Page 49 of Freed By Wrath

If it were up to us, she would’ve bought everything new and started over. But she told us she had to do it. So a week after Halloween, the three of us took her.

Not to talk.

Not to explain herself.

Just to collect her things and return the ring.

Guess what? Daniel had prepared a speech.

And it was… cringe as fuck.

Do you believe the fucker tried to convince her she ‘saw’ wrong?

Of course he had.

I felt like punching him in the face, again, and I was not the only one. But Valerie listened to all of it without interrupting. Fifteen minutes and some fake tears later (from him, not her), she finally put the ring on the console table by the door, and said “Thank you for your words. Now, go fuck a cactus for all I care.” And it was absolute cinema.

Dealing with her family was harder. They came to our house, sat in our living room with the discomfort of people encountering a situation they don’t have the framework for, and said things like ‘are you sure’ and ‘he seems genuinely sorry, and you two had something real. Don’t throw it away over one mistake.’

Her mother even cried.

Yet, just like with Daniel, she heard all of it. Then she thanked them for coming and showed them the door.

Was I expecting her to deal with it so… flawlessly?

No.

None of us were.

We even talked between the three of us and prepared for the moment she would break and want to come back to her old self.

Yet, so far, the moment never came. And every night, and every morning, in our arms, she thanks us.

“Thanks for saving me.”

“Thanks for listening to me.”

“Thanks for accepting me.”

“Thanks for supporting me.”

So many thanks. And so many things that should be the bare minimum.

A man stumbles into the restaurant, already drunk before he’s even reached the hostess stand. I immediately straighten in my seat.

Trouble notices him too.

He reaches her and says something I can’t hear. In her other life, she would recoil. Now, she doesn’t even blink.

Good girl.

I see the moment her demeanor changes.

There it is. Wrath.

He disrespected her, and she’s getting her walls up for it.

Don’t get me wrong. My trouble is sweet… until someone mistakes her kindness for weakness.