Chapter 19

The evening was calm as I walked home. The calmest I’d ever felt in such a long time. It was strange that the father (or so he thinks) to my abuser was the one who believed me. That he was the one to validate my pain and tell me what Mark did was wrong. That I should’ve never suffered like that and Emily deserves jail time.

For the first time, someone I told about it believed me.

If I wasn’t wearing my heels, I would’ve gone for a skip in the park. I felt like skipping, and I deserved it. I couldn’t explain how much lighter my chest and shoulders felt after carrying my pain around like a dirty secret.

But, alas, my happiness was not to last as I was spun around to face no one other than Marcus Blight himself.

Should I brush him off and pretend he didn’t exist? I felt like it.

“Where were you?” he demanded, eyes narrowed in contained rage that, once upon a time, would’ve intimidated me in a man.

Squaring my shoulders, I lifted my chin and answered firmly, “I had lunch with someone who