Page 88 of Resist
She shakes her head. “I told him I was going to have him arrested.” A fresh wave of tears pours down her face. “He threatened me, told me he’d destroy me, ruin my family. He said no one would believe me.” She sweeps the side of her hand across her nose. “Turns out he did that anyway. But yes, I went to urgent care and had a rape kit done.”
Mom squeezes my sister’s hand, and mine. “I thought about reporting him over the years. I researched it. There is no time limit for prosecuting sex abuse cases with DNA evidence in Minnesota.” She shrugs. “I was never strong enough, or had enough money for legal fees to do something about it.”
She shudders. “I always hated myself for not stopping him, you know? I bet I wasn’t the last. If I’d only been brave enough to stand up to him, maybe he could have been stopped from hurting whoever else he hurt.” Her shouldersshake so hard as she sobs. “I just couldn’t do it. With your dad gone, it was just me. I wasn’t strong enough. I’m sorry.” She shakes her head. “And now he’s gone.” She spears me with the most heart-breaking look.
“And now my son’s married to his daughter on some misguided revenge mission. Sterling.” She cups my face with both palms. “I can’t believe you did that. I appreciate your intention, I do. I know he destroyed your lives nearly as much as he destroyed mine. I know we’ve all needed therapy as a result of what he did to our family.”
Tessa raises her hand. “Still do.”
“I’m sorry I kept the truth from you both. I was so ashamed, embarrassed. We’ve all been moving forward, growing, changing, I didn’t want to pull us back to that dark time. But you both deserve the truth.”
She heaves out a sigh that sounds like decade’s worth of weight pressing on her shoulders. “And you both deserve the right to decide what to do with that truth.” She cuffs me playfully on the jaw. “Even if you make choices I wouldn’t necessarily have made for you, or myself. We don’t need their money, Sterling. And dead men can’t give their victims justice. I wish they could, I wish I could get some kind of peace for what he did to me. I still have nightmares sometimes.” She shudders.
I open my mouth to speak but her hand darts to cover my open mouth. “I don’twanttheir money, either. And putting Cora through that when it was her father’s actions... It feels so unfair.”
At the mention of my fair wife, I shift in my seat. I stare at the table, it’s easier than making eye contact with the two most important women in my whole life. “I think I might love her.”
There. I said it out loud to someone.
Mom rolls her eyes and gives me that “Mom look.” “I know you love her, Sterling. You think I can’t see love on myson’s face when he’s looking his wife square in the face? It’s why I didn’t lose my shit when I learned—while sitting in a pew at my firstborn’s fucking wedding might I add—that you were marrying the daughter of my rapist. It was as clear as the noses on both your faces. I know love when I see it.”
Tessa thumps me on my shoulder, and it’s not as playful as Mom’s gentle bump. My sister can pack a punch. “Yeah. I saw it too. And now I’m guessing she knows your evil plan to destroy her company and her dead father’s name, right?”
I nod, afraid to say anything in case one of them sever my jugular.
“Were you the first person to tell her about what her father had done?”
Another nod, but my teeth start nibbling on my bottom lip because they’re about to slap me, and I’m sure I probably deserve it.
Tessa drops her head to the table with a thud. “You love her, and you ruined her perfect daddy for her? Fuck sake, Sterling.”
“She busted me digging around in her office.” I hold my hands up. “I wasn’t going to lie. I couldn’t. I refuse to.” I just couldn’t do it. Being honest with my wife, even though it would hurt her, was better than lying. It had to be, right?
After they both stare at me in impatient silence for a long moment, I chew the inside of my cheek. “I probably could have been better about my delivery to be fair.”
Tessa smacks her hands on her thighs. “I bet you were your typical charge in and swing your stupid boy arms without any tact.”
I study my arms for a beat. “Stupid boy arms?”
She beats her chest with clenched fists. “Does she at least know you love her? That you’re torn about ruining her entire livelihood and family history?”
When I don’t answer, Mom nudges me with her knee. “Sterling Montgomery, you haven’t told that woman you love her?”
“I... I didn’t think... I wasn’t sure... I... It was far too soon, no? We just met...” I look back and forth between their incredulous faces. “What do I do? I don’t want to lose her.”
The two women share a heavy look before Mom speaks. “Honey, I’m not sure you have a choice.”
CHAPTER 35
Cora
It’s beentwenty four hours and already I miss my fake husband. I almost laugh. When I walked down the aisle toward the majestic man standing in a penguin suit, I had no idea just how fake our marriage really was.
My apartment isn’t empty, but he’s gone. Despite the fact that we’ve only known each other for a matter of weeks, his absence is heavy, tangible, and hurts deep in my chest.
My friends are here, they didn’t leave yesterday. Maddie made sure her grandmother was okay down in Iowa, and they both cleared their schedules to hunker down with me.
I didn’t think I needed them, but knowing the mammoth list of tasks I have to do today, I’m glad they stayed.