Free Broken Beauty by Chloe Adams Page B

me a name.”
    “I can’t remember.” I can’t look at him, either.
    “What about the picture on your phone?”
    “What about it?” I return and stand. I pace, panicking again. “I want to go home, Dom!”
    “Look me straight in the eye, and tell me you can’t remember.”
    “Just … just let me sign it.”
    Dom stands and moves to my side of the table, the statement in his hands. He sits on the corner of the table, his gaze at my level.
    “Okay. Sign it.” His voice is soft, his gaze direct. He holds out a pen.
    I take it. “Why are you doing this to me?”
    “Because I found you. I heard you crying, walked into the garden and saw you there …” he drifts off.
    I look away, trying to imagine my safe closet like Dr. Thompkins told me to. I feel like I’m about to have a meltdown. Some part of me wants to do what he says. Some part of me feels like I owe him.
    But I can’t. I can’t betray my own family.
    “I promised myself I’d do whatever it took to get whoever hurt you. Then I found out you weren’t the first they hurt. I had the name you gave us, the picture,” he says. His voice holds as much conviction as Daddy does during one of his speeches. “One signature, and this all goes away forever. They close your case. They don’t get the bad guys.”
    I stay out of court, and Daddy wins his reelection. I look at the paper and try to convince myself it’s what I want to do.
    “You’re the only one who can help all these girls get some justice,” Dom adds. “You’re the only one who fought back, Mia. Don’t stop now.”
    I meet his gaze again. Once again, someone believes me to be stronger than I am. I wonder what’ll happen when they all learn the truth.
    “I can’t,” I whisper. “You don’t understand.”
    “Then sign.” His voice hardens.
    I lose him if I do. He doesn’t say it, but I hear it. He found me, saved me from the garden where my life went to shit. He stayed with me in the hospital, called Ari when Shea wouldn’t. If I asked, I think he’d sit outside my room every night to make sure they don’t come back. He’s the kind of person I’ve never had in my life.
    The look on his face says this is about more than a stupid form. He’s disappointed in me. I shouldn’t care what he thinks of me. I only care what Ari thinks of me. I know what Daddy and his team think of me. I can’t help thinking none of them would’ve done what the stranger before me did.
    After all I’ve lost the past couple of weeks, I’m not ready to lose Dom, too. The sight of my guardian angel is all that stands between me and full out hysteria right now. I’m trapped: I can’t choose the man who saved my life by betraying my family; and I can’t convince myself to obey the father who doesn’t love me, when I know it’s wrong to lie about this.
    “No,” I say.
    Dom lowers the paper.
    “Call my lawyer, or take me home,” I whisper.
    He looks at me for a long minute then sets the papers down.
    We walk out of the room, and I see the DA in the hallway. He doesn’t say anything, but I have a feeling this was a set-up, that maybe he was watching or just waiting for Dom to signal him to return. Whatever is going on, I’m too stressed out to remain any longer.
    Dom takes me home. I sit in t he passenger seat of the police car. I don’t speak to him, and he doesn’t try to speak to me. I need my closet. I’m ready to scream.
    The drive home doesn’t take long at this time of evening. We arrive, and Dom waits for the supporters to clear a path and the gate to open, ignoring the flashbulbs of the paparazzi. No doubt, this will end up on some tabloid with a sensational headline about me being brought home in cuffs.
    I don’t care. I’ve tried hard to bury what happened, and the nightmare is on the edge of my mind again.
    Dom stops the car in front of the house. I look at him finally, hurting as much from his betrayal as anything else.
    “Dom, was the I.D. just an excuse?” I