Unhinge - Calia Read Page 0,94

the sound of her name brought her physical pain and slowly nodded. “And you’re Victoria,” she said finally.

I nodded and absentmindedly patted my belly. Melanie watched the action with rapt attention. “I’ve wanted to meet you for a while,” I confessed.

“How did you know me?” she whispered.

The pictures were the last thing I wanted to mention, yet it was unavoidable. “Pictures of you were…were sent to me.”

Her face fell. She made no effort to hide her guilt. In another time or place, anger would have controlled me. But right then I just felt so much sadness that we had been broken down by the same man.

“Why did you come here?”

She seemed taken aback by my calm tone and words. “I wanted to tell you I’m sorry.” She swallowed loudly and blinked back tears. “At first I didn’t know he was married.”

“How long were you with him?”

Melanie looked a little lost, unsure if she should answer me truthfully or lie. “Almost a year.”

It’s one thing to accept that your marriage is broken and that love has been lost for a while, but it’s a whole other thing to hear it.

“But I broke it off months ago!” she quickly added.

“It doesn’t matter anymore. Wes and I aren’t together.” Her eyes widened with guilt. “It wasn’t because of you…although it certainly didn’t help.”

“I’m so sorry.” Her eyes welled up with tears.

I didn’t hate Melanie. I didn’t see her as the other woman, or the villain. That title didn’t belong to her. Who knew what Wes said to her? I knew it had to be something big because she looked more devastated than I did.

“Where did you meet him?”

There was a brief silence that made me think she was going to completely ignore my question but she finally spoke up. “That’s quite the loaded question.” Her voice was quiet and I found myself leaning in to hear her better. “I met him on the street. We ran into each other and he more or less swept me off my feet.” She smiled somewhat bitterly. “He was always so confident. I loved that about him.”

That admission knocked the air out of me. It shouldn’t have hurt, but it did. I nodded. I understood her all too well.

“He said he loved me,” she said as she stared blankly at the floor. “And I believed him.”

“I believed him too.”

There may be a small part of my heart that was wounded by Wes’s betrayal but it was clear that for Melanie this was still a fresh wound. She still loved him.

“Is the child his?” she asked.

I placed a protective hand over my stomach. “No,” I replied quickly. “No, it isn’t.”

“Oh.” She looked relieved.

“You’re going back to him, aren’t you?”

She shifted from foot to foot. “No. Definitely not.” Her words were frail, unable to stand for a second before they collapsed.

“Has he hurt you?” I asked bluntly.

“N-n-no,” she stuttered.

Her answer was all the confirmation to know that he had. “You have to get away from him,” I said urgently. “He’s not a good person.”

“What do you mean?”

“He will kill you here.” Gently, I tapped her chest, right where her heartbeat was. She flinched. “And then when there’s nothing left of you he’ll suffocate you so your last breath is his.”

Somewhere down the hall someone laughed. The sound made Melanie practically jump out of her skin. She glanced around before she took a step back from me. “I have to go,” she whispered.

I grabbed Melanie’s arm so tight she winced. I had so much to ask her. She couldn’t leave now. I was so close to untangling Wes’s past. She pulled out a set of keys and I could see that her hands were shaking. Before she turned and walked away, she gave me one last look. “I’m sorry.” Her throat tightened. “I’m so sorry.”

Melanie backed away from me slowly and then practically ran down the hall. I walked behind her, saying nothing but refusing to let her leave my sight.

I watched as she walked out of the lobby. She brushed off the valet and hurried toward an old Corolla. She pulled out of the parking lot like the devil was nipping at her heels. Not once did she look back at the front entrance to see if I was watching her go. But I think she knew I was there.

November 2015

After dinner, I slowly walk back to my room.

The memory of telling Sinclair I was pregnant is seared into my mind. We were so happy. So hopeful. I glance