Retribution (25 page)

“Hello, Claire. I’m Dr. Wilson,” she said, her voice soothing. She walked over to the chair across from me.

I instantly liked her. “It’s nice to meet you,” I said politely.

“And you as well.” She took a moment to pull a file and a notepad out of her leather bag.

I watched as she opened the notepad and grabbed a pen. “I’ve had time to review your chart along with the statement given by Mr. Cooper Evans. Now, I want to hear your side of the story.”

She intently stared at me, and I shifted uncomfortably under her gaze.

“Whatever Cooper said was true. I don’t think I need to tell you everything all over again.”

For a moment, we just looked at each other.

Then, she put the notebook down next to her and leaned forward in her seat. “Claire, if you don’t talk to me, I can’t sign off on your discharge paperwork. I know this is extremely hard to talk about, but you
need
to say it all out loud. If you don’t, it’ll build and build inside of you until it’s uncontrollable.”

“If I tell you what you want to know, will you sign off on my discharge papers?” I asked.

“I will. That’s a promise.”

I studied her for a moment before deciding that she was indeed telling me the truth. If talking to her about what had happened would help me get out of here faster, then I would talk.

“Fine. What do you want to know?”

She smiled and picked the notebook back up. “Everything you can tell me in the next ninety minutes. Start at the beginning, and go from there. I don’t mean just what happened that night. I mean, everything that had led up to what happened.”

“All right.” I paused. “Have you ever been completely alone, broke, and homeless, Dr. Wilson?”

“I have not,” she said.

“It’s terrifying. I was a foster kid, and my foster dad kicked me out on my eighteenth birthday. I had to sleep in my car and wash myself in the restroom of the diner where I worked. I have never felt so broken as I did then. Just when things seemed to be at their worst, Robert Evans came into my life. When I was at my weakest and lowest, desperate and alone, he found me. Robert changed everything. He gave me everything. He was every woman’s dream—rich, powerful, and charming. He made me forget the fact that he was twenty-four years my senior. He made me feel alive, and for the first time in my life, I was content—until I met Cooper, his son, and Robert began to change.”

So, my story began. I told her every detail of my life from the moment I’d met Robert up until the day of the attack. She listened closely, constantly scribbling notes in her notebook. She didn’t stop me to ask questions, not even when I told her about Robert’s part in Marie’s death or when I admitted to sleeping with Cooper.

As I spoke, I realized just how many things I wished I could have changed. I’d made so many mistakes. If I had chosen differently, things might have ended differently. My first mistake had been ignoring all the warning signs when it came to Robert. I’d turned a blind eye every time he did something that bothered me. I’d allowed him to take over every facet of my life without doing a thing to stop him. He’d sold my car, emptied my bank account, quit my job—all without my consent. That right there should have scared me away, but it hadn’t. I had been so afraid of going back to my old life that I’d ignored every nagging feeling I had.

“It seems like these last few months have been extremely difficult,” Dr. Wilson said after I’d finished telling her my history with Robert and Cooper.

“My entire life has been difficult,” I told her pointedly.

“Yes, that’s true.” She glanced at the clock. “I think that’s enough for today.”

“So, you’ll sign off on my release?” I asked.

She smiled kindly at me. “Give me one more session, Claire. Just one more.”

“When?” I asked, suddenly annoyed.

“Tomorrow. When the session is over, I’ll sign off.”

I frowned. “That wasn’t the deal.”

“Humor me,” she said.

I sighed. Fighting with this woman would get me nowhere, and we both knew it.

“All right. One more day, and then you’ll sign off. I won’t do this again though. You can’t keep putting it off.”

“You have my word. I’ll see you at noon tomorrow.” She stood and walked me to the door. “Have a good evening.”

“You, too,” I said before I left.

The next day, Dr. Wilson was already sitting in her chair when I walked in. She smiled as she motioned for me to take my seat.

“Good afternoon, Claire. I spent most of my evening reviewing my notes from our session yesterday. I would like for you to start where you left off, if that’s okay with you.”

“You want me to talk about what happened in that bedroom,” I said, resigned to my fate.

She nodded. “I do. I think we can cover all of it today.”

I was silent for a moment as I wondered where to even begin. I decided to start with the dinner with Robert. I told her how he’d acted strange when he came home and how it had gotten worse once Cooper arrived. I explained how I’d started to feel sick right after Robert had called Cooper and me out on everything. I’d assumed that it was nerves and fear then, but I had known better. Robert had drugged not only me, but Cooper as well.

“Then, I woke up in Cooper’s bed, bound and completely naked,” I said after a few moments of silence. “Cooper was bound next to me. He was still passed out from the drug Robert had given us.”

“What did you do when you woke up?” Dr. Wilson asked, interrupting me for the first time.

I held up my arms so that she could see my bandaged wrists. “I tried to get loose. I tried so hard that I’ll have scars for the rest of my life. When Cooper woke up, he tried to break free, too, but it was no use. Robert had tied us too tightly to ever escape.”

“When you both realized that you couldn’t get free, what did you do?”

“Robert came in around that time. A man I’d never seen before was also there—Isaac. I knew the moment our eyes met that he would be the one to kill me. His eyes were so
cold
. It was like he was dead inside. When Robert started speaking, I knew it was all over.”

I hated how my voice shook, but I forced myself to continue.

I knew it was time I dealt with what had happened. I was just thankful that I could do it without Cooper around. If I lost control, I didn’t want him to see. He would only blame himself for something he couldn’t have controlled.

“Robert calmly explained how Isaac was going to rape me while Cooper watched. Then, Isaac was supposed to kill both of us. Robert gave Isaac the go-ahead to approach me, and he moved toward the bed. I’ve never been so scared in my life. He was going to rape me, and there was nothing Cooper could do to save me.” I swallowed roughly. “When Isaac climbed on top of me, I felt
him
pressed up against me. I think that was when I vomited.”

“What did you feel when this was happening?”

“Everything—fear, humiliation, anger, sadness, disbelief. I tried to fight him, but I knew it was pointless. I will never forget the feel of his body on top of mine, no matter how long I live.” I shuddered.

The room filled with silence as I relived the most horrific moments of my life. Terror swept through me again as if I were still tied to that bed, and tears started to slide down my cheeks.

“The worst part is that Cooper blames himself for not doing anything to stop it. He tried. God, he tried so hard, but he couldn’t break free.”

“You’re crying,” Dr. Wilson pointed out.

Thank you, Captain Obvious.
“I guess I am.”

“Have you cried about it in front of Cooper?”

I shook my head. “No, except for when it was happening. I think we’re both avoiding it. I don’t want him to see me cry over it. He already blames himself when he shouldn’t.”

“You’re right. Cooper should not blame himself. But you can’t stay silent for fear of upsetting him. It sounds to me like Cooper loves you very much. I don’t think he’d want you to suffer through this alone, Claire. It isn’t good for either of you. If you let it, this will drive the two of you apart before you have a real chance to start over.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked.

“Intimacy, Claire. I’m talking about intimacy. Let me ask you this. If Cooper were to approach you right now to ask for sex, what would your response be?”

My stomach instantly rolled at the thought, and I shuddered.

“If that’s your physical response, I can only imagine what your mental response would be,” Dr. Wilson said kindly.

Humiliation flooded me. I loved Cooper, but the thought of being with him turned my stomach. That wasn’t a natural response.

“I love him,” I said.

“I know you do. That’s why you need to sit down and talk about this with him. He has to understand what you’re going through, Claire. That’s the only way he can find a way to help you.”

“He’s going to think I’m crazy.”

“Not at all. He was there when you were assaulted. He’ll understand.” She paused. “The next few months are going to be very hard. You’ll not only have to deal with your inner demons but the demons around you as well. Your husband was a public figure, and his death will draw every reporter, every nosy neighbor, every person you can think of. You’re going to hear a lot of negative things from people who do not know the whole story. Cooper is going to have to deal with the same. You need to be there for each other through everything.”

I looked down at my hands. “You’re right. Avoiding it isn’t going to help either of us. I need to talk to him.”

She smiled as she pulled a piece of paper out of my file and handed it to me. “I think this belongs to you.”

I took the paper from her. “What is this?”

“That’s me signing off on your release. You cooperated with me through both sessions, and I think that benefited you greatly. I feel you’re emotionally stable enough to leave. I do have one suggestion though.”

“What is it?” I asked as I read over the paper.

“I would like for you to schedule appointments with me for a few months. You’re a strong young woman, Claire, but I think that talking with me will help.”

I nodded. “All right. I can handle that.”

She smiled. “Good. Our time is up now, but I’ll see you in two weeks. In the meantime, talk to Cooper. You both need to clear the air.”

“I will,” I promised. I stood and shook her hand.

After a brief good-bye, I left the room and headed back upstairs to my hospital room.

I was released from the hospital the following evening. It was almost six by the time I finally escaped. Cooper had tried to talk me into staying at a hotel instead of going back to Robert’s house, but I’d refused. That house was the only home I had, and I wouldn’t let Robert’s ghost scare me away from it.

The drive back to our house was quiet. While I had been at the hospital, Cooper and I had continued to keep our conversations light, neither of us touching on what we had been thinking about. I planned to talk to him about all of it once we were home. I didn’t think that a hospital room was a good place to have
that
kind of conversation.

When Cooper parked his car in the garage, my eyes instantly went to Robert’s black SUV. It was parked in his usual spot. That bothered me. After everything that had happened, it felt too normal. I shrugged off my weird train of thought as I climbed out of the car. Cooper met me by the door leading into the house and took my hand in his. Together, we walked back into our very own personal house of horrors.

The quiet of the house had never bothered me before, but it did now. It seemed to press against me from all sides as Cooper led me into the living room and sat me down on the couch. I tried not to show how bothered I was by being back in Robert’s space, but from the look on Cooper’s face, he saw right through me.

“We don’t have to stay here,” he said quietly as he sat down next to me.

“I’ll be fine. I won’t let him control me anymore, Coop, even if that means staying in this house.”

He shook his head. “You’re so stubborn.”

I smiled. “I am, yet you’re still here. I think you secretly like it.”

He grinned. “Maybe I do.” He traced my fingers with his own. “There are lots of things I secretly like about you.”