Revenge After Divorce by Black Rose

Chapter 288

OLIVIA

When I stepped out of my therapy session, my husband was nowhere to be found. The weight of the session still lingered in my chest, but there was a subtle sense of relief, lightness I hadn’t felt in weeks. I took a seat on the chair outside, the cool air on my face a stark contrast to the heat that had been building inside me for so long. I reached for my phone and dialled his number, my thumb hesitating as I pressed the call button.

It didn’t take long before he picked up. “Hey, babe,” his voice crackled through the speaker, a mix of concern and uncertainty. “You finished?”

“Yeah,” I said softly, trying to mask the exhaustion that was creeping in. “Just waiting for you now.”

I didn’t mind the wait. I had come to terms with the fact that healing wasn’t a quick fix. The session had helped, well, it was a start. We hadn’t covered everything that had happened, of course. There was still so much left unsaid, but at least 1 had started the process. My emotions had gotten the best of me, and I had spent most of the time crying, leaving less space for words. I had talked about what I could, though, about the fears, the pain, the scars that Xander had left, even if they were mostly buried deep inside.

I didn’t want Marcus, or anyone else, to know the full extent of what had happened at Xander’s hands. I couldn’t let them see the fragility that had been embedded in my soul. After the whole imprisonment ordeal, they already treated me with a kind of gentle caution, like I was made of glass, waiting to shatter at any moment. It wasn’t that I didn’t appreciate their concern, but I hated feeling fragile. I hated the idea of being seen as weak. I wanted to be strong. I wanted to move forward, to carry on as if nothing bad happened, as if I hadn’t been trapped on an island, fighting for my life, for days on end.

I wanted to forget it all, forget Xander, forget the island, forget everything. But most of all, I wanted to forget the fear that had gnawed at me during those dark hours, the terror of wondering if I would ever see my children again. The thought alone was enough to send a shiver down my spine.

sense of impending doom. Xander had intended to kill me, to slaughter me like an animal. He wanted me dead. I could still hear

me every time I closed my eyes. But I refused to let them destroy me. I refused to let fear dictate who I was. I had endured too much, survived too much to let it break me now. Instead, I planned to use it. I would turn that pain into strength. The woman who emerged from all of this was going to

was fragile, that Olivia Walker was anything but weak. I would

wrong.

husband’s voice. I lifted my head and looked up to see him standing in front of

His face was tight, his jaw clenched, his eyes a little too guarded. The expression was

I greeted him softly, but there was a hesitation in my voice. “Is

at

a moment, like he was deciding whether or not to tell m was really going on. Then he exhaled, shaking his head as if to brush off whatever it was that

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Chapter 288

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There was a heaviness in his tone, a layer of something unsaid. I wanted to press him, to ask him what was wrong, but I held back. There were times when I knew that if I pushed too hard, I would only make things worse. And right now, I couldn’t afford for either of us to break down at the same time. I had just started to get a grip on my emotions, and I wasn’t about to lose