They Said I Was Lying, They Forgot I Couldn’t Speak Chapter 08

They Said I Was Lying, They Forgot I Couldn’t Speak Chapter 08

Derek stared at me. His lips parted, but no words came out.

I turned calmly back to my screen and opened my email.

He crossed the office in a few quick strides and set his coffee on the edge of my desk. His voice came out

rough.

“Tessa.”

I looked up at him, polite and composed.

“Mr. Vaughn. Did you need something?”

His composure cracked the instant he heard my voice.

He stared at my face, then at my mouth, as if he needed to make sure the sound had really come from me.

“You… you can talk?”

“Yes. The treatment worked.”

“When… when did this happen?”

“I had surgery while I was away and spent a long time recovering.” I closed my laptop. “If there’s nothing

work-related you need to discuss, I’d like to get familiar with the new project.”

Derek stood there as though all the strength had gone out of him.

He tried several times to speak, but the words came out broken.

“Tessa, I… all this time, I’ve been…”

“Been what?” I looked at him. “With Sienna?”

The color drained from his face.

My voice stayed even.

“I know. Sienna posted it all on Instagram. The dinners, the trips, the holidays. I saw all of it.”

“That was-”

“Whether you were drunk, whether she made the first move, or whatever other explanation you have, I don’t

want to hear it.”

“Derek, we broke up. It’s been a long time. Whatever you have to explain now doesn’t matter anymore.”

His hand froze in midair.

When I left work that evening, Sienna was waiting outside the building.

Derek had obviously told her I was back.

She was wearing an expensive dress, her hair perfectly styled. Her hearing aids had been replaced with a

much smaller model tucked discreetly behind her ears, almost impossible to notice unless you were looking

for them.

She spotted me from a distance, froze for a beat, then hurried over.

“Tessa!”

She stopped in front of me and looked me up and down.

“You really… can talk now?”

“Yes.” My voice was calm. “What do you want?”

Her expression shifted several times before she finally forced a smile.

“Mom and Dad know you’re back. They… want to see you. Where have you been all this time? Everyone’s

been worried about you.”

She reached for me, but I stepped away.

“Worried about me?” I repeated softly. “Worried I’d starve out there, or worried I’d get my voice back and

come home to take something from you?”

“Didn’t Mom and Dad say you were their only daughter? That family has nothing to do with me anymore.”

“Sienna, I want to ask you something.”

She looked up at me, sobbing.

“When we were kids, did you know about the report from my vocal-cord examination?”

Her crying stopped for a split second.

And suddenly, everything clicked into place.

Mom and Dad had thought I was faking. Derek had thought I was lying. No one had believed that I truly couldn’t speak.

But that medical report had been in our house for years.

Then one day, it disappeared.

“No wonder. No wonder Mom and Dad always believed I could talk. No wonder they never believed what the

doctors said.”

I looked at her.

“You hid that report, didn’t you?”

“That’s all I needed to know. Go home. I’m not going back there.”

I turned and walked away.

Sienna called something after me, but I didn’t look back.

Derek was waiting farther down my usual route home from work.

He stepped in front of me and held up his phone. On the screen was a screenshot of the medical records I’d posted in the company Slack channel.