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.

drifted to my kids. They were the light in my life, the reason I had to keep going. The thought that I might never see them again had plagued me during those days on the island. The graveyard, the dark corners of that place, the overwhelming sense of impending doom. Xander had intended to kill me, to slaughter me like an animal. He wanted me dead. I could still hear his voice in my

to let them destroy me. I refused to let fear dictate who I was. I had endured too much, survived too much to let

fragile, that Olivia Walker

wrong.

thoughts were interrupted by the familiar sound of my husband’s voice. I lifted my head and looked up to see him standing in front

face was tight, his jaw clenched, his eyes a little too guarded. The expression was a stark contrast to the warmth

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

at

not to tell m was really going on. Then he exhaled, shaking his head as if to brush off whatever it was that had been bothering him. “Don’t ask anything right now. Just tell me what you want, and I will get it.

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Chapter 288

to

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

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