Chapter 118: No choice

NANCY’S POV

“What did you do?” I repeated in a strained voice to Diana, refusing to believe the possibilities my mind was dredging up as to why these men were here.

Seeing them pointed to one thing, and it just so happened to be the most dreadful thing that could happen to me.

“Say something,” I urged, feeling my heart beginning to claw its way into my throat as the two men now stood behind me, incredibly pronounced.

“Miss Nancy, we’re here to take you home.” One of them said.

I couldn’t tell who, since I refused to give them a second glance and was solely focused on Diana.

My heart pounded violently against my ribs as I watched my best friend, who now seemed incapable of holding my gaze because she was staring at everything but me.

“Why are they here?” I asked, barely audible.

One of the men grabbed my right arm, “Miss Nancy, we’ll need you to come with us now.”

I yanked my hand free of his grip without even casting him a glance, gaze still locked on Diana.

“Diana, talk to me,” I demanded, even though deep down, something told me I wouldn’t like her answer.

A voice inside of me advised me against it, telling me that I would hate what I was about to hear, but I pressed on, filled with the need to have her verbally spell out what she’d done.

To be honest, it felt like a huge ass ridiculous dream, and I kept hoping it was something I could wake up from because in what universe could I have thought that she would stab me right in the back?

I knew I’d betrayed her trust just a few days ago by lying to her, but at the same time, my mind refused to believe that she could react with equal measure towards me.

Just now, I was even feeling a little bit relieved because I thought she’d forgiven me for lying to her.

Silence stretched on between us, dragging to a point where I didn’t even need her response to solidify what I already knew.

I still wasn’t sure how this was happening, or what she’d done to achieve this, but one thing was sure.

Diana had ratted my location out to the one person I didn’t need to be aware of that fact, and now, my past had caught up with me,

Slowly, still riddled with disbelief, I stood up as well. My chair scraped loudly against the floor when my body wavered and pushed it back.

I didn’t even move to grab it, because I was fixated on holding my trembling body upright.

For a moment longer, I stared at Diana, willing her to look at me.

She didn’t, so I made her do so myself by calling out, “Diana.”

Her body stiffened first, then she turned her head slowly towards me

The tears I’d seen in her gaze earlier were present still, but now I didn’t even know what they represented. All I knew was that those tears weren’t for me.

Actually, I was realizing that none of her tears had been for me, and her calling me a crazy bitch, didn’t mean what I thought it meant.

It was a conversation between the two of us, but none of our thoughts were aligned.

For a brief minute, I couldn’t even speak. I couldn’t find the words, and my throat felt too tight to get anything out.

Eventually, I rasped out, voice quaky as hell.

“Is this revenge?”

She looked away again, avoiding the intensity of my eyes piercing into her.

I swallowed thickly, then continued, “Is this in retaliation for me lying to you? Are you stabbing me in the back because of what I did to you?”

Whilst both of our actions were not comparable to each other, their end result was the same, so I didn’t try to make my actions seem lesser in comparison to hers.

Her gaze found mine a minute later, and for a second, I thought I saw her eyes waver.

“They’re here to take you home, Nancy.”

“Home?” I repeated. The word tasted foreign in my mouth.

Diana of all people should know that I didn’t have a home. What I had was a cage I’d taken desperate measures to escape, and she knew that.

She’d helped me escape it.

A strong feeling of indignation and hurt, and every other emotion I could think of to express pain came washing over me, and the dam I had been struggling to hold at bay finally broke.

My tears began to fall freely.

“You know I don’t have a home, Diana. You know what I did to escape my Dad, and to escape Mr Hudson, and now…You’re just sending me back there?”

“I had no choice.”

I faltered, nearly losing my balance. Those words of hers sounded so cruel, so strange. A cold laugh slipped out of me.

“You didn't have a choice?”

Did she know she had already made her choice?

Her choice was the two men who stood behind me, waiting to lead me right back to where I came from.

“You always have a choice, Diana.” I chuckled brokenly.

“I’m sorry.”

My heart ran colder at her apology. The fact that she wasn’t even trying to deny it or absolve herself of guilt made me feel worse than I already did.

Maybe deep down in my heart, there was a part of me that wished she would, just so I could find a reason to justify her actions and forgive her.

“No, you’re not,” I said in response to her apology.

“You don’t feel sorry for me, Diana, because if you did, you wouldn’t be forcing me back to New Jersey, knowing what kind of fate awaits me there, knowing I…”

I sucked in a deep breath, giving myself a couple of seconds to gather myself.

With a trembling voice, I proceeded.

“I came here for you, Diana. To undo my wrongs because I hated myself for hurting you. I couldn’t even sleep at the thought of you in pain, and you have no idea how much I prayed you’d forgive me.”

“Now…” another bitter laughter rolled off my tongue. “Now it’s clear it was never your intention to forgive me.”

One of the men grabbed my arm again, the same one who did the first time, then tugged me backwards.

“Come with us quietly, Miss Nancy. You don’t want to make a scene.”

I didn’t respond to him; I just moved my body instinctively, turning around to do as they said.

Diana had left me with no choice after all.