Maybe I should fight for my freedom. And save myself. And not give a fuck if there’s a prince or not in my story.
What if I get a baby out of this?
Would I be able to love that baby, even knowing that Mike is the father? Even if I’ll always remember how it was conceived? These aren’t the ideal circumstances… but maybe no circumstances are ideal. And love is love.
Maybe having a baby to love is what I need to live for. Something beautiful to imagine. A little white crib in my apartment—at least I won’t be alone with a cactus anymore. I’ll have a family member again.
But how do I get away from him?
And what if I get away from him… but I’m not pregnant? And I don’t have anything beautiful to hope for and dream about?
It doesn’t matter. I’ll find something, somehow. I won’t let my depression defeat me. I won’t let Mike defeat me. I won’t let my depression continue to make me choose to be defeated by Mike. The truth is that I allowed this all to happen. I didn’t care what happened to me. I’m not a victim of Mike. I’m a victim of myself. I’m a victim of my own weakness and stupidity. And my childish infatuation with Gabe.
I’ve been taking this situation lying down.
I need to stand up and fight. But how the hell do I do that if I can’t stand?
There will be a moment… I’m sure of it. There will be a moment I can break free and get away.
I’ll be waiting, and I’ll be ready. I just hope my mental state will be as clear and full of conviction as it is right now. Knowing me lately, within the next five minutes, I could fall apart.
Chapter 41 Yvette
Gabriel is driving the rental car while I text Veronica. We are on our way to pick her up.
“She says that Michael’s dead wife was rich,” I tell Gabe. “And that her family owns a bunch of vacation homes. It’s possible that he still has access to one of them.”
“Can you find out the addresses?” Gabriel asks. “We’ll search them all if the police aren’t working fast enough to find Milla.”
“I’ll work on it,” I tell him, as the GPS guides us to Veronica’s house.
As we approach, she is standing outside, wearing jeans and a leather jacket. Whoa. She looks different out of her nurse gear. Veronica hops into the backseat of the car quickly, giving me a small hug.
“Hey, Evie,” she says. “Thank you so much for texting me about this. I’m so sorry this happened to you.”
“You look super hot when you’re not wearing pink,” I tell her with surprise.
“This is my ass-kicking outfit. Because I want to kick the shit out of Mike Masterson for hurting you and Milla,” she says.
“I still hope he hasn’t hurt Milla,” Gabe says softly.
“So, this is the guy,” Veronica muses, leaning forward to study my husband. “This is the legendary Prince Charming that my best friend fell so deeply in love with. Looks like a pretty ordinary man from where I’m sitting. What’s so special about him?”
“Well… uh. I can do some cool things.” Gabriel says. He looks around awkwardly. “I can… drive a car? I guess that’s a positive thing about me. But most people can do that, so I don’t know why I chose to mention that skill.”
“He’s being modest,” I tell Veronica. “He’s got lots of very special skills. He even does this thing with his tongue—I’ll tell you about it later when he’s not paying attention.”
“Evie!” Gabe complains.
“What? I was talking about those cool smoke rings that you blow every time you have a cigarette,” I say innocently.
“Can we just focus on rescuing Milla?” Gabe asks. “Give me any addresses that the police aren’t searching. We’ll go there now.”
“Here’s one,” Veronica says, leaning forward and showing her phone.
“The Hamptons?” I say with a low whistle. “At least Milla would be getting kidnapped in style.”
“It’s not funny,” Gabriel says as he punches the address into the car’s GPS system. “Stop cracking jokes about it, Evie.”
“Forty-seven days,” I remind Gabe. “I was totally unconscious and unable to make a joke for forty-seven days. I literally just had the spawn of Satan ripped out of my fallopian tube. I’ll make light of the situation if I want to.”
“Milla would appreciate the jokes,” Veronica says. “Let’s just keep positive and focused, and there’s no harm in smiling on a road trip. I just want to find my friend. Fast. So, it’s awesome that Gabriel can drive, but if he doesn’t feel comfortable smashing that gas pedal, I would like to get behind the wheel and use some real speed.”
“Wow,” Veronica says as we step into the Hamptons house—Gabriel broke a window to get in. “I was thinking that Mike may have married Milla because she just gained a small inheritance… but she doesn’t have money like this.”
“I don’t think it’s about the money. Let’s split up and look for her,” I tell them, but before I can turn around, Gabriel is already gone.
Veronica moves in the opposite direction, and I follow her, limping with my cane. I’m the most useless, physically. But I’m still going to try.
The giant house is empty. We throw doors open, shouting for Milla. Yes, it’s not legal, but none of us care. We yell and run through the entire house until we’re exhausted. Then Veronica and I head back to the car in defeat. Gabriel is still double checking every corner of the house.
“Do you need an arm?” Veronica asks, offering me support as I hobble to the car.
“Thank you,” I tell her, trying to conceal how winded I am. “This is the most walking I’ve done in months… running through the airports was hard enough. But searching massive
