Chapter 8 - The Ghost in the Mirror
Before they could leave Atlantic City forever, there was one final, painful debt that needed to be settled.
Everly had requested to see Wade.
Valerio had been reluctant, wanting to protect her from any further trauma, but Everly had been adamant. "I need to look him in the eyes, Valerio. I need to know that he no longer has power over me. I need to close that door."
So, on a cold, foggy afternoon, Valerio drove her to the secure warehouse on Pier 14.
Wade Mercer was sitting in a chair in the center of a cold, concrete room. He looked terrible—his expensive clothes were torn and dirty, his face was swollen from the "lessons" Valerio’s men had given him, and his eyes were wild with fear.
When the door opened and Everly walked in, flanked by Valerio, Wade flinched, his body shaking.
"Everly..." Wade whispered, his voice raspy and broken. "Everly, please... tell him to let me go. I’m sorry. I swear I’m sorry. I was crazy, I was desperate because of the money..."
Everly stopped three feet away from him. She looked at the man who had spent two years whipping her, beating her, and treating her like dirt.
She expected to feel fear. She expected to feel the old, familiar knot of terror tightening in her stomach.
But she felt nothing.
He looked so small. So pathetic. He was no longer the handsome, smiling monster who ruled her life. He was just a cowardly, broken man who had relied on her weakness to make himself feel strong.
"I don't hate you, Wade," Everly said, her voice calm, clear, and utterly devoid of emotion. "Hating you would mean I still care about what you did. But you are nothing to me now. You are just a ghost from a life I have already forgotten."
She looked down at her round, pregnant belly, then up at Valerio, who was standing behind her, his hand resting securely on her waist.
"My child will never know your name," Everly said, looking back at Wade. "They will never know the pain you caused. They will grow up in a home filled with love, safety, and a father who is a real man."
Wade wept, his head dropping to his chest, his pathetic apologies echoing in the empty concrete room.
Everly turned to Valerio. "I'm ready to go home."
May you like
"Let's go, my love," Valerio said, guiding her out of the room.
As they stepped into the fresh, cold air of the harbor, Everly felt a physical weight lifting from her shoulders. The door was closed. The past was dead.
