Page 70 of The Atonement
“I’m not a child!” I bellowed. “You can’t do this to me. You have to tell me. If you want mutual trust you have to tell me. Are they in the woods still? At least tell me that.”
His lips pressed into a thin line. I watched for his cheeks to flame pink, but they didn’t. He wasn’t lying. Then again, he wasn’t saying anything at all.
“Peter, please?” I lowered my voice. “Please just tell me. Please. It’s going to drive me crazy.”
“It’s better if we go back to the way things were.” His fingers gripped the steering wheel. “It’s better if you’re in the dark from here on out.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“Oh, I am,” he said. “Deadly.” He chuckled to himself, making me feel sick, then turned up the radio. “Now, just relax. We’re going to bring the kids home, and everything’s going to be fine. You’ll see.” He took my hand, squeezing it so hard I yelped when I tried to pull away.
Twenty minutes later, we pulled into the main parking lot of our park, and he looked around. “Where is she?”
“I don’t know. I don’t have my phone.”
He glared at me and opened his car door. “This had better not be a trick.”
“How would it be a trick? You saw the text message.”
I reached for my door, too, but he was faster. He pressed the button and locked me in. “Don’t move. You don’t want to scare them…” He gestured toward his face.
I bit down just as I saw her car pulling into the lot next to us. “There she is.”
He saw the car as I spoke, his face growing ashen. “What the…”
Gina stepped out of her car, her phone in her hand. She saw me in the passenger seat, and I watched the horror flash in her eyes.
“What are you doing here, Gina?” Peter’s voice was casual, as if this was all totally normal.
“Let her go,” she said through gritted teeth.
“What are you talking about?”
“I know all about it, Peter. You’re lucky I haven’t called the cops yet.”
“Called the cops? Why? What are you talking about?”
She’d reached my door then, and I unlocked it. He didn’t try to stop me as I stepped out to stand next to her. “I should’ve known better when I saw you on that dating app. I should’ve seen you for what you are—a cheater, a liar, and an abuser.”
“Abuser? Now, wait a minute… I’m not sure what she’s told you, but Gina, you know me. You know I wouldn’t… I mean… You know what she did to me.” He held up his wrist, showing her the bandage.
I watched as he switched back and forth between anger and charm, the emotions flashing across his face like flashes of a camera, trying hard to convey his rage to me while still convincing Gina of his innocence.
“Save it,” she cut him off. “Look at her face. Are you honestly going to tell me you didn’t hurt her worse?”
I tucked my cheek into my shoulder. “Thank you for coming.”
“Of course. I told you I would any time.” She nodded, putting a hand on my shoulder. I winced, though it was one of the only parts of my body that wasn’t sore.
“I’m confused…” Peter said. “What did she tell you?”
“I told her everything, Peter.” I chose my moment to finally speak up. “How you’ve been cheating on me and abusing me for years. How I finally decided to leave you, but I’ve been worried you’d track me down.”
“I called her when you came to the office asking for the corporate card after you’d been off for a few days. I knew something was up because you, like, never miss work. I’ve seen enough true crime documentaries to know when men start acting shady, it’s usually for a reason. I knew you’d had problems in the past, so I called just to make sure she was okay. And she told me what you’ve done to her.”
“Gina made me save her number and swear I’d call if I ever needed anything.”
“And then I went with you when you were looking for her to make sure nothing happened.” She rubbed my arm. “I would’ve called the cops if Ainsley hadn’t begged me not to.”
