Page 51 of Broken By Silence
After a while, I move my hands slowly, shaking out the numbness in them, then sign,“Do I have to go back in there? Do I have to see him again?”
His gaze doesn’t waver.“No. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. Not now. Not ever. But if you want to. If you want answers, then you go back on your terms. You call the shots. And the second it feels wrong, you stop. You walk away. You’re in charge, baby. No one else.”
The words sink in like fire under my skin, curling around my ribs.
Control.
Choice.
All the things I’ve fought for, all the things I thought I’d lost—handed back to me without question.
When I step backinto the room, all conversation halts.
Roman hasn’t moved from the sofa, bandaged and pale, his hand pressed against his side, watching the storm like it’s some grim theatre show he got stuck in the front row for. Crew leans against the far wall, arms folded, silent, until his eyes cut to me.
Archer is pacing, vibrating with fury he hasn’t spent yet.
And Elijah… he’s still there. Bloody, bruised, and staring at me like the room could collapse and he wouldn’t blink.
His voice is rough when it breaks the silence. “Lottie… Come with me, just for a little while. I swear I won’t hurt you….” he chuckles to himself, then says. “I swear on my wife’s life.”
Crew snorts before anyone else can respond. “God, I think that’s the first time you’ve actually tried to be funny. Probably not the time to try cracking a joke for the first time in your life, though.”
Roman groans from the sofa, dragging his hand down his face. “Jesus. Someone shoot me again so I can go back to sleep and escape this. It’s painful.”
But Archer—Archer doesn’t laugh. He turns on Elijah with murder in his eyes, fists clenched, teeth grinding like he’s one second from going again.
Oscar shifts closer to me instead, his steady presence brushing against mine, quiet as always but grounding. He doesn’t need to say anything to keep me upright; he just knows how to.
And me? My heart is a wild, broken thing, rattling in my chest. Because Elijah’s words should repulse me, they should make me run.
Instead, they dig into me, twisting up things I don’t want twisted.
“I’ll go,” I whisper before I can stop myself. The words tremble, but they’re clear. “But only on my terms. Not yours.”
Elijah’s chest rises, something desperate sparking in his eyes. Like I just threw him a lifeline.
Archer’s jaw locks, fury sharp enough to carve me open. “Lottie?—”
“I need to hear him out,” I say quickly, before he can drown meout. “If I don’t, I’ll probably regret it. I’m not saying I forgive him, but there are conversations two people should have in private.”
Archer stalks closer, low and dangerous, but when he speaks, it’s soft enough to cut me deeper than if he’d yelled. “Then hear me out first. You don’t owe him this. Not your time, not your trust, not your goddamn presence. He forged your name on a marriage certificate and called it devotion. If you walk out that door with him, it’s because youchooseit, not because he’s earned it. And if he so much as breathes wrong in your direction, I’ll tear him apart. Do you understand me?”
My throat burns. I nod, voice shaking. “I understand.”
Archer exhales sharply, then presses a kiss to my forehead, like it might be the last safe thing he can do before letting me go. “I love you,” he whispers.
He then forces himself to step back, fists clenched at his sides, as if holding himself in place is the only thing stopping him from tearing Elijah apart.
Then Oscar steps in front of me,“Today’s been too much, baby. Too many truths, too much pain. Don’t let him pressure you into more. You don’t have to be ready right now. Not with us here.”He glances once at Elijah, then back to me, his jaw tight. “But if you decide this is what you want, then hear me when I tell you that I trust you. Always. But trusting you isn’t the same as trusting him. If you give your husband a chance, then fine, give him that. Just don’t let him off easy. Don’t forget what he’s done. Make him pay for it, step by step, until you decide he’s worthy of being in your life again.”
The words sink into me like stones into water, heavy, unavoidable. My eyes sting, my chest tightens, and all I can do is nod. “I love you both,” I mouth to them both.
Crew’s face flashes over Oscar’s shoulder, and he approaches me timidly, like I might tell him to fuck off. “I know I’m not forgiven yet, and you best believe I’m not rooting for him after everything, but I need you to know that whatever you choose. Whether it’s to divorce him…”
Elijah growls.
“Or…if you choose to hear him out even after everything that’s happened. I’ll support it. You are the one in control, Lottie. Not us.”
