Page 74 of Secrets, Lies and Love

“I don’t want you to feel sorry for me. I don’t need pity.”

“Why would I do that?”

“Because my life story is a nightmare. I starved; I was beaten. I never went to the doctor, and I couldn’t go out to play.”

“Cinderella,”he says, but his face is contorted with tension.

“What?”

“When you had the car accident, I asked my cousin to investigate you,” he says, and I kind of expected that. “Odin compared you to Cinderella. He found out about your stepmother and stepsister. He told me about it and said that your story was like the one of the fairy tale princess. We never imagined, however, that it would be so bad. Where is this bitch?”

“Living in the capital of Kansas. When I turned eighteen, I left home. I gave up everything my father left me. I just wanted to distance myself from them.”

He nods, his face more serious than I’ve ever seen it. “That’s why you didn’t want to go back to your state.”

“No, that was because of the promise I made.”

“Where does this friend you love so much fit into this story?”

My heart races. I plan to tell him about Keith one day, but I need to move the pieces carefully. “He was the grandson of a neighbor. He only came to visit once a year, during the holidays, but even so, every time he arrived, it was like Christmas. The days became brighter and more fun. He gave me his full attention and affection. He took care of me. Even after we grew up, he still came twice a year.”

“Why didn’t he take you out of that hell?”

“He couldn’t. I was underage. He’s four years older, but no judge would let a young adult take responsibility for a teenager. Jodelle, my stepmother, wouldn’t have allowed it either. She needed me around until I came of age, because I had to sign a document giving up my father’s house.”

“Why did you? It was rightfully yours.”

“I think you were raised in a loving family, Dionysus. That’s why you don’t understand. There is no amount of money that makes up for living with someone you hate. And I hated them both.”

“Did you ever try to escape?”

“Yes, I tried, and I was beaten so badly that I almost died. This friend of mine... he dropped everything and took care of me, at his grandmother’s house. They tried to report it. Nobody believed it because the sheriff was Jodelle’s cousin. I was seventeen, so my friend gave me money to leave as soon as I came of age.”

“He loved you.”

“Yes, I’m sure, but not in the way you’re thinking. I think there was a time when we both believed we would be together as a couple, not because we were attracted to each other but because of the solidity of the feeling.”

“Why didn’t it happen?”

“He met someone else, and as time went by, I understood that what we felt was the love of siblings. We agreed that I wouldmeet him when I left Kansas, but this woman he married didn’t want me around. She convinced him to forget me.”

“No one can convince another of such a thing.”

“He was in love. I didn’t get angry. We continued communicating. He made me promise several things about the future,” I say vaguely, “and one of them was that I would never again let anyone make me accept less than I deserve.”

“Where is he now?”

“He died.”

“There’s no one else, then?”

I stand up, needing distance to breathe. That’s not what I want from Dionysus—affection and friendship. I need the breakup when the night is over.

I want the professional relationship back because anything else will mess with my head.

“I have myself and God.” I pretend to smile.

“Where are you going?”

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