That gentleness was something he offered to everyone.
Everyone except me.
His act made me laugh, a cold, hollow sound.
“Relax. I won’t delay tomorrow’s press conference.”
The sarcasm in my voice wiped the softness from his face at once.
“Julia,” he snapped, “stop being childish. You’re the one at fault. If you hadn’t harmed the baby in Heidi’s stomach, I wouldn’t have laid a finger on you. Everything that happened to you was your own doing.”
He shoved every sin onto me as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
That kind of cruelty chilled the bones.
I opened my mouth, wanting to tell him about the child I had lost, but someone interrupted.
Heidi burst in like a frightened little rabbit, throwing herself into his arms.
“Caleb, where did you go? I woke up and didn’t see you, I thought you didn’t want me anymore. I dreamed about yesterday… I dreamed those people came after me again…”
Her voice trembled with every word, tears streaming nonstop.
Caleb bent over her protectively, soothing her as if she were the most precious treasure in existence.
When she finally calmed down a little, his eyes turned sharp and vicious as he glared at me.