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“Because you can fully see now how—how weak I am! I let them dictate every inch of my career. I let them get me hooked on painkillers. I let him abuse me. I let him rape me. I let them take over my fucking life.” She sobbed again, her eyes squeezing shut. “I let them ruin me.” Those last words came out in a whisper.
Another tear slid down my cheek as I stared at my beautiful, broken love.
She didn’t get it at all.
“You were a child. You didn’tlet themdo anything,” I growled. “These assholes were supposed to protect you. Take care of you! Nurture you! And instead, they took advantage. They took and they took and they took some more. You are not responsible.”
She just looked at me, clearly not agreeing with me. But that was understandable. Years of blaming yourself didn’t disappear overnight.
My hands softly trailed down her face, wiping up the tear tracks staining her perfect cheeks. I didn’t know if she was cryingbecause ofthem, or if she was crying for herself. But I hoped it was the latter.
They didn’t deserve her tears.
And I was going to make sure they wouldn’t get anything else from her ever again.
“I don’t have anything to give you that you don’t give me more of,” she whispered. “I’m weak, and maybe…I’ll always be weak.”
Another sob slipped her lips.
“Our baby deserves better,” she finally whispered.
A growl ripped from my lips but she didn’t jump or act scared, she just stared at me, silently begging me to prove her wrong.
“There’s no one better,” I told her fiercely, every cell in my body focused on getting her to believe me.
“Only a person without a mother could understand how much a child needs one. Only a person who’s been broken can fully understand how to make someone whole. Only a person who has been without love can understand why it’s so necessary. Only a person who’s had to fight for their life could understand how precious it is. Our baby is going to have the most perfect mother in the world because you know all of those things, and you’re going to give our baby everything you didn’t have.”
“How can you be so sure?” she murmured, a glimmer of what looked an awful lot like hope starting to shine from her golden gaze.
“Because I happen to be an expert on all things relating to my stunning, perfect angel face. So I know it for a fact.”
“Is that so?” she huffed.
I brushed a kiss against her lips. “Yes. So don’t question me. I knoweverything.”
A small smile appeared on her lips, and I swore, I’d never seen anything more gorgeous in my entire life…than the sight ofOlivia Jones stepping out of the darkness that had followed her for years…and coming out into the light.
CHAPTER 31
WALKER
Cole: So…Olivia being kept in an ivory tower yet?
Me: What?
Cole: I just assumed that your beastliness will have gotten even worse now that she’s pregnant.
Parker: How can it get worse? He was already insane.
Me: No, I haven’t locked her in an ivory tower…
Me: I don’t think high altitudes are good for pregnancy anyway.
Cole: I don’t like that you seem to have already looked that up.
Parker: It’s the hotel basement moment all over again.
Me: Pot meet kettle. I’m still convinced you’re having your own basement moment, Parkie, and there’s some poor girl locked in your dorm room as we text.
