- 7.
I looked up, confused.
<
My eyes went to his name tag: Dr. Howard
Peak.
He handed me a glass of water, his voice
calm and kind.
“None of this was your fault.”
The tears started.
Like a dam had broken.
I covered my face, sobbing.
Dr. Peak just watched me, waiting for me to
calm down before continuing.
Under his care, the panic attacks became less
frequent.
I didn’t flinch when someone walked toward
- me.
I didn’t get scared by shadows anymore.
I thought things were finally getting better.
Then, Liam showed up.
Seeing his face, I could barely breathe.
He didn’t notice my reaction, shoving the
divorce papers in my face.
“What the hell is this, Emily?”
“You’re divorcing me over this?”
“What about my reputation? What about the
Walker family? You can’t just come and go as
you please!”
I leaned against the door, the familiar fear
washing over me.
I just forced myself to look at him.
“Emily, talk to me!”
“You screwed up big time. I didn’t blame you.
Jessica and I cleaned up your mess. What
more do you want?”
Liam put his hand on my shoulder.
I recoiled, clenching my jaw.
“It wasn’t my fault!”
“Liam, I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“”
“You planned the honeymoon. You left me
with Jessica during the riot. You abandoned
me when I needed you most.‘
“I didn’t do anything wrong. It was you!”
It was like a weight had been lifted.
Suddenly, I could breathe.
My chest was heaving, but I wasn’t backing
down.
“What are you talking about?”
“Are you still blaming me?”
“Jessica said…”
I cut him off.
“Jessica, Jessica, all you care about is
Jessica!”
“Did you even bother to investigate? Do you
even know what I went through?”
I took off my jacket.
Fighting back the shame, I showed him the
scars.
“Look at these. Do you think they happened
overnight?”
Scars, big and small, covered my skin.
I pointed them out, one by one.
“This one? From the explosion when I was
“This is a burn.”
“Here? Someone beat me when I was fighting
for food.
“”
“They were bigger than me, stronger than me.
Their punches felt like they were gonna kill
me.”
“But I wanted to live. I tried everything, I
risked everything to find the embassy. I
wanted to live…”
By the end, I was sobbing.
The scars weren’t just on my body.
They were burned into my soul.
They reminded me to never forget.
And never love Liam Walker again.
