Protecting Her(118)

In my heart, I know Pearce is not a bad person. I know he doesn’t want to do bad things. And I know he loves me more than anything and would do everything in his power to keep me safe.

So despite the bad things Pearce has done, and despite the fact that he kept that part of his life a secret, I still love him. I always will. Some might say that’s wrong, but it’s how I feel. Pearce is my best friend. My husband. The love of my life. My soulmate. And it kills me to know that he’s forced to be part of this secret organization. That he can’t get out. And that he couldn’t tell me about it even though he wanted to.

I guess, if anything, I should be mad at Pearce for pursuing me all those years ago. If we’d never dated, I wouldn’t have fallen in love with him and I wouldn’t be in the situation I’m in now. But we can’t go back and change the past. And truthfully, I wouldn’t want to. I had a life with Pearce. One that I loved. Aside from the past three months, the past twelve years were the best years of my life. If I hadn’t married Pearce, I wouldn’t have the memories that I now cherish and use to get through each day. And if Pearce hadn’t come into my life, I wouldn’t have Garret, my little ray of sunshine. My sweet little boy who I love with everything I am.

I miss him so much. I miss them both so much. It’s torture not seeing them. Not being able to hug them and kiss them and be with them.

I don’t know how much longer I can do this. Jack didn’t give me any kind of timeline. I thought Pearce would come find me after a couple weeks. But then those weeks turned into a month, and then another month, and another after that. I keep waiting, wondering when he’ll show up.

The wait is agonizing. What is taking so long? Even if he hasn’t found a way to be with me and keep me safe, he could at least come and see me. Nobody would have to know. This is a tiny village. Nobody here knows him. He’d be safe coming here. And I need to see him. I’m desperate to see him.

So where is he?





CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX


Three Years Later


PEARCE

“Welcome back,” I say to Garret as he walks in the front door.

He lets out harsh laugh. “Yeah. No thanks to you. If you had your way, I’d still be over there.”

“Your actions cost us a fortune!” Katherine says, appearing behind me. “You don’t even care, do you?”

I wish she’d just let me handle this. Things are bad enough with Garret. I don’t need Katherine making them worse.

“Don’t f*cking talk to me,” he says as he passes her on his way to the stairs.

Katherine gasps. “Pearce! Don’t let him use that foul language in the house.”

“Katherine, please. He just got home. Let’s not start fighting already.”

“Good luck with that,” Garret mumbles as he goes upstairs.

I follow him up there. “Garret, wait. I want to talk to you.”

“There’s nothing to say.” He goes in his room and slams the door.

I open it before he can lock it. He’s sitting on his bed.

“You didn’t even say hello.” I sit next to him.

“And you’re mad about that? Seriously? You didn’t even call to see if I was okay. You shipped me off to boarding school and forgot about me. And you’re pissed I didn’t say hello just now?” He huffs. “Just go.”

“I didn’t mean it that way. I was just—” I sigh. “I’m sorry we sent you there. We shouldn’t have done that. It wasn’t right.”

“WE?” He turns to me. “There was no ‘we’ in that decision. It was all Katherine’s idea. She hates me and she wanted to get rid of me.”

“She doesn’t hate you. She’s just not used to being around children.”

“I’m NOT a child.”

“You’re only 13. You’re still a child.”

“So you thought it was okay to send your CHILD all the way to London to go to school?” He rolls his eyes. “Great parenting there, Dad.”

“I admit it was a mistake. You won’t be going back to boarding school. You’ll live here and go to Tolshire Academy.”

“What?” He stands up. “You’re saying I can’t go back to my old school?”

“It’s too far from where we live now. Tolshire is much closer and it’s an excellent school. Even better than your old school.”