Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 127201 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 636(@200wpm)___ 509(@250wpm)___ 424(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127201 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 636(@200wpm)___ 509(@250wpm)___ 424(@300wpm)
I watch her a moment before taking a deep breath and slowly blowing it out. “My ex-wife had been unfaithful throughout our marriage. We were in our early twenties, just a little older than you are now,” I tell her, reaching up and brushing hair off her beautiful face. “Zephyr was only a few months old when I learned of her affair, and while it gutted me, I wasn’t prepared to let it drown me. I left her that day, got my shit together, and made a home for Zeph that he could be proud of.”
Tilly leans in closer, her hand returning to my chest. “What happened?”
“We’d been separated for maybe a month or two when the two of them showed up at my home. The car was packed with bags, all of Zephyr’s things were piled up in the back, and while I didn’t know shit about the man I killed, I knew her, and the second she looked at me with that calculated stare, I knew exactly what was about to happen.”
Tilly sucks in a breath, sitting up straighter as her eyes fill with tears, and I reach up, wiping them off her face. “Don’t cry for me, hellcat. It was a long time ago.”
All she can manage is a small smile, and so I go on with the story, recapping everything that happened that day, knowing that if I don’t share this now, I never will.
“The piece of shit boyfriend pulled a gun and shoved it against my chest, forcing me back into my home while my ex pushed past us and started searching for Zephyr like she was possessed. He was asleep in his room, and the moment she grabbed him, he screamed. It’s as though he knew, even at such a young age, that he was in trouble, and while the boyfriend taunted me with that fucking gun, I knew that if I let them leave with my son, I would never see him again.”
“You did what you had to do. Just like you did last night.”
“Yes.”
A heaviness settles between us, and as she looks up at me, I see a million new questions forming behind her eyes. “There’s just something I don’t understand,” she says. “If they were the ones attempting to kidnap Zephyr, then how did you end up with ten years? It should have been ruled self-defense.”
“That’s the same fucking question I’ve been asking myself for the last twenty-odd years,” I tell her. “It was an open-and-shut case. It should have been easy, but her lawyers painted me as a jealous, abusive husband. They forged documents to suggest I was in violation of custody arrangements, that I was the one who had taken off with the baby, and that her boyfriend was nothing but a hero, racing to her defense to help save her child. The jury didn’t give a shit. They ate up her sob story and denied the facts, but that’s the justice system. I was convicted of murder in the first degree and kidnapping. I was sentenced to ten years without parole, and Zephyr went straight back into her waiting arms.”
“Fuck.”
I nod, never having agreed with a single word more in my life. “I’m not proud of how that day went down. Taking a life isn’t something I ever thought I’d have to do. But I don’t regret trying to save my son. What I do regret is the years that followed.”
“In prison?”
“Yes,” I say. “I had to become a man I didn’t recognize. I was young and trying to survive being locked up with men who had committed worse crimes than I could even fathom. I did things that I am not proud of, made choices that still haunt me to this day, especially in those earlier days. I needed to be the man the others feared, and so that’s exactly what I became.”
Her tears fall harder, and I can only imagine the things going through her mind. “I’m sorry,” she says, barreling against my chest, her arms wrapping around me as though I were the one who needed protection. “I’m so sorry you had to go through that, but I’m even more sorry that I asked you to risk going through it again because of me.”
My arms wrap around her, holding her close to my chest. “It’s okay, Tilly. It was a long time ago.”
“But those demons still haunt you.”
“They do, and they will continue to haunt me for the rest of my life, but they don’t rule me. Not unless I lose control.”
“Like last night.”
“Exactly.”
Tilly’s fingers weave up into the back of my hair as she sits with that information, trying to process it all. When she sits back up, her horrified stare locks onto mine. “So what happens if Jordan dies? Do you get charged for murder again? Will you be taken away from me?”