Camila's POV
I'm pacing the bathroom in an attempt to kill time. Running into Jimmy has been a nightmare drudged up from the depths of hell. Every awful thing he's ever done to me is fresh and once again bleeding. Lauren. Drugs. Nothing will distract me from the pain that is ripping my heart apart. Thinking of Jimmy makes me think about her. Thinking about her makes me want to put a gun in my mouth and never look back.
Jesus, I miss her.
My hand goes to my belly as it does from time to time when I'm reminded of her. It's been over six years but sometimes I still imagine I can feel her inside kicking. Her name was Grace and she was mine. She made the hell I'd endured with Jimmy worth it. And as soon as she was born, I was going to run away with her. I would leave that life behind with my innocent baby girl.
But it didn't happen that way.
I'd been hiding in my closet one night, my place of refuge and solace, when he'd come in drunk. He beat the shit out of me, no surprise there. But when he dragged me to the top of the stairs and gave me a shove, I was shocked at his new low. Every step down, I tried to protect my seven month along unborn child. I knew if we could survive that fall, we could survive anything.
Yet, one of us didn't survive. I desperately clutched onto my belly and despite the searing pain—despite all the blood gushing from me—I just knew everything would be okay. But she didn't kick or move. And even though I held out hope, I knew deep down what had happened.
The connection was gone.
Severed.
Lost.
All because of that monster.
When the ambulance arrived, I had already been prepped by my husband dearest with exactly what to say. It was an accident. I tripped and fell. Who wouldn't believe the beloved politician and his lovely wife?
The only reason I didn't go to the police about his murder was because he threatened to have my mother and brother killed. I had to heal and then I'd be gone. He wouldn't be able to hurt me or my family ever again. Before I left, my brother Jude came to see me. He knew. Jude knew I was a battered woman and he wanted to kill the sonofabitch. But Jude, the sometimes unemployed black sheep of the family, couldn't do a thing about it. Jimmy would have buried him—ruined his entire life.
So one warm summer morning a few months after I lost Grace, I grabbed my passport, a small suitcase, all of my hate for Jimmy, and left for the UK. For the next six years, I hid from that man and did what I could to erase the pain of what he did to me.
And after all these years, I'm still afraid of him. I know how evil he can be. What he's done. What he took from me.
I'll die before I let that man take me back to Georgia.
I'm not the same woman who ran away.
This woman is slightly crazier. Unhinged. Capable of murder if it came to it.
My heart aches because deep down, I know Lauren will be a casualty. She'll be like my mom and my brother. The only way to save her will be to leave her. She has the money and means to protect me but so does Jimmy who will stop at nothing to have me back. I trust that he has the power and affiliates to bury Lauren Jauregui like he threatened. There's no doubt in my mind.
But not this time. I'm done letting him hurt me. I'll work on a way to leave Lauren as unscathed as possible and I'll find a way to survive again on my own. Away from the haunting memories.
A soft click of the bathroom door tells me someone has joined me. Terror freezes my veins as I worry that Jimmy has somehow sneaked in here with me. But, much to my delight, it's only Cherry.
