Page 228 of Hell Hath No Fury
“Shitty.” She snorts and laughs, then cries some more.
I reach for her hand and squeeze. “Are you upset it’s over?”
She shakes her head. “No. I just feel so … guilty for being so relieved that it’s gone.”
I smile and lean in to press a kiss to her cheek. “Don’t feel guilty. You were not ready.”
“No, I wasn’t,” she replies. “And I didn’t want Dean’s baby. I never did.”
My nostrils flare just from the sound of his name. “Do you want me to end him? Because I will if you’ve changed your mind.”
Her pupils dilate. “No, no, no. It was my choice to let him pay to have sex with me. We needed the money, and Mom said—”
“Mom?” I raise a brow.
She blushes and averts her eyes. “She … was the one who taught me how to sell my body.”
“Sellyour body?” I repeat, my blood turning into pure rage.
“She said that it would make me useful,” she adds. “That I could earn my stay.”
Fuck.
It takes every ounce of restraint in me not to waltz out of this clinic right now and go find me that woman’s head.
“She was your mother,” I say through gritted teeth. “And you’re telling me she sold her daughter for cash?”
Emilia nods. “We didn’t have the money to pay rent or food, and no one would hire her while she was on drugs.”
“On drugs?” I’m almost spitting fire by now.
She licks her lips. “I didn’t touch them because of the way they made her behave.”
“I’m glad you didn’t,” I tell her. “Drugs are the worst kind of thing to do to your own body.”
“I know … I just wish she would’ve appreciated all my effort instead of kicking me out.”
I grab her chin and make her look at me. “Did she ever hurt you?”
Her face contorts. “Often.”
It seems hard to admit.
But it’s the kind of detail I won’t ever forget.
“Did she ever love you?” I ask.
Tears well up in her eyes. “I don’t think so. I was born … only because she didn’t have the means to end it before.” She swallows. “That’s why I didn’t want this.” She touches her belly. “I’m sorry,” she murmurs, her muscles tightening as a wave of pain hits her.
“Don’t. Don’t apologize.” I press another deep kiss to her forehead. “Stop beating yourself up. Rest now.”
She breathes a sigh of relief, and as the last tear rolls down her cheeks, a grin spreads on my cheeks.
Because I will not rest … until Emilia has gotten everything she’s owed.
* * *
Emilia
