Page 149 of Frozen Hearts
Understanding.
Newly acquired insight as I turn over every interaction I’ve had with Riley and assess it with new eyes, with this new information at my fingertips.
Seconds turn to minutes. To hours.
The sun traverses the sky, day passing. And still, I sit there, lost in thought, my limbs too laden to move.
The rug feels as though it’s been pulled out from beneath my feet, and I’m left questioning everything Grayson has told me. Recalling every fucked up thing we’ve done in the name of revenge.
Riley didn’t give me any details, nor did I ask. We sat on that bench until the cold sneaked in under our clothing, leaving a chill behind and Riley started to shiver. Then, I walked her to my truck, helped her in, and drove her to her apartment.
Done with the games. Done with the secrets. With the lies.
I hadn’t intentionally planned to take her home. I drove in a fog, but when I blinked and realized I was parked outside her building, I knew it was the right thing to do.
What I should have done weeks ago.
Had I only known.
Had I only listened to the feeling in my gut that something was off.
I suspected. I… I wasn’t convinced that all was as Grayson believed.
Nor was I as adamant as Logan that Riley’s version of events was the truth.
I had spied her subterfuge. Sensed there was more than what she was saying.
And I’d been right… just not in any way that I could have possibly imagined.
Riley wasn’t telling the whole truth, but it was Grayson who got it all wrong.
So fucking wrong.
There were no false accusations.
No heinous lies or petty allegations to regain her mother’s attention.
Whatever report Riley filed contained only the stone-cold truth.
One which Grayson’s dad spun into a web of lies to cover his own vile crimes.
And he convinced everyone around him, Grayson included, that his version was the truth. After all, who would people believe: him or a confused, insecure teenage girl?
The thought of it all leaves me sickened, and it takes hours more before I allow the cold, hard facts to fully penetrate my reality.
Bertram Van Doren raped his fifteen-year-old stepdaughter. Got her pregnant. And when she found the courage to come forward, he turned the entire world, her family included, against her.
This whole time, Riley has been telling the truth.
And we’re the idiots who didn’t believe her.
But not any longer.
This stops now.
Today.
I no longer give a shit about what Grayson says or believes. That beautiful, fiery, sparkling woman I saw in the play park today… I want to see her again. Toknowher. To protect her from the cruelty of this world so that her light may shine even on the bleakest of days.
