Page 87 of Cruel Love
James sliced the knife along Ms. Milligan’s throat, crimson bloodspilling from the gaping wound, and cascading down her body like a red waterfall.
Gurgling erupted from her, but a second later she fell quiet as sheslumped forward over the table, her head twisted in my direction as she took her final breaths.
Numbness spread through me, but I wasn’t sure if it was fromwatching her die, or the knowledgethatshe was my aunt.
Or maybe it was from learningthatJames killed my dad.
Timeseemedto stand still as I stared at her, her eyes open butunseeing, blood no longer pumping from the wound because she didn’t have a heartbeat anymore.
She’d been the bane of my existence for years, haunting me innightmares.
And now she wasjust…nothing.
She was dead.
She could never hurt me again.
Conversations erupted around me, but all I could hear was therushing of blood pounding through my ears when something strange happened.
Dark fuzzy memoriesthathad loitered in the furthest recess of myhead slowly began to clear.
An image of a woman smiling at me, her lips the same shape asmine. A picture of a man with the same color hair as me reading a story in a pink bedroom, and giggles erupting from the little girl snuggled under the pink covers. The same man showing me newspapers of articles he’d written, and me telling himthatone day I wanted to bejustlike him. I wanted to write stories too.
A strangled sob fell from my lips, the room falling silent as everyonelooked at me. Suddenly, I was hit by a tidal wave of memories which took my breath away in an instant, and if I hadn’t been sitting down, I would have collapsed from the weight of buried memories.
It was almost as if Ms. Milligan dying had been the key to unlockingthem, and while the burning sensation started in my back, it didn’t feel unbearable like it had been in years gone by.
“Mouse, talk to me. What’s wrong?”James said, pulling me back tothe here and now.
He was crouching in front of me, his brows furrowed in worry, whileCleo gripped my hand and gently ran her thumb over my knuckles, soothing me.
“I…”I said, but the words lodged in my throat.
This was too much. Everything I’d learned, and the rush of memorieswas overwhelming. I couldn’t suck in air quick enough to calm my heaving lungs.
“Willow, look at me,”James instructed. Instinctively, my gazesnapped to his.“You’re safe. No one will hurt you. I won’t let them.”
“It’s…not that,” I managed to choke out. “I…I remember.”
His brows rose.“You remember?”
Inthatmoment, it wasjustme and James. Everyone around usfaded away, and he was the only person I was speaking to.
“Not everything is clear,”I whispered, ignoring the tingles spreadingthrough the length of my back.“I remember your father coming to my house a few days after my dad died.”The memory unfolded in my brain and played like a movie I hadn’t seen in years, but as I said the words, I knewthateverything I was saying was the truth. Itreallyhappened.“My mom told me to go upstairs so the grownups could talk, but I knew she was scared. I sat on the landing, he… he said to herthatif she didn’t go with him, he’d take matters into his own hands.”
James gaped back at me, and from somewhere else in the room, aquestion was asked.“What else do you remember, Willow?”
I didn’t know who asked it, but I didn’t tear my gaze away fromJames as I replied.“I don’t know. The next thing I can remember is my mom speaking to Director Welch. She…thought I was asleep, but I wasn’t. She asked him for help, and he said he could get us out of there.”I looked at Cleo, her eyes filled with sadness.“He said he would get us new identities.”
“Willow, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know. I thought Welch was helping you. Inever would have-”she protested, giving my hand a gentle squeeze.
“It’s okay. You didn’t know,”I replied sincerely because I didn’t blameher.
There were only two people responsible for this mess. Eric Carter andDirector Welch.
And maybe James. He might not have known the truth about mydad, but he still killed him. He took away the only man who’d never hurt me.
I didn’t think I would ever be able to forgive him forthat.
