Chapter 122 Rich
Amelia answered on the second ring.
“Rebecca?” Amelia’s voice carried immediate concern. “Why are you calling this early? Are you okay?”
Rebecca tried to speak. But the moment she heard her best friend’s voice, the tears returned.
“Amelia…” she tried to speak and that was all it took.
Amelia immediately understood something was wrong.
“Rebecca, what happened?” she asked sharply. “Where are you?”
“I… I’m at Dad’s house,” Rebecca managed weakly.
There was a brief silence on the other end before Amelia's voice came, worried.
“You’re alone?” Amelia asked.
Rebecca nodded before remembering Amelia couldn’t see her.
“Yes.”
There was another pause before Amelia answered, her tone firm.
“No. Absolutely not.”
Rebecca blinked weakly. “What?”
“You are not staying there alone,” Amelia said immediately. “Not today. Not after everything you’ve been through.”
“I just needed somewhere quiet,” Rebecca murmured.
“And the quiet is going to make you drown in your thoughts,” Amelia shot back. “Pack whatever you have and come to my house right now.”
Rebecca leaned back against the couch. “I don’t feel like moving,” she admitted softly.
“Too bad,” Amelia said without hesitation. “You don’t get to disappear into that empty house and cry alone. You’ve done enough crying for one lifetime.”
Rebecca let out a weak laugh through her tears. “You sound like my Dad,” she whispered.
Amelia’s voice softened slightly. “That’s because he would say the same thing,” she replied gently. “He would never want you sitting alone and hurting like this.”
Rebecca closed her eyes. “I saw a picture,” she said quietly.
“A picture?” Amelia asked.
“Derek… with Celia.”
The silence that followed was thick with tension, then Amelia exhaled sharply.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Rebecca wiped her face again. “He said nothing happened. But he’s been lying for weeks, Amelia. Sneaking around. Saying it was work. Turned out all these time I thought he was just grieving, he'd been going to Celia.”
Amelia’s anger rose instantly.
“Oh, that’s rich,” she snapped. “So while you were recovering from everything, the kidnapping, the miscarriage, trying to comfort him and all that trauma, he was busy running around with his ex?”
Rebecca said nothing. She didn’t have the energy to defend him.
“That man has lost his mind,” Amelia continued, her voice filled with protective fury. “Does he even remember what you went through? Vanessa kidnapped you. You almost died. You lost your baby because of that nightmare!”
Rebecca’s throat tightened. The words hurt. But they were true.
“You’re still healing,” Amelia said more softly now. “Your body, your heart… everything.”
Rebecca stared at the ceiling. “I thought we were healing together,” she whispered.
Amelia sighed. “Maybe he’s too stupid to realize what he has,” she muttered.
Rebecca let out a small, sad laugh. “I don’t even know if he loved me at all.”
“Listen to me,” Amelia said firmly. “Right now, none of that matters. You need people around you,” Amelia continued. “Not empty rooms and memories. Come to my house. We’ll talk. We’ll eat something. We’ll figure things out.”
Rebecca hesitated. “I don’t want to be a burden.”
“You are my best friend,”Amelia replied immediately. “You are never a burden.”
Rebecca felt tears fill her eyes again but before she could speak, Amelia spoke up again.
“And if Derek thinks he can just hurt you like this and get away with it,” Amelia added with a sharp edge, “then he’s going to learn very quickly that he picked the wrong woman to mess with.”
Rebecca shook her head weakly. “You’re always ready to fight.”
“Of course I am,” Amelia said proudly. “Someone has to fight for you when you’re too tired to fight for yourself.”
Rebecca looked around the quiet house one last time. The silence no longer felt comforting. It felt lonely.
Very slowly, she stood up. “Okay,” she said softly. “I’ll come.”
“Good,” Amelia replied. “And Rebecca?”
“Yes?”
“Don’t you dare cry alone again today,” Amelia said gently. “That’s what friends are for.”
Rebecca held the phone close to her chest for a moment after the call ended. For the first time since the night before, the crushing weight inside her chest eased just slightly.
She wasn’t okay, not even close, but at least, she wasn’t alone.
Rebecca arrived at Amelia’s house almost an hour later. The drive there had been quiet and slow. She barely noticed the roads she passed or the traffic lights she stopped at. Her mind felt numb, like it had shut down after crying too much.
By the time she pulled into Amelia’s driveway, her eyes were swollen and her head ached faintly.
Amelia must have been watching for her, because the front door opened before Rebecca had even stepped out of the car.
“Rebecca!”
Amelia rushed down the small path toward her. The moment Rebecca stepped out of the car, Amelia stopped for a second, her expression changed instantly.
The anger she had shown over the phone disappeared, replaced by pure concern. Rebecca looked terrible.
Her hair was messy, her eyes red and puffy, and the way she held herself looked fragile, like someone who had been carrying too much for too long.
“Oh my God…” Amelia whispered.
Rebecca tried to smile weakly, to show that she was strong and not breaking physically as she was emotionally, but the moment Amelia stepped forward and wrapped her arms around her, that fragile smile collapsed.
Rebecca broke again even without meaning to. She clutched Amelia tightly, her fingers gripping the back of her friend’s shirt as the tears returned.
Amelia immediately hugged her back, one hand gently pressing against the back of Rebecca’s head.
“It’s okay… it’s okay,” Amelia murmured softly.
Rebecca shook her head against her shoulder.
“It’s not,” she choked out. “Nothing’s okay Ame,” she said, shaking her head.