Broken kingdom

Chapter 43 Bianca

After what felt like an eternity filled with non-stop questions, the police finally let me go. 

I’m not sure what’s going to happen with Mark, but at the very least his medical license is in danger of being taken away since I made an appointment with his office and was therefore listed as a client. 

Is it justice? 

Not close to the kind Hayley deserves, but it’s better than nothing. 

It also made me realize something. 

I kept my mother’s secrets because I thought I was protecting her…but in the end they only ended up destroying me. 

Maybe it’s time for me to stop living in my cocoon and start letting people in. 

But the only way to do that is to start being honest with the people I love. 

Let them inside. 

After putting more coverup on my bruise so Oakley doesn’t freak when he sees me, I snap my compact shut. 

My hand trembles as I knock on the door of Oakley’s apartment. 

I didn’t want him to know about Hayley or my mother’s affair with her dad, but I also don’t think it’s right to keep this from him. 

He answers after the third knock. “Hey.” 

“Hey.” I take a deep breath. “Can I come in? I really need to talk—”

“Is that the food?” some woman questions behind him. 

A moment later she comes into view. 

She’s a little older than him, but very pretty. 

Very pretty and very blonde. 

My throat constricts. “I didn’t know you had company.” Heart heavy, I stagger back. “I’ll talk to you later.” 

Oakley starts to say something, but I don’t give him the chance because the wave of pain that washes over me is so severe it threatens to break me into a million tiny little pieces. 

I feel so stupid. So goddamn stupid. 

Why wouldn’t Oakley be with another woman? It’s not like we’re together. 

How could we be? I have a…

“You okay?” someone who sounds a lot like Stone says. 

I was so out of it I didn’t even realize I walked up the stairs to his apartment.

“I—” I shake my head, unable to process anything except for the fact that Oakley’s in his apartment with some other girl doing God knows what. 

“I’ve been trying to call you all day,” Stone says as he ushers me inside. “Where were you?” 

It hurts so much I can barely breathe. 

“With Sawyer and Dylan.” 

He tips my chin, forcing me to look at him. “What’s going on? What happened?” 

I don’t give him an answer. 

I can’t. 

Instead, I just go numb. 

Because the thought of Oakley being with another girl…a girl who’s not me. 

Feels like death by a thousand cuts. 

I push Stone away when he tries to hug me. “I have to go.”