Page 83 of His Obsession

“Yes.” She picked her pacing back up, her new coping skill.

“He’s dead.” My words were cold and callous like I felt every time I thought of that man and what he did to her, every time I thought of her almost taking away my moment.

“Did you do it?”

I paused before giving her my answer. “Yes.”

After she tried to kill him, I had to kick her out of here. I was so angry. I couldn’t risk anything like that happening again.

I had broken nearly every bone he had, and Tonk had fun with the rest. My hatred towards him made me lose control, but his replicated death was the most liberating day of my life.

I knew admitting that he was dead would alleviate some of her fears about being back here, although she appeared relaxed, almost normal at breakfast.

“Okay,” she nodded and sniffed.

She grabbed a tissue from the box on the desk and cleared away the tears. “I think I’m going to go home now.”

I stood from my chair and walked over to her, putting my arms around her. “Please don’t go,” I pleaded.

I didn’t want her to leave feeling like this. She had so much confusion in her head, and she wasn’t thinking clearly.

“I need some time to think.”

She broke away from my arms, never returning my hug. My chest seized with fear. Would this be the last time I watched her walk out of here? Was she walking out of my life for good right now? I didn’t know how to handle this situation.

I had never been put in a relationship where I was on the receiving end of a break-up, if that’s what we were to call this.

I couldn’t stop her. She wouldn’t allow it. She turned from me and walked out, the front door slamming as she departed.

I touched the picture of Tonk on my phone, and it rang.

“Yeah?”

“She left.”

“I’m on it.”

I hung up and threw my glass against the wall, shattering it into a million pieces.

Reality hit me as I watched the sparkles of glass shards shimmer on the ground.

She wasn’t anything like my mother. My mother wasn’t a fighter. She never stood up to Jimmy, and she certainly wouldn’t have walked out on him.

Walking wasn’t the hard part. It was all the things that went through your head as you stared into the distance. My feet hit the cement in time, with the beat to the wild images slashing through my head. What would a rational person do or say in this situation? Alek inserted himself into my life and took control like a puppeteer. I heard it from his lips.

Then, there was the story of his mother, and it broke my heart. I had never seen that man cry, but he was raw, and he bared it all for me to see. It killed me to leave him after he broke down and told me everything. I wanted to console him and help him forget like he was trying to do with me, but I needed time to think and step away for a moment.

It’s strange. When Jimmy told me everything, I held out that small bit of hope that he was lying just to get at Alek, that he didn’t do all of those things.

Now that Alek has confirmed Jimmy’s accusations, it was as if I heard it all for the first time, and I felt betrayed. I thought I was okay with it all. I had convinced myself of that fact, but hearing it come from his lips just tore at me.

I trusted Alek, and he purposely placed himself in my life and manipulated it, all to satiate some desire to control. But why did I feel the need to just forget all of his transgressions and move on? Was I that damaged now that stalking was so low on my radar that it was pennies in comparison?

I mean, I came within inches of killing someone, and Alek stopped me—so he could do it himself, Liz. Don’t be delusional.

Why can’t my warring thoughts be at peace today?

I pulled out my phone to check the GPS I relied so heavily on, when Randall’s truck pulled to the side just ahead of me.