Fighting Shadows (Whispers of Salvation Book 3) by N.E. Stevenson

Author:N.E. Stevenson [Stevenson, N.E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-07-02T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 31

Autumn

‘River – Myles Smith’

Taking a deep breath, I brace myself before knocking on his office door.

“Come in!” his gruff voice shouts from the other side.

“Hi, Dad,” I say, entering the room and moving over to my favorite seat in the office by the window. It’s where I sat as a little girl sometimes while he worked, just wanting to be near him. It still smells the same, the slightest hint of whiskey in the air with the smell of leather and spice from Dad’s cologne. It’s comforting, like wrapping me in a warm hug.

Dad smiles knowingly at me, but his eyes are sad. He grabs a blanket from under his desk, comes over, and wraps it around me.

“You okay?” he asks me.

“Yeah,” I sigh, “It’s been a long week of being home, and everything still feels like a lot. I think we need to talk, though.”

“I guess we do,” he says, dragging his office chair over, the wheels dragging across the carpet, “I’m sorry.”

He says it so quickly I almost cringe.

I wanted nothing more than to hear those words from him before when he kept fucking up and pushing me away because I wasn’t what he was expecting.

It made me feel small like I was a letdown for being messed up from everything Jane did and like I was never going to be good enough for him. Then I found out about everything from the past, him finding me and never coming for me, knowing about the abuse, and never stopping it because Jane was convincing enough that she made me the problem.

“Are you?” I ask, “Because you made me feel like shit for the last year. You told me I had to get over Chloe being dead. You acted like I was fucked in the head for not being happy and normal after everything I went through. Yet, you had the audacity, even after the meeting with my therapist, to get drunk on vodka of all the fucking things and then beg me to understand why you didn’t come for me. Do you not think I begged every day of my life for my dad to save me? When I came home, I was so desperate to feel your love and please you that I pushed down my mental health in an attempt to be someone you would be proud of, and then when I tried to kill myself, you disappeared, using the excuse that you wanted to be the one to find Jane. I needed you. I needed my dad, and you weren’t there.”

Angry tears come unbidden, making tracks down my cheeks. I didn’t want to cry, especially because I was furious and not upset, but I couldn’t take it anymore, and I knew I needed to get it all off of my chest before he bulldozed over me with an apology.

Tears gather in his eyes from my words, and it’s clear I’ve affected him.

“I am so sorry,” he says, sinking into the chair in front of

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