Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 91937 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 460(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91937 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 460(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
“Yes,” I say, putting the envelope I had in my hand on the table. “I have something you might need.” She puts her pen down on the pad as she takes out the papers from the envelope. “I started gathering this five years ago.” I hand her the pictures of Winston with all the different women. “I hired a private investigator from New York so he wouldn’t know the Cartwrights,” I tell her as I hand her the report that he has made over the last five years. “He would come down once a month and just follow him around. There is also a number of women who have shown up at my door who were pregnant or allegedly pregnant with his child. I never saw them again.” I hand her the names and addresses of the women I have. “I don’t know if they will talk or not. This,” I say, handing her a USB key, “is video of him showing up at home drunk and us fighting. It was a weekly thing, and most of the time he was drunk. I have the footage of him stumbling up the steps and then walking into the house. Some of the fights are not seen but you can hear the screaming or at least the screaming from him.” The hand Brady had on my leg is gone.
“Excuse me.” He pushes away from the table, standing up.
My hand flies to his. “Brady,” I say softly, “please.”
He takes one look into my eyes that have filled with tears as I told her my story. “He’s not going to go away quietly.” Ryleigh ignores the fact that Brady and I are having a stare down. “And if I know them like I think I do”—my fingers link with his as I turn back to look at her—“they are going to drag you to court for everything, and I mean for everything.” She looks back at Brady, then back at me. “Are you ready for this?”
“As ready as I think I will ever be,” I admit to her. “The other lawyer didn’t have that.” I point at the envelope. “I didn’t think he would do anything with it, and then I felt like he was working more for my in-laws than he was for me.”
“These people will be looking for all your secrets,” she tells me something I already know. “They are going to probably make up a bunch of shit and parade it down Main Street.” She looks back at Brady. “I’m not judging you, but I have to know.”
“It just started,” Brady almost snaps, “when she moved in. When he put his hands on her in the middle of the night with his son watching. So they can parade whatever they want down Main Street. But if they think coming after me is going to make me go away, they are wrong. They aren’t the only ones who can parade shit down Main Street.” He squeezes my hand, and I can’t help but look at our hands linked together as the tears roll down my cheeks. “I’m ready to make them pay for everything.” I make the mistake of looking up at him, and he brushes the tears away from my face. “No more tears, yeah?” He bends to kiss my lips.
“Well, then.” She tries to hide the smile. “I believe I have everything I need.” She looks at Brady. “If you can call the cavalry, it’s time to go and have a chat with the sheriff.” He nods before he walks out of the room.
I wait for him to be out of the room before I turn to her. “His family has suffered enough because of my in-laws,” I start to say and swallow the lump in my throat before saying the rest of my sentence. “I refuse to have them in the crosshairs again. If I have to, I’ll stay somewhere else.” The pain in my chest is so strong I put my hand to my chest and rub it to release the throbbing.
She reaches over and puts her hand on mine and squeezes. “Harmony, if you think that man”—she motions with her chin toward the door he just walked out of—“is going to let you go, you weren’t in the room right now.” She shakes her head. “That man isn’t letting you out of his sight, not now, and I don’t think for a long time.”
He comes back into the room. “They will be here in five minutes,” he reports, and I get up from my chair.
“I’m going to go wash my face,” I tell Ryleigh. “Maybe put on some war paint.” I make a joke as I turn to walk out of the room, replaying Ryleigh’s words in my head, letting them sink in. But I know that eventually I’m going to have to let him go. There will come a time and a place when it’ll be too much for him. When that time comes, I’m going to have to walk away from him, and it’ll break my heart in a way it’s never been broken before.