I settle my fingertips on my temples and squeeze hard, trying to settle my head as the elevator door closes. As I travel down from the penthouse it goes over again in my mind. I have to find a way out. But if I don’t, I’ll have to set her free.
Again.
No matter how much of my soul it costs me.
My throat tightens and a weight sits on my chest. How can I keep her safe and keep her in my life? A sob threatens me as the elevator lowers me to the lobby. My car is waiting out front and my mind quiets.
I think of her, sleeping in my bed, as my driver opens the car door and I slide inside. How she looked there. Like she belonged.
And she does. She belongs with me.
C H A P T E R E L E V E N
WILLOW
I heard him leave but I couldn’t bear to open my eyes to say goodbye. I almost broke when he kissed me and called me his princess, almost cried out as he left the bedroom thinking I was sound asleep.
I flop over onto my back. My eyes are burning, the stinging rivers of tears sneaking out the corners of my eyes to run over my temples and into my hair.
My stomach turns when I think about seeing Derrick face to face again. The smug smile he will be wearing is already haunting me. All these years later, he’s still able to hurt me, and I haven’t even spoken to him.
Yet.
I have to be at the law office in less than two hours.
I stumble to the shower and sob as Pike’s scent fills the steamy glass enclosure, the hot water stinging my skin. There is not a spot on my body he hasn’t touched since the night we opened this box between us.
I wish I could have told him. Wish I could have him next to me when I go through this final humiliation with Derrick and his father. But I must be strong, must keep my resolve. I must play their game and finish this once and for all, even if it means my final humiliation and his victory.
I’m dressed and out the door in the next twenty minutes. Thank goodness Lucielle is on a flight to Milan and will be out of touch for the next twelve hours. I hold the sealed envelope in my hand. The letter I wrote in the last five minutes before I left Pike’s apartment has my head spinning and my fingertips tingling.
Inside the cab, I give the driver the address. I’m early and I need to make one stop on my way. The one person besides Pike that can give me strength.
Ten minutes later I’m sitting at her bedside. Her soft gray hair styled, her lips wearing her signature tomato-red lipstick as she turns her head on the pillow toward me.
“You look beautiful, Maisy.” I brush my fingers over the thin, silky soft skin of her arm. Deep purple bruises dot the exposed flesh.
“I look like a harlot.” She snaps. “All these men around here are after me but I’m not giving them the time of day. They want a piece of ass but I’m not that kind of girl. It doesn’t matter. They come around still. Men are stupid. You know that, Willow? Most of them, anyway. Not my Henry. He’s coming back soon and we are going for a carriage ride in the park.”
“Yes, Maisy. It’s a beautiful day for that.” The morning light tickles the lace on her bed linens. They are lavender and green and she fusses with the lace that trims the edge of the comforter.
“Willow?” Her voice changes from that wispy, far off lament, into something sharp. “Yes?” I can see from the sharp focus in her watery blue eyes that she’s back in the present with me. She does this, her lucidity waxing and waning as she comes and goes, to and from the dream world and reality. I’ve learned to simply go along for the ride.
“What’s wrong?” She lets out a low groan and sits herself up a little higher on her pillows.
“Nothing. Nothing’s wrong.”
“Liar.” She pokes her finger into my face. “You tell me what’s got your face in a twist like that. You can’t lie to me. You never could.”
I sigh and pull my lips to the side. She’s right. She knows me. She has always been someone in my life I know I can always turn to. She always accepted me and loved me for exactly who I was. For who I am.
“It’s just something I have to do today. It’s got me irritated.”
“It’s something to do with your mother, isn’t it?” Maisy shakes her head. “I don’t know where I went wrong with that girl. She lost her heart somewhere along the way and I’m sorry you paid for it.”
“Don’t be sorry. It’s not your fault. I just have to do something unpleasant, one little thing, but then it will be done and life goes on.”
“Stop being so vague. It’s annoying. Spit it out. What do you have to do? And do not give me some other round-about answer like I’m going to break into tiny pieces if you tell me. What more do I have to lose? Most days I can’t even get myself to the bathroom on my own, sometimes I don’t even know what year it is. Nothing you tell me is going to make things any worse for me, Willow. So, spill. Right now. And details. I want details.”