Wife Material

17

"Let's talk about your preteen years, Lilliana. Before your parents' divorce, around the time your disorder developed."

I look at Dr Bree, my therapist in confusion.

"Is this necessary? I've overcome my eating disorder and I've been okay for years." My anxiety increases, as she looks at me. I flinch under the scrutiny of her gaze, and I'm scared she knows about the past weeks. "I really don't want to talk about it."

"Okay. I just want to revisit your past to get some background," Her smile is warm, but I don't let it persuade me.

"There is not much to say. I'm sure my previous therapist's notes outline everything. My nanny was a horrible and mean woman who made me believe that the only I could be considered lovable was if I was thinner. She spent most of her days where I was in her care, telling me what I could and could not eat, telling me that the most effective way to get rid of the excess fat was to force myself to throw up everynight and morning. But I'm okay now. That woman is no longer part of my life and I've had complete control over my eating habits."

She looks at me, and I can tell that she knows I'm lying. That the last week and a half, I've avoided eating, I've spent meal times occupying others with conversation so no one would realize I'm not eating and that I've lost 6 pounds already.

"Tell me what happened that night. What Oron, and Daniel and those men said to you."

Walking into the living room of the house, I'm surprised to see most of Elijah's trusted people in the living room. Anxiety cripples through my body, as I scan the many unfamiliar faces.

My breath quickens and my hand starts shaking. Elijah must realize how I feel, as soon as he makes eye contact with me, because he immediately commands for everyone to exit from the secondary door and he stands at a distance until everyone has left.

"Where are the kids?" I ask him, before he can start the usual conversation he has had with me since we have been back. "They're with your cousins. We found Daniel and we all thought that while we deal with him, they stay away from here. You should do the same."

I shake my head, "No. I want to be there when you guys question him and I want to be the one that puts a bullet through his skull." Before he can argue, I add, "This isn't negotiable."

Sighing, he agrees.

I nervously sit on the sofa, waiting for any indication that Elijah has Daniel, but after seven hours, there is still nothing.

When I am ready to give up and go to bed, headlights shine through the house from the driveway, and when I go by the window to check, I notice Elijah's car.

Moments later, he exits the car, and Kenan follows, dragging an almost beaten to death Daniel.

Memories from that day flash in my mind: the feel of his body against mine, his hands on my skin, his breath on my neck. Bile raises in my throat but I force myself to appear unaffected, so I can face him and show him  that he has not won, that he did not break me.

I go to the basement, to the room where Elijah and I usually deal with business and see the two friends discuss over the barely alive body of the man who attacked me.

All eyes land on me, as the door shuts behind me. My eyes are fixed on Daniel though. A smug smirk appears on his face, but the sound of a gun going off and a hole in the wall just inches away from his face wipe it right off.

I place the gun back on the table, and approach him.

"Where is Gatalas?"

"I've told you already. . . I don't know. If you want to kill me, kill me. My answer still stands."

The next second is a blur, and three shots are fired, hitting Daniel in the shoulder leg and arm. I look at my hand, staring at the gun I just grabbed from the table.

"You can shoot me as much as you want to, but your anger is at the wrong person." The smirk is back. "Wrong person?! Wrong. Fucking. Person? You raped me for more than an hour, the passed me on to your buddies for them to do the same. I trusted you, Daniel! With my life. I was your friend and you betrayed me in the worst possible way you could find."

"I wasn't the only one."

I immediately think of Santi. . . Was he a part of the plan? "What are you talking about?"

His answer calms my fear about Santi. "The only people to blame for this unfortunate accident is the family you married into. People who you wouldn't expect to betray you sold you to the highest bidder. Oron wanted to hurt Elijah, and I can tell he succeeded. . . But there are others out there who wanted to hurt you. Wanted you to spent the rest of your miserable life being hunted by the memories."

The gun in my hand goes off again, shooting Daniel execution style.

Minutes pass before I can turn around and face Elijah. Panic is etched over his features.

I know who he's talking about." He tells me. My heart stops, "What?"

"What he said about someone in my family wanting to hurt you. . . I think I know who it was."

"Who?" I ask him.

"My mother."

I am very sorry it took another month to publish this, but my life has been all over the place recently. But things are starting to go back to normal now that I've moved into my uni accommodation, so hopefully, I'll be able to publish a chapter a week, between uni(starting next week) and work.