The Wrong Wife by Maya Alden

Author:Maya Alden [Alden, Maya]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Maya Alden Books
Published: 2023-06-22T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 27

Esme

I held Nancy's hand as she told me what she'd gone through. The right side of her face was swollen. Her left hand was in a sling. There was a massive bruise around her left eye. Her boyfriend had beaten her mercilessly. A nurse at the Good Samaritan Emergency Room led her to us. This wasn't the first time her boyfriend used her as a punching bag.

"Will he be able to find me here?" she was frightened, and I didn't blame her.

"No." The location of Safe Harbor was known to a select few in law enforcement and first responders. Most women's shelters had to hide in plain sight, and we always instructed the women never to let anyone know where they were. Sometimes people slipped, and we'd have an incident with a husband or boyfriend trying to break in. The security wasn't perfect—but it did hold up most of the time.

"What am I going to do? I'm pregnant. How am I going to care for myself and this baby?" Nancy was crying, and my heart went out to her. No matter how many women I met with similar stories, I felt their pain, which broke me. But I couldn’t afford to crumble and fall, I had to hold myself up so I could do the same for them.

"We're going to take care of you, Nancy. I promise. You'll be safe here, and I’ll help you find a place to live and a job to pay the bills. For now, I want you to heal and get strong. How far along are you?"

"Five months." She protectively ran a hand over her belly. "He wanted to have sex, but I wasn’t feeling well. So, I said no, not tonight. He got angry—kicked me in the stomach. The doctors told me the baby was fine. But if he finds me again…."

"That isn't going to happen," I told her firmly. "I won't let it happen." I was making promises I knew I might be unable to keep, but I'd die trying.

"Thank you, Esme."

I took her to the room she'd share with two other women. Safe Harbor was an old warehouse that had been converted into a group home. It had six floors; the bottom two were shared spaces, while the top floors housed women. At any given time, we'd have thirty women in the shelter. But we turned away several others due to a lack of space.

When I get the money Declan offered at the end of the marriage contract period, I could buy the building next door and expand the premises of Safe Harbor.

I came to my office on the first floor and looked at my watch. It was already past seven in the evening. The day had flown by. And there was still so much to do. When Declan wasn't home, I sometimes stayed at work until past midnight; but tonight, he was home, and after what happened last night, I couldn't wait to see him again, to hold him again. And he'd made dinner reservations for eight.

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