Page 33 of Second Chance Christmas

“Why couldn’t I keep her quiet, he’d want to know.What was I doing wrong?”

Leo’s jaw moved as he ground his teeth but he stayed quiet.

“Then he missed out on a cabinet position he’d desperately wanted, and it was my fault.”

“How could it be your fault? It’s his job.”

“Everything was my fault,” she said. “He was always sorry afterwards, and in the beginning, it wasn’t that frequent, so I believed him. I believed he would change, that he was trying to be better. But then, after the stairs—,”

“When was that?”

She swallowed. “A year before I left him.”

He swallowed another curse. “Go on,” he said, softly.

“I knew that if I stayed, he’d kill me eventually. And then, who would protect Audrey? Someone had to absorb his anger.”

“But still you stayed with him.”

“He always told me that if I left, he’d keep her. That he could afford the best lawyers in the country and I couldn’t. I didn’t have a job, and he gave me a small allowance, never enough to do more than pay for groceries.”

“Cristo,” Leonardo dragged a hand through his hair. Then, “Go on.”

“So I needed to have something over him. Something he really cared about. I started to document everything. Any time he touched me, I took photos straight away afterwards, I wrote myself emails about what he’d done, with the photos attached, because I knew he’d find hard copies of anything I wrote.”

Leonardo was very still, so it was easy for Cassidy to pour the truth out. And it felt good, so good, to finally be honest with someone.

“I still worried it wouldn’t be enough. Maybe he could say it was a set up? Maybe his fancy lawyers would be able to argue that I’d staged it all.”

“And so?”

“I filmed him. He came home from work one evening, and he was particularly angry about some draft legislation he’d seen. He poured himself a huge whisky—never a good sign—and I hid my phone with the video camera on and made sure I stayed in that room all night. Sure enough, he laid into me around ten.”

She was still trembling, but the tea was addictive and yes, definitely calming.

“I know you must think I’m so weak, for staying with him. If it weren’t for Audrey—,”

Leonardo reached over, putting his hand on hers. “Believe me, that’s the last thing I’m thinking right now.”

She wanted to believe him. She wanted his approval. She wanted him to say she’d done the right thing.

“The next day, Audrey and I went to see him at work. The thing he loves most in the world is his job, and the thing he cared most about was ever being looked down on. I took my phone and I showed him everything. Photos, my emails, the video. I watched as he read them, his face turning puce; he was catatonically enraged. And then, I struck a deal.”

“A deal?” Leo said, voice low.

“Our freedom, for his privacy. I told him we’d go without making a fuss, that I didn’t want anything from him except that. Just to be free.” She inhaled deeply. “Finally, I was out. I was out.”

Leonardo stood up then, with the energy of a jack-in-the-box. He was like a tightly wound spring, incapable of stillness, and she was struck again by his athleticism. She sipped her tea, watching him.

“He shouldn’t have come here,” she whispered. “Thiswas not our deal.”

Leo’s eyes showed sympathy as he came to crouch in front of her. “Listen, my love.” Her heart stammered at the easily offered endearment. “He spent your marriage controlling you, and he enjoyed it. He’s going to try to control you for as long as he can.” He lifted up then, so their eyes were level. “You have to go to the police.”

“I can’t. He’ll take her.”

“You’ve been conditioned to fear him,” Leo said gently. “But he’ll never succeed in removing Audrey from your custody.”

“How do you know? I can’t risk it.”

---