Page 110 of Bleeding Hearts

She hugs me goodbye, and I promise to call her as soon as things calm down and meet with her realtor to start looking at potential places to buy.

She hugs Asher goodbye, and he whispers something inaudible to her. She pulls away with a wide smile and a nod before walking out the door.

Asher walks over, pressing his lips to mine in a bruising kiss as soon as she leaves. I kiss him back, throwing my arms around him and pressing myself into him.

“What was that for?” I ask, smiling up at him as he pulls away.

“Just because I love you.” He smiles back, sitting down on the couch and pulling me on top of him.

Gordon jumps up next to us, lying across my feet.

“Well, I love you too.” I laugh lightly. “So, how’d it go?” I ask, nerves suddenly surfacing in my belly as I wait for his response.

“It’s over, Dem,” he says. “Your mother went to the cops this morning before meeting with me. She said Alexander is going to be arrested.”

“What?” I squeak, sitting up straighter, not expecting that outcome at all. “My mom came forward?” I ask.

“She did.” He nods. “She said she told the cops everything, even before you were born. I’m sure Alexander will fight it and there will be a trial, and you’ll probably have to testify if that’s the case, but you’ll be the one with the upper hand this time. Not him.”

“I don’t care about the trial. I’ll testify a million times if it means he’s sent to prison where he belongs,” I say confidently.

“He will be. My bet is that with all of our statements combined about yesterday, about how we walked in on him strangling you, they could up the charge to attempted murder,” he says. “He’s going to jail for a long time, baby.”

“Good. He deserves it.” I sigh, cuddling into him. “I can’t believe my mom told the truth.” Even with all the pain she caused, my heart swells in my chest when I think about her finally getting away from my father. “Did she tell you what she’s going to do? Maybe I should call her.”

“She’s going to stay with your grandparents. She said she has a lot of healing to do with herself, but she’s going to call you when she’s ready.” He pauses, looking down at me. “She told me to tell you that she’s sorry for everything and that she loves you.”

“She said she loves me?” I ask, tears pricking at the corners of my eyes.

My mom told me she loved me as a child, but I haven’t heard her say those words to me in a very long time. I hate that I’m not hearing them from her, but I know Asher would never lie to me, and knowing that she said them fills a hole in my chest that she burned long ago.

“Yeah, she did. She does. How could she not?” He runs his fingers through my hair, playing with the strands as he speaks. “I told her you love her too. I told her you probably already forgave her.”

“I did.” I nod. “Thank you,” I say, pressing a kiss to his chest beneath me.

I love that he met with my mother this morning when she clearly wasn’t ready to meet with me yet and still was able to tell her everything that I would’ve wanted him to.

I love the way he knows me.

“Do you think she’ll be okay?” I ask.

“Yeah, I do,” he says. “I think we’re all going to be just fine.”

I smile into his shirt, holding him tight and savoring this moment. We sit there in comfortable silence, just enjoying each other.

I think back to the moment I left my father’s house at eighteen years old. I think of the freedom I felt when I left, taking my life into my own hands for the first time.

I feel that same freedom now, knowing that he’s finally going to get what he deserves, and I played a part in ensuring that.

I also feel it for my mom. She was trapped for so long, losing herself over the years to the abuse. But now she’s free too. She gets to find herself in the same way that I did.

She gets to leave it all behind and decide what the rest of her life looks like.

I look at the open envelope sitting on the table and think about how I get to decide what the rest of my life looks like too, because of Lydia.

I get to have the dream I’ve wanted since the second I fell in love with cooking, my own restaurant, my own menu, the opportunity to cook food that I love.

“Lydia sold the bakery,” I say to Asher, breaking the silence and he looks down at me with pinched brows.

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