A sense of sorrow hits me that I hadn’t expected. “I think she’ll know it’s done. She can move on with her life now.”
“And you’re going to let that happen? Why do I not believe you?”
“I’ll do whatever is best for her,” I answer honestly.
“Even if it’s not what I want.”
Adeline
“It was revealed at the murder trial of Gloria Cabot today that a sexual relationship existed with victim, Grant Cabot. Text messages were read to the jury detailing the incestuous relationship between brother and sister, the details of which were too risqué to air live. As a result, presiding judge, Mark Kinsley, requested that all cameras be shut off during this part of the prosecution’s presentation against Miss Cabot.”
Leaning against the piano in my family room, I’m eating a bowl of cereal while watching the latest news on Gloria’s trial.
It’s been a little over a year since Grant’s body was found bludgeoned and burned, and while the police immediately suspected Gloria due to the evidence they found, I have my own suspicions of who set this entire thing up.
“Gloria was reported to be shaking in her seat while the messages were read aloud, the jury members visibly disturbed by the depraved sexual acts detailed in the messages. It was revealed that Mr. Cabot had a preference for playing the female role in their sexual encounters, making demands that Miss Cabot use inanimate objects to penetrate his body.”
Chuckling at that, I’m convinced Ari and Lincoln did this. It has their names written all over it.
“The prosecution is expected to rest their case tomorrow after presenting additional evidence that Miss Cabot planned the brutal murder of her brother after he threatened to go public with their relationship as proof that the claims of his former wife, Adeline Cabot, were untrue. According to the texts read today, however, Gloria agreed with Adeline’s assessment of her former husband, which led to the falling out between brother and sister.”
I almost choked on my cereal to hear that. Of course, Ari would go there. It’s not enough to simply kill Grant in what I learned was a slow and torturous process, but he had to spit on the grave by destroying Grant’s reputation even after death.
Although I find it a bit harsh what they did to Gloria, I understand. She’d helped her brother abuse me the entire time I was married to him, had looked away when it was obvious he was treating me like property instead of a wife.
Karma is a bitch, and unfortunately for her, she got tangled up with the worst of it.
Grabbing the remote, I turn off the television and walk into the kitchen to put my empty bowl in the sink. I’m exhausted after the first day of my new job, a photographer for an up and coming online magazine that promises to be the next big thing in entertainment.
Already they have me running around to take candid shots of the numerous celebrities, authors, politicians and other notable people giving interviews within the city, my camera snapping away as those same people give me tours of their private domains and illustrious lives.
I finished five shoots today and still have to go through the shots to choose the best ones to turn in tomorrow. But even though the work is more exhausting than I imagined it would be, it’s fulfilling.
In every way that counts, I’ve arrived. My life is better than I imagined it could be. I’m stable, still know how to let loose and have fun, but I’m smarter about it now, no longer chasing oblivion to escape pain.
I’ve made peace with my past and everybody who hurt me. Mostly, I made peace with myself. With my strange likes and dislikes, my habits, my disorders that will always plague me.
There’s no cure for what I have. No magic pill that can make it stop. Not that I’d take it if there were.
My shadow still watches over me. He’s diaphanous, something I can’t grasp, but he’s a reminder, I guess. To keep fighting. To remain true to who I am. To never let another person take advantage of me or change me.
As for Ari? Who knows where the hell he is. Every so often I feel someone watching, the familiar tingle across my skin that makes me stop, look around, pay attention.
It breaks my heart every time I don’t see him, but I’ve learned to live with that as well.