“It doesn't matter if she's with you willingly,” Angel says. “They would never let that information see the light of day. She will always be the victim. You will always be the perpetrator. The truth would affect her father too much, so she has to be the victim. Being the victim of an abduction will help his career once she's returned to safety. And that means all the blame will be placed on you.”
“I know all of this,” I growl, my frustration increasing. “I came for help and suggestions. I don't need all the mistakes I've made pointed out to me in bullet points.”
“You need to let her go and run. And once you find the end of the earth, keep running. That's the only way. If you want to protect her and keep her safe, it's impossible to do that with the two of you together. There's no fucking happily ever after for you, Liam.”
I drop my ass into a chair in the waiting area. This isn't exactly the kind of help I was hoping to get but everything he's saying is the truth. She can't deny being with me, not with her DNA on the sheets they pulled from my house.
I look up at him, pleading and desperation in my eyes. “You can't think of any other way for us to survive this?”
He immediately shakes his head. “You have to let her go.”
Chapter 32
Raya
A sense of unease clings to the layer of sweat already coating my skin as she follows closely behind me.
“It’s just right there,” she says, pointing to a door at the end of the narrow hallway.
The need to escape her has me shuffling quickly and locking myself inside. The restroom is small and intimate. It doesn't have an industrial or businesslike feel to it at all. I use the toilet before standing at the sink to wash my hands. I've avoided looking in the mirror as much as possible during my time with Liam and I think that's what helps me notice the difference in my appearance.
A month ago, the reflection looking back at me would have her hair pulled into a tight, severe bun instead of the unruly wisps all over my head. My eyes would be clouded with despair and hopelessness. She would be unhappy biding her time until she could get a moment alone. That woman is nowhere to be found in the reflection. She's been gone for a while now.
Although we're in a better place mentally now, I know the real fight has just begun. The fight to get away from him has transitioned into a battle of staying together at all costs. With renewed determination, I pull open the restroom door and startle to find the woman waiting for me in the hallway. Is she afraid I'll run and somehow cause her trouble? What is she willing to do to me to prevent that from happening?
“Excuse me,” I say when she steps in my way as I try to walk past her.
“I was just about to make a cup of coffee,” she says. “Would you like one?” Her voice is soft and unintrusive. But it's that side of me I've been trying to free myself of the last month that agrees to her offer.
I've always been taught to be agreeable but cautious, and I think that skill serves me well right now. As much as I want to get back to Liam, this woman has given me no reason to doubt that a cup of coffee is all she’s offering.
The small kitchen that we enter is just as homey and inviting as the bathroom. I take a seat at the table when she waves her hand in that direction but I keep a cautious eye on her as she steps up to the coffee machine on the counter. She doesn't look back at me or speak as she prepares our drinks.
Although the silence is expected I feel the need to fill the void. “Congratulations on the baby,” I say, having noticed her very round belly when I first entered the building.
She gives me a weak smile over her shoulder before continuing with the coffee. I have to wonder if the sex I had with Liam will lead to the same thing. He didn't seem opposed to the idea of getting me pregnant. If anything, it excited him. A baby right now would be completely impractical, but it doesn't keep me from hoping.
“Cream or sugar?” she asks as she pours the coffee into two separate mugs.
“A little of both please.”
Once she’s done, she places a steaming cup in front of me on the table. I instantly wrap both palms around it, wondering how Liam would react if he walked back here and saw me with a cup of coffee. He tortured me for weeks with his own cup. When he offered me my own cup two weeks ago, I found I no longer had the need for it.
“It's been a long time since I've had a cup of coffee,” I confess to her. “I hope it doesn't make me jittery.”
She scoffs as she lifts the cup to her mouth. “You don't have to worry about that,” she says with a frown. “It's decaf.” She points to her belly as if that explains everything. I can only assume that caffeine consumption is something that should be limited during pregnancy because I have no real-world experience with it.
The campaign trail is hard work. It's exhausting. Most women who find themselves pregnant while working for my father end up in an office.It looks bad to work a pregnant woman so hard,my mother said once.Constituents don’t like it.
“What happened?” the woman asks me. I give her a look that makes her chuckle. “I used to be an FBI agent,” she says. “I've seen a lot of abductions. Hell, I've been abducted more than once.”
I shake my head as if rejecting her words, because it doesn't make sense. I can't imagine putting myself in a situation to be taken a second time.
“I've watched the news reports. I've seen the images of a shadowy man carrying you away from the beach. How does one go from being abducted to being okay with it?”
My cup of coffee becomes very interesting as I lower my eyes to the creamy liquid inside the cup. “You wouldn't understand,” I say.
“Try me,” she counters. “You wouldn’t believe some of the things I’ve seen.”