Chapter 6 - THEY WANTED ME TO FEEL UNLOVABLE
I closed the folder.
Wyatt sat beside me.
For a while, I couldn’t look at him.
“Sadie?”
“They wanted you to be disgusted by me.”
His expression changed.
“That isn’t going to happen.”
“You don’t know what I’ll look like.”
“I know who you are.”
It sounded simple.
I hated how badly I needed to hear it.
The investigation uncovered months of messages.
Fake social-media profiles used to monitor Wyatt.
Screenshots of his schedule.
Photographs taken outside his office.
Conversations between Melanie and Mom.
One message from Melanie read:
If she weren’t pretty, he wouldn’t stay.
Mom responded:
Your father will handle Sadie if it comes to that.
I stopped reading.
Chief Briggs took the file away.
“You don’t need to see everything.”
“I want to understand.”
“You understand enough.”
For once, I let someone else decide that perhaps there were details I didn’t need living inside my head.
The strangest part was that Wyatt never seemed fascinated by the evidence.
He was furious.
But when he entered my hospital room, he talked to me about normal things.
The restaurant near our apartment.
A terrible television show.
The wedding photographer emailing him about dates.
“You didn’t cancel?”
He looked genuinely confused.
“Why would I?”
I touched the edge of my bandage.
“Wyatt.”
“No.”
“What?”
“You don’t get to ask me whether I still want you every six hours.”
Despite myself, I laughed.
“My face is held together by medical tape.”
“Still you.”
“What if the scar is bad?”
“Still you.”
“What if—”
“Sadie.”
He leaned closer.
“I didn’t fall in love with your cheekbone.”
I laughed again.
Then immediately regretted it because my face hurt.
Three weeks after the attack, my surgeon removed the final major bandage.
“Open your eye slowly.”
I was terrified.
Then light appeared.
Blurry at first.
Shapes.
Movement.
Wyatt.
“I can see you.”
He covered his mouth.
I started crying.
“So,” I whispered, “still want to marry me?”
He pretended to consider it.
“Unfortunately.”
I laughed.
He kissed my forehead.
“The wedding is still on.”
But outside my hospital room, the criminal case was moving forward.
And my father had finally learned about the trust clause.
According to Janice, his reaction was worse than anyone expected.
May you like
Because he suddenly realized the brick hadn’t only cost him his freedom.
It might cost him everything Walter had refused to let him truly own.
