Chapter 36
Sadie
Megan was still shaken up the next day, understandably so. I couldn’t imagine how terrifying it had to have been for her to look outside her window and see a man trying to break into her room. It’s the type of thing that would traumatize a child, and I was so furious that it happened to her, I didn’t know what to do with myself.
I woke up in her bed with her clinging to me, awake and trembling. We spent some time just huddled together until she felt calm enough to get up and get ready for the day. Obviously, she wasn’t going to go to school. For the entirety of the morning, Megan latched onto my side. She didn’t want to be alone, even to go to the bathroom.
If she wasn’t attached to my hip, she was stuck to Cyrus. He appeared at breakfast with an intentionally blank expression. No doubt, he didn’t want Megan to know what he was feeling, but in the moments when he knew she wasn’t looking at him, I could see flashes of his fury and could tell just how disturbed he was by the incident the night before.
As concerned for Megan and freaked out as I was myself, I was also pissed with Cyrus for more than one reason. My anger was likely irrational, but I was still hurt from the night before. Not only his night out, but his rejection of me. Who did he think he was? One moment, he’s shoving his tongue down my throat, and the next, he’s turning cold and distant. I couldn’t help but wonder if he’d been with anyone else before coming home. He’d been able to turn from me so easily…did that mean he had already been satisfied by another woman? I hated that I was having such thoughts. Hated that I was feeling so insecure and anxious about it.
I wasn’t the type of woman who let myself fall apart because of a man…especially not a man like Cyrus. Still, I couldn’t help my uncertainties when I considered the possibility.
Instead of focusing on my anger and fears regarding his extracurricular activities the night before, I held onto the other reason I was so angry with him. There was a part of me that believed if he’d been honest about what was going on with Megan’s father, this incident could have somehow been prevented. I could protect Megan more easily if I knew what the hell it was that I faced.
I wanted answers, and I grew more and more determined throughout the day to get them. While Megan was awake, I didn’t have any opportunity to speak with Cyrus in private. She simply refused to be without him or me by her side. There was no way I was going to broach the subject with her within earshot, so I knew I just had to wait and be patient. That afternoon, I managed to get her down for a nap. It wasn’t easy, and I had to lay next to her until she fell asleep, but I knew she needed one. The stress of the night and her continued fear wore her down. I didn’t want her to get sick on top of everything else. Once she was finally out, I carefully climbed out of her bed and marched to Cyrus’s office.
Instead of knocking, I barged in and shut the door behind me without warning. He looked up from whatever documents he was reading, clearly surprised.
“Sadie?” he asked, frowning. “What are you doing?”
I crossed to his desk and slapped my hands down on its surface, bending over to meet his gaze.
“You need to tell me what’s going on,” I snapped. “The truth. All of it. Clearly, Megan is in more danger than you’ve led me to believe. You can’t keep me in the dark anymore, Cyrus. If I’m going to protect and take care of Megan, I need to know exactly what kind of threat her father poses for her.”
Chapter 37
He stared at me for several long moments, and for a second, I thought he might try to blow me off. I wasn’t going to let him, but I would be furious if he tried to ignore my questions again.
After a handful of seconds passed, he released a long sigh and sat back in his chair.
“Take a seat,” he murmured, extending his hand toward one of the chairs in front of his desk.
Surprised by his easy acquiescence, I slipped into the seat and held his gaze. I waited, deciding to practice some patience and give him time to collect his words and thoughts.
Finally, he said, “Kate was always a little wild. A little spoiled. She was the baby, and my parents doted on her. She was a sweet girl, though. A good girl. When she was in high school, she got mixed up with a bad crowd, and things started going downhill. She got into drugs and messed around with shitty guys who abused her. Ralph was one of those guys, and for some reason, she decided to marry him.”
A small gasp slipped past my lips, but I didn’t say a word. I didn’t want to interrupt him and cause him to clamp up again. I could see the gut-wrenching pain in his gaze, though. He was not trying to hide it from me. I’m not sure he could have, actually.
He paused for a moment and seemed to be taking time to collect himself before he continued, “Eventually, they had Megan, and that little girl was the motivation Kate needed to finally turn things around. She got clean. She got a good job, and she began to realize that she didn’t have to put up with Ralph and his bullshit. She came to me and told me everything Ralph had done to her, and after I got over my need to kill him right then and there, I told her she could come and stay with me. I didn’t care how long it would be, I just knew she needed to get away from him.”
His voice grew thick with emotion and he had to pause again. I felt my anger slip away in the face of his distress. This story was awful. I had known it wouldn’t be good, but this…this was devastating.
When he started to speak again, his voice cracked. “She made a run for it with Megan while Ralph was supposed to be away, but he came home early that night and caught her leaving. She drove away, and he chased after her in his own car. It was dark, and they were speeding…I’m not sure how, but in the end, Ralph drove Kate’s car off the road. She crashed, and the car flipped. Kate died instantly.”
“Oh my God,” I breathed out. “How did Megan manage to survive?”
Cyrus shrugged and ran a hand down his face. “Who’s to say? Her booster seat? A miracle? I just know we were damn lucky not to lose her, too.”
I can’t imagine the horror and pain such an experience would have caused his family. And poor, little Megan, what had she experienced? Not just the crash and her mother’s death, but her father’s abuse?
“What happened after that?” I murmured when he didn’t continue immediately.
“Ralph went to prison,” he growled, his expression growing dark. “I took emergency custody of Megan, which I intend to make permanent.”
I blinked, confused. “Wait, if Ralph went to prison, how…”
“Bastard made bail somehow,” he snapped, shoving to his feet. He began to pace, looking like a caged animal. “I suspect he was able to tap into Kate’s trust fund before I managed to lock it down and restructure it for Megan. He’s free until his trial. I have a restraining order against him to keep him away from Megan, but that’s clearly not working. The rat bastard doesn’t seem to care that he’s risking his freedom by defying the court orders against him.”
“What does he want?” I whispered, horrified to hear the answer. “Why does he keep trying to get to Megan when he has to know it’s going to affect his trial?”
Cyrus stopped and turned to face me fully.
“I don’t think he cares,” he said. “I don’t think he has any intention of attending his trial.”
“What does that mean?” I could guess the answer, but it sent a cold shiver rushing through me. If a man like Ralph was desperate enough…
Cyrus’s hands curled into fists and his side as he answered, “I think he plans on kidnapping Megan…and running.”