Later, I received a call from my mother. Her voice dripped with condescension.
“Kathy is marrying Brad,” she said. “Make sure you stay away and don’t come back to seduce your brother–in–law.”
I hung up, blocked her number, and turned away.
Behind me, Cameron slipped an arm around my waist.
“Don’t be afraid, Wendy,” he murmured. “From now on, I’ll be your family.”
I clasped his hand, gazing at the setting sun through the window. “And if one day, you change your mind?”
Cameron, ever the lawyer, always spoke with precision. He kissed my ear gently and said, “I’ve handled countless cases and seen the fickleness of human nature. I can’t promise I’ll never change. What I can do is ensure you’ll never fear losing me.
“I’ll make you stronger, so strong that no one’s departure will faze you. And I’ll transfer everything I own to your name, as a voluntary gift, irrevocable.”
He pressed me onto the bed, his lips tender against mine.
“Wendy, let’s get married,” he said, his eyes glistening with unshed tears. “I’ve wanted to marry you since I was a teenager.”
I stared at him for a long time before flipping him onto his back and pulling the blanket over us.
Years later, when our second daughter was born, Cameron took on a major criminal case.
One of the involved parties was my former lover, Brad.
He and Kathy had never married. Behind closed doors, he had abused her relentlessly. Kathy, initially compliant, eventually poisoned him. She was sentenced to life for intentional harm.
Brad survived but lost his voice, his vocal cords damaged by the poison.
The Landon family’s patriarch, prioritizing the family’s future, passed the company to one of Brad’s
cousins.
Cameron, hired as legal counsel for the new president learned some inside stories.
The new president, wary of Brad, maneuvered him into crushing debt. Now, Brad was truly destitute.
One day, as I was leaving my boutique, I saw him across the street.
He was thin to the point of frailty, his face unshaven, his clothes threadbare. He raised his hands, gesturing in silent desperation.
I looked away, my face impassive, and walked to my car.
2/3
Chapter 8
I started the engine, and as I drove off, his figure grew smaller in the rearview mirror.
He had signed to me:
“I’m sorry.”
And,
“I love you.”
[The End]
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