Now that the trial has been put to rest, Rueben believes that life is on an upward trend. It's not long before he understands he is sadly mistaken.
Around every corner lies a new demon lurking with the desire to rip the rug out from under him. He m...
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𝗥ueben gently closed the door to his bedroom, still carrying Rayne in his arms, before he walked over to the bed and sat down in the center of it. She immediately released her grip and climbed off his lap; she sat awkwardly to the side of him, half turned away.
"Sweetheart, what happened?"
He stared at her solemnly, knowing that whatever was bothering her, it had to be a big deal. The minute that Kaiser texted him and informed him of their early departure from the office, he knew that Rayne wasn't okay. She never left the office like that unless something triggered something. And then when he came home to find her laying on the couch, staring at absolutely nothing, reality sunk in even further. All he wanted from her now was a few words.
"Rayne?" he tried again when she didn't answer.
"My father started raping me when I was thirteen," she said slowly, her breath quivering; Rueben's eyes widened at her words, "—he didn't stop doing it until I was eighteen, and it was only because that night I found his gun and shot him in the ear to keep him from running after me as I made my escape from that house of horror. Matteo defended me to our father right up until he disappeared; he would always take hits and slaps – sometimes scratches. Sometimes our father would strip him down to his clothes and laugh as he tossed him into the bathtub and threw boiling hot water on him. He did everything to stop Matteo from interrupting his plans with me."
Rueben opened his mouth to speak up – to return some type of response – but nothing came out. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew she wasn't finished speaking.
"—the sole purpose of his abuse was because I looked like my mother," she continued, "The same mother that died giving birth to my brother and I," she finally turned and inch towards him, "When I ran away from home that night, I met Christian; he took me in and got me back on my feet. It only took three years for me to realize that he was exactly the type of man my father was," he shifted and faced him entirely; tears were streaming down her cheeks, but her face was solid; he was unsure if she even knew she was crying, "I couldn't escape my father in my first relationship, and now," she reached into her pocket and withdrew a paper, handing it to him, "I can't escape him in death."
He took it from her and opened it. It only took him a minute to scan the contents of it to understand what she meant and what she was feeling right now.
Rueben grabbed the top of the paper with both hands and ripped it down the middle. Rayne let out a small breath as he tossed it to the ground.
"He is not haunting you, love," he placed his hands on her cheeks and brushed her tears away, "He has no power over you and he hasn't for a long time – why do you think he's consecutively lost against you? You're beautiful and strong and smart. What he left behind to you was only done because he has no one else – he was a hateful, disgusting man with an irrefutable attitude. I know whatever choice you make regarding this will be the right one because there is no wrong answer."
