He Promised Me A Home And Gave It To Her Chapter 08

A month into the semester, Dad’s case went to court.

He’d stolen my college savings and injured me with a beer bottle.

There was security footage, bank transfer records, and medical evidence documenting my injuries.

The lawyer said Dad was facing at least a few years in prison.

Before the hearing, Dad spotted me across the courtroom railing and immediately started shouting.

“Elena Shaw! You’re really going to send your own father to prison?”

“Your mother ran off and left me with you! You think I started drinking for fun? Do you have any idea how exhausting it was to raise you?”

I said nothing.

When he realized that wasn’t working, his tone softened.

“Look, I know I messed up.”

“Just tell them to drop the charges. I swear I’ll never hit you again.”

“Come home, sweetheart. We can put all this behind us, can’t we?”

Home.

Hearing that word from him still brought back the filthy runoff beneath the overpass and the bitter winter wind.

Orion, Jace, and Julian were sitting in the gallery.

Jace looked ready to explode, but he didn’t rush forward.

Julian put a hand on his arm and said quietly,

“Don’t make Elena’s decisions for her.”

At last, they were learning that I didn’t need them charging in to rescue me.

When the judge asked whether I wanted the court to show my father any leniency, I shook my head.

“No.”

Dad shot to his feet.

“You ungrateful brat! Don’t you dare!”

A court officer immediately restrained him.

I looked straight at him.

“When I was ten, you told me to get out.”

“When I turned eighteen, you stole everything I’d saved for college.”

“Now I’m finally doing what you told me to do.”

“I’m getting as far away from your home as I can.”

After the judge handed down the sentence, I ran into Vivian outside the courthouse.

She’d come alone.

Orion wasn’t with her.

She handed me a paper bag.

Inside were the old photographs I’d left at Julian’s house, along with the original plan for our four-person graduation trip.

“These belong to you.”

I took the bag.

Vivian stood there for a long time before speaking again.

“You know, Elena, I used to like being the one they chose.”

“The quieter you were about it, the more I felt like I was winning.”

“But eventually, I realized they weren’t choosing me because I mattered more.”

“They just never believed you’d actually leave.”

She gave a bitter little smile.

“I told them they don’t have to take care of me anymore.”

“I have parents. I have doctors. I have my own life.”

I looked at her.

“You don’t have to stop being friends with them because of me.”

“I’m not doing it for you.”

She shook her head.

“Honestly, I’m tired of being treated like I’m made of glass.”

“I want to paint. I don’t need three bodyguards following me everywhere.”

She sounded so genuinely fed up that I couldn’t help laughing.

Vivian laughed, too.

“Oh, and about the airport. I really wasn’t trying to make them put off the clam chowder you wanted.”

“I know.”

She hesitated for a moment.

“Orion dropped out of Kingswell University.”

“He says he’s going to try to get into Westhaven University.”

My smile faded.

“That’s his business.”

Vivian nodded.

“That’s what I told him.”

We said goodbye outside the courthouse.

I was almost at the curb when Orion caught up with me.

He didn’t mention getting back together.

Instead, he held out a sheet of paper outlining his study plan and application timeline for Westhaven University.

“Elena, I’m going to catch up to you.”

I didn’t take it.

“Don’t chase me.”

“You need to go live your own life.”

He looked at me, his eyes searching mine.

“And what about you?”

I opened the door of a waiting cab.

“I already am.”