Chapter 201

That night, Cynthia, finally back from her vacation, calls me. The first thing I feel when I see her name on the caller ID is overwhelming relief. It floods through me so strongly that I could cry from it.

I’ve missed my friend. I’ve needed her so much.

And now she’s here.

Answering it at once, I bring my phone to my ear. “Cynthia… It’s so good to hear from you.”

“What the hell have I missed?” Cynthia asks. “Did your boyfriend really tell Edward Zimmer to go fuck himself on live TV?”

“Yes,” I say. “That’s only half of it.”

“Tell me the rest,” Cynthia says. “Whatever stories I have are not nearly this interesting.”

She’s missed out on a lot, so for the next hour, I fill her in on absolutely everything, from bits and pieces of what happened to me in my past, to how Edward is still threatening me now, which led to Miles firing me.

“I feel betrayed. Miles is supposed to be on my side,” I say.

“He is on your side, Esther. Maybe too much. He’s trying to protect you even when you tell him not to. Someone needs to sit him down and remind him that you are your own person with your own thoughts…”

“Capable of making my own choices,” I add.

“Exactly.” She takes a breath. “But I don’t think he does it because he wants to control you, Esther. I think he genuinely likes you and wants to keep you safe. You can be really stubborn sometimes, and not always make the best choices…”

“Name one bad choice I’ve made,” I say.

“Marrying Garnar,” she replies instantly.

Oh. Okay. “Touché.”

Bantering with Cynthia does lift my spirits somewhat, even if I’m still pissed as hell at Miles for abandoning me.

“He didn’t abandon you, he fired you,” Cynthia says. “I imagine he still wants to be your partner.”

“If he does, I wouldn’t know.” I haven’t read any of his texts or checked any of the voicemails he left on my phone.

“He does,” Cynthia says. “I’d bet my entire bank account on it.”

Sighing slightly, I tell her, “I’m glad you are back, Cynthia. I’ve missed you something fierce these past few weeks.”

“I’m sorry I was gone so long. If I knew what you were going through…” She lets her voice trail.

“You don’t need to apologize,” I say. “You had no way of knowing.”

“No. I guess I didn’t.” She goes quiet for a moment. “Why didn’t you ever tell me about Edward Zimmer, Esther? You have to know that I would always stand by you.”

I was afraid she would ask me something like this. The truth is, there’s no easy answer. Cynthia is my best friend, has been since college. She knows absolutely everything else there is to know about me. Yet I never shared the trauma of my past.

“I wish I could tell you that I had a good reason for hiding it,” I say. “Honestly, I just didn’t want to think about it. I thought I’d put it all behind me. I hadn’t seen or thought about Edward in years.”

“Then he runs for president,” Cynthia says.

“Then he runs for president,” I agree. “And he’s found me again.”

Cynthia hums. “You know, I’m starting to understand Miles’s motivations more and more. I want to tell that guy to go fuck himself too.”

“Yeah,” I say. “It tanked his campaign, but I was never really mad at him. With luck, Miles will turn things around again.”

Cynthia goes quiet a moment. “Have you ever considered coming forward about what happened to you?”

“Lots of times,” I say. “My mom and dad know. They did their best to try to bring Edward down, but he has his hands in the pockets of so many powerful men. No one but them believed me then. Who would believe me now?”

“You were the only one there who suffered,” Cynthia says. “Maybe if you step forward, it would give courage to all those who are still hiding.”

I want to be that noble, but when I think about trying to tell the whole world my story. What if they don’t believe me? What if I’m ridiculed? What if Edward gloats even more than he’s done before?

The hypothetical pain of it already hurts me. I’m not sure I could handle the reality.

“I don’t know…”

“I would never pressure you,” Cynthia says. “If you don’t want to, forget I said anything. You have my full support no matter what you do.”

Before I can explain to her how I’m feeling, my phone buzzes in my ear with a text message. Quickly checking, I see it is from Hugo, asking for a meeting. I shoot back a quick text confirming a meeting for the following day, then spend the rest of the evening catching up with Cynthia.

“Enough about me. I want to hear all about your vacation,” I say. “Who was the guy you went with? Ralph?”

“Raphael,” she says, a smile on her voice, and I know I’m in for a series of good stories.

The next day, I walk into the meeting at the assigned time and find Hugo at our corner booth. Yet, as I approach, I realize he’s not alone. Daphne is sitting there with him.

When she looks up at me, I see that one of her cheekbones is marred with an ugly purple bruise.

“Hi, Esther,” she says.

“Daphne. What happened?”

Hugo gestures for me to sit beside him so I do.

“You can guess what happened,” Daphne says.

Still, I’d like to have it confirmed, so I look at Hugo. He nods.

That bastard Edward hit her.

“Daphne,” I say again, more urgently.

She looks away, down into the corner of her side of the table, like she’s ashamed. She has nothing to be ashamed about! The bastard that hit her is the one who should be ashamed.

“You’ve made him very angry, Esther. Bringing dark sides out in him that I haven’t seen in years. Usually he leaves me alone. Something changed… You came in and… Now things are different. No, that’s not right. They are now how they were all those years ago instead. I’m back to being the punching bag.”

“Now might be the best time to come forward,” Hugo says gently. “Before things get worse.”

“How could they get any worse for me?” Daphne says. “I’m already in hell.”

“We can help get you out of it,” Hugo says. “I know people who help women like you. They can get you to a safe place…”

“Edward is running for president,” Daphne says. “It’s not like I’ll ever be able to hide from him, especially not if I come forward.”

“Daphne, if we do it together…” Talking with Cynthia has made me start to consider revealing my own truth, no matter how difficult it is likely to be. Cynthia was right, there are so many others who were abused like Daphne and I. Maybe if one of us is brave, it will inspire the rest of us to be brave too.

Standing together is so much easier than standing alone.

Daphne shakes her head. “No, Esther. And I’m not here for that.” She takes a steadying breath. “I only arranged for this meeting so that I could warn you of what’s to come…”