember all those documents you signed when we got engaged? The ones I told you were just to simplify our wedding planning?" His laugh was cruel. "Turns out I have power of attorney over more than you realized."
"You can't—" I started, but he cut me off.
"I can. And I have. I’ve cancelled all your credit cards and shut you out of our joint bank account. It’s all under my control until you come to your senses." His voice turned silky again. "You have nothing, Tonya. No money, no resources, no way to survive without me."
"I don't need your money.”
"Don't you? Because last I checked, you don't have a job, no savings, no credit cards and no way to support yourself.”
I felt the walls closing in around me, the same suffocating sensation I'd lived with for months before I escaped. He'd planned this. All of it. Every document I'd signed, every financial decision I'd let him handle—it had all been to control me and leave me helpless without him. At least he didn’t know about the money I was getting for the totaled Mercedes.
"I'll call you back in a few hours," Michael continued. "Give you time to think about your situation. I'm sure you'll see reason soon enough."
The line went dead.
I stared at the phone in my trembling hands, feeling like I was drowning. Without my credit cards, I couldn’t afford the repairs on my grandmother’s house. Without any money, I was just freeloading on Kevin.
"Tonya." Kevin's voice was gentle but firm. "Look at me."
I raised my eyes to meet his, and what I saw there stole my breath. Not pity or concern, but support and faith.
"He can't control you from New York," Kevin said. "And he sure as hell can't force you to go back."
"You don't understand," I said. "I had signed over everything to him when we got engaged. I'm completely dependent on him financially."
"No," Kevin said, moving closer. "You're not."
