where she was when all she wanted to do was climb off this bed and race downstairs to the safety of Hunter’s office and hide there until the lights came back on, but that wasn’t an option. Well, it was, but after this morning she really didn’t think that it was a good idea.
So instead, Kylie was going to sit here in the dark, pretending that everything was fine. She was also going to try to figure out what she was still doing here, she decided as she looked around the large dark room before deciding that it would probably be for the best if she focused her attention back down on her dying iPad.
She really needed to invest in some new flashlights.
Granted, she’d been telling herself that since she came home a few months ago to find her apartment broken into and everything she owned trashed. She’d meant to pick up some new flashlights but hadn’t had the time. Now she wished that she’d made the time.
She also wished that she could stop thinking about that file. She hadn’t read through the whole thing, but she had a pretty good idea about what it said and-
“Why did he have to read it?” she asked on a groan as she closed her eyes and dropped her head back against the wall as she tried not to think about all the things that her parents said about her over the years.
God, the things they’d said about her…
Kylie clenched her hands into fists in an effort to make them stop shaking, only to fold her arms tightly over her chest. She really wished that she’d locked her bedroom door, she thought with something close to terror a moment later as she sat there, trying to remember how to breathe as her bedroom door was pushed open and-
“So, tell me something, Miss Peabody,” Hunter drawled, as he walked into her room, shirtless and carrying one of those heavy-duty battery-operated camping lanterns that she fully planned on stealing.
“Yes?” she said, not really sure how she was supposed to respond since experience had taught her that having her boss show up in her room at two in the morning wasn’t a good thing. Then again, since he wasn’t yelling at her or throwing a five-inch stiletto shoe at her head, she was going to have to reserve judgment.
That is until he joined her on her bed.
Then she was going to quietly have a panic attack.
“I actually didn’t expect you to answer me,” Hunter said with a sheepish smile that had her eyes narrowing on him.
“Still not talking to me?”
“None of it’s true,” she said, wondering why she was even bothering to try to defend herself. No one believed her once her parents got to them. Once her parents started to spread their lies, it didn’t matter what she said or did. She’d lost count of how many neighbors, teachers, friends, bosses, and co-workers that had once greeted her with a warm smile started to give her cold glares after they’d met her parents.
It never mattered that she’d never lied to them or done any of the things that her family accused her of. Once her parents spread their lies, that was it. She’d lost so much because of her parents and it only got worse after the divorce, but then again, that was her fault, wasn’t it?
She’d known better, knew exactly what they were capable of, but that hadn’t stopped her from stupidly believing that they’d wanted to help her when her world came crashing down around her. She’d been so desperate to believe that someone cared about her that she’d actually been relieved when her parents showed up at her door that she’d stupidly told them everything. She’d told herself that they’d changed only to find out exactly what they were capable of.
They’d figured out that she’d told her ex-husband everything that they’d done to her and were afraid that it was going to come out during the divorce. So, they’d taken steps to make sure that no one ever believed anything she said ever again. They didn’t care that they’d given her ex more ammunition to use against her in the divorce, they’d destroyed her.
Nothing she said or did made a difference, people believed what they wanted to believe, and it wasn’t her. So, she’d stopped trying. She’d stopped caring and focused on getting through the divorce, and once the judge granted her freedom, she’d left town and never looked back, hoping that