Chapter 37 Thirty Seven
Chapter 37 Thirty Seven
Zara
The Uber ride back to my apartment was a blur of streetlights and silent tears, by the time I stumbled through my front door I was shaking so hard I could barely get the key in the lock. I dropped my bag on the floor, kicked off my shoes and collapsed onto my bed with my phone in my hand and my thumb hovering over Darren's name in my contacts.
I wanted to call him. I wanted to hear his voice. I wanted him to tell me that everything was going to be okay, that he would handle it, that I did not have to carry this weight alone.
But I could not. Not tonight. Not when I was this raw, this broken, this close to falling apart completely.
So I texted Clara and Mia instead.
Me: Something happened at my dad's. Someone sent him an anonymous letter calling me a slut. He hit me. I am okay but I am not okay. Do not come over tonight. I need to be alone. I will tell you everything tomorrow.
Clara responded immediately.
Clara: What do you mean he hit you? Zara, I am coming over right now.
Me: Please do not. I am serious. I need to be alone. I will call you tomorrow.
Mia's message came a few seconds later.
Mia: I am giving you tonight because you asked me to, but tomorrow we are talking about this, and if your father ever touches you again I will personally drive to Bellevue and make him regret it.
I set my phone down on the pillow and stared at the ceiling, my cheek throbbing, my eyes burning, my mind racing through every possible explanation for how someone had found out about me and Darren and decided to send that letter to my father.
Ethan or Becca. Maybe both of them together.
Someone knew. Someone was trying to destroy me and now my father was involved, everything was spiraling out of control, and I did not know how to stop it.
I closed my eyes and whispered into the dark.
"What am I going to do?"
But there was no one there to answer, the only sound was my own breathing and the distant hum of the city outside my window and the burden of everything I was carrying pressing down on my chest like a hand that would not let go.