AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I was worse than dirt.
I let my trauma destroy a beautiful family all because of my self-imposed rules. What did this life implosion say about me? What did it say about all the cases I’d worked on over the years? How many families had I broken, like I’d done to myself because I couldn’t see how much someone cared until it was too late?
Pulling a wheezing gasp of air into my lungs as body shaking sobs tore from my throat, I threw my phone, despising myself more than I ever had before. I couldn’t do this anymore. How could I call myself someone who helped children when I destroyed a family for no other reason than my fucking pride and my rules.
Maybe it was time I quit. It’d become glaringly clear. I’d never healed at all.
Hunter proved that with one simple misunderstanding.
Chapter 17
Posey
Everything hurt.
My face. My eyes, and my nose, especially my throat. I thought I’d cried every bit of my heartache out, but as I reached for Hunter and reminded myself, I was alone, the painful truth came rushing back, and I sobbed myself to sleep. Now, I looked like the Blob, if the Blob was a person, not cherry gelatin.
I couldn’t keep doing this to myself. I had to snap out of it. If I kept going, I’d make myself sick, if not worse. So, I did what any other rational person would do. I called Gail. If I was going to heal from any of this, I needed to get away from Destiny and Hunter.
Her phone rang twice before she answered, a bit surprised I’d called her on a Sunday morning. “Is everything okay, Posey? You’re usually the one I’m calling for help.”
“Nothing is okay, Gail.” My bottom lip trembled. “Can you take the Destiny Banks case for me? I know it’s short notice, but I have to step away and this case—” A lump formed in my throat, and I couldn’t speak. Never seeing either of them again tore me apart.
“Oh gosh,” Gail said. “Is your mom okay? Darcy didn’t push herself too hard, did she? You know that woman never slows down. Not even when her doctor tells her to.”
“She’s fine,” I said, swallowing down a sob. “I just... I need to work on the Miller case. It’s gotten terrible over the last few weeks and between searching for safe homes for Mrs. Miller and her kids along with trying to find any information on Destiny’s mother, well, I’m burning the candle at both ends.”
“I’ll take Destiny,” Gail said. “That’s not a problem. It’s open and shut, isn’t it?”
I exhaled. “Yeah, sort of. Still waiting to hear from the detectives. Once we’ve gotten their report and you have Mr. Banks come in for a DNA test, you should be able to close the entire case.” Not more than thirty-six hours ago, I’d chided Hunter for lying to me and here I was, doing the same thing so I could wiggle out of having to deal with him.What the fuck is wrong with me?
“Sounds good,” Gail said. “I’ll talk to you in the morning, then?”
“I’ll be there with bells on,” I said, faking the cheer. “You’re a lifesaver. I can understand why you gave me the Miller case. This is... Impossible.”
“Seems to get worse every day, right?” Gail sighed. “We’re never going to give her those kids back.”
Even though I’d focused on Hunter and Destiny, I’d been doing my due diligence with Mrs. Miller. To say she wasn’t making my job easy would be an understatement. “I hate this part of the profession.”
“Same. Listen, I need to run. Bruce is setting up for a little get together later and needs my help,” Gail said. “I’ll keep you posted on everything.”
“Thanks, Gail. I owe you.” I ended the call, then broke down again. The hard, body shaking sobs I thought I’d purged myself of the night before were back. I shouldn’t be able to cry anymore. Still, every time I said Destiny’s name or Hunter’s, tears automatically built in my eyes and my heart squeezed in my chest.
Somehow, through my crying, I’d called my mom. I choked, “Mommy...” snatched my mother’s attention. It seemed like only minutes had passed before she was trying to beat my door down. I didn’t even know what I was going to say to her, let alone how I’d fix the mess of my life.
She cradled me to her body, rocking me while I continued to cry, and when I finally looked at her, she smiled. Darcy was the best at showing me affection. She was a powerful light in my darkness. She could fill the biggest holes in my soul just with her support and care.
“What happened, baby?” Darcy whispered, pushing my hair from my face. “I’ve only seen you act like this once before.”
“I screwed up,” I mumbled, burying my face in her side so I wouldn’t have to see her disappointment. “Big time. There’s no coming back from what I’ve done.”
“There is always a solution. Might not be fun. Might take loads of hard work, but everything can be fixed,” she said, hugging me. “Now, why don’t you start from the beginning and tell me what caused such an uproar?”
I told her everything, from the day I met Hunter, to lying about being sick because Hunter needed someone to watch Destiny while he was with his family at the hospital. I told her about Hunter and my dates. I even told her about going to the farm and the petting zoo with him and Destiny.
Then I told her the hard part. The part I didn’t even tell Gail about. Destiny wasn’t Hunter’s daughter. He just went along with the plan because he didn’t want her to be alone. Just saying what Hunter was doing made me sound like a heartless bitch. He was giving up his life to care for a little girl, out of some weird repentance or something because of Hope dying. None of which was his fault. Hope made her choices. Destiny didn’t fit the life she’d created with Pedro—which the asshole took advantage of. Posey and Hunter could agree on that.
“So, you stormed out of his house after you eavesdropped on his conversation?” My mother asked, arching a brow. “I’d like to say I raised you better than to do something so invasive...”
