Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 101662 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 508(@200wpm)___ 407(@250wpm)___ 339(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101662 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 508(@200wpm)___ 407(@250wpm)___ 339(@300wpm)
It was an accident.
You didn’t kill my son.
It wasn’t your fault.
Three sentences that I’d dreamed of hearing from Amma were now rolling off her tongue. And just like that, small pieces of my own heart began to heal.
I rubbed my hand up and down my forearm. “I’m not sure what to say.”
“You don’t have to say anything. I just…I realized how much harm I’ve done. Seeing how heartbroken Gabriel is…I should’ve never sent you away.”
“You did what you thought was best.”
“That doesn’t mean it didn’t have dire consequences.” She moved in closer to me and placed a hand on my arm. “Kierra…my son’s in love with you. He’s been in love with you for a very long time. And I’m sorry that I interrupted your love story. But if you give him a chance…I know he’d love you, and love you right, for the rest of your life.”
I believed her. Not because of her words, but because I knew who Gabriel had been. I didn’t need him to tell me he loved me because I felt it in his actions. I saw it in his eyes. The only good thing over the past few weeks, other than Ava, was the fact that my dreams took me back to him. Some nights, I’d close my eyes and dream of his lips, of his arms wrapped tightly around me. In my dreams, we were everything we deserved to be. We were in love, we were happy, we were forever intertwined with always.
I hated when I woke each day, because that was the problem with dreams—they didn’t lead to reality. They just remained within the darkness.
“I love him,” I told her.
“Then go after him. He’s waiting.”
“I can’t,” I whispered, shaking my head. “I want to, Amma. Trust me, I do. But first, I have to make sure my daughter and I are safe.”
Her eyes that matched her son’s blinked a few times. “He’ll wait for you.”
“I can’t ask him to do that.”
“Oh, Kierra… Don’t you see?” She shook her head. “He’s been waiting for you for over twenty years. I have no doubt that he can wait a little bit longer. I can tell him—”
“Please don’t,” I urged. “Don’t say a word, Amma. I don’t want it to be that way. I want him to live as I try to figure out my life. I don’t want him waiting for me until I know I’m able to give him all of me. And if I’m too late, well…that’s something I’ll have to live with.”
That was the thing about love, real love, that is. One had to be willing to let it go in order to not hold the other back from finding their joy.
***
After work, I headed home to begin my search for documents and files in Henry’s office. I wanted to find a password to the videos of him abusing me in the home. Knowing how much of a smart house we had, I knew something had to have captured Henry’s abuse toward me. Those videos would go far in court.
My stomach was in knots after I got into the office and began to thumb through his things. The only issue was that everything was password protected and next to impossible to get into. It shouldn’t have surprised me that a tech mogul had a high-level password system set up. Still, I was hoping that I was able to break through something. Anything.
“What the hell are you doing?”
I startled, looking up to find Henry standing in the doorway of his office. The look of shock on his face was heavy as he held a stack of paperwork in his hands. The divorce papers I’d had drawn up and left in the living room. I was going to read through them that night and mark down any changes I needed for my lawyer.
“Henry. What are you doing here?” I nervously asked as I stood from his office chair.
“What are you doing?” he repeated. “And what are these?”
I slowly walked toward him, uncertain of how he’d react. “I didn’t know you were coming home so soon. I was hoping to have everything put together for us to go over after you came back and—”
“We already talked about this. We aren’t getting a divorce.”
“Yes, we are.”
He narrowed his eyes and glanced around his office. “What were you doing in here? Trying to find ways to fuck me over in court?”
“It’s not that… I just…” I sighed as my stomach knotted up. “I can’t lose Ava, Henry. She’s my world.”
“She’s not yours. She’s mine.”
I shook my head. “She’s not your property. She’s a human, and she wants to be with me.”
The anger that flashed through his eyes made my skin crawl. His nostrils flared with his deep breaths. “You’re trying to ruin me. I bet you want my money, too.”