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The words were turning into sobs now. Molly told herself not to cry but she couldn’t help it—the pain was too much to bear.
All over again! she kept thinking. It’s happening all over again!
“This isn’t your fault.” Commander Torus finished with her hand and looked up at last to meet her eyes. “Do you hear me, Molly? It’s not your fault.”
“It doesn’t matter if it’s my fault!” Molly cried passionately. “Don’t you understand? The damage is done. Look—I was raised in a strict religious household—my father is a Deacon in a Southern Baptist Church. Do you know what he did when Zach sent him that video?”
Silently, Commander Torus shook his head.
“He disowned me!” Molly cried. “He and my Mom haven’t spoken to me in five years. Nobody in my whole family will…will be seen with me or even…even talk to me on the phone!” She was sobbing harder than ever now, the words and the tears pouring out of her like poison. “They hate me because they think I made that video on purpose! Like I would do that? Of course I wouldn’t! But they won’t listen! Nobody will listen! And nobody will help, either! They just think I’m disgusting and horrible and…and dirty!”
She broke down completely then, sobbing like a hurt little girl—which was how she felt inside. The loss of her family had been a hundred times worse than the loss of her career—a thousand times worse.
Not being able to go home for Thanksgiving or Christmas…not getting a phone call on her birthday with her parents singing, “happy birthday to you!” together, the way they did for all their kids…and worst of all, not knowing if everyone was okay or not. What if one of her siblings got in a car accident or one of her elderly parents had a heart attack or a stroke? Molly would never know about it because nobody would call her!
“They treat me like I’m already dead!” she wailed, covering her face with her hands, her shoulders heaving convulsively with the sobs. “And I wish that I was—I wish I was dead!”
“Don’t say that! Don’t ever say that!” Suddenly strong arms were wrapping around her and Molly felt herself being pulled into a tight embrace. She stiffened at first and then melted against Commander Torus’s broad shoulder, too hurt and broken to fight him.
Kneeling in front of the couch, he pulled her as close as he could and then, when that didn’t seem close enough, he rose and swept her into his arms and settled back on the couch, cuddling her to his chest.
It was the first time a man had touched her in five years—and the first time in much longer than that since any man had touched her with gentleness or tenderness. Molly didn’t know how to react to it. She sobbed until it felt like she was broken inside and he held her tight, as though she might fall apart into a million pieces if he let go of her for even an instant.
She cried for all the hurt and pain and shame—for the sheer humiliation she’d endured over and over and over again. For the fact that it seemed like no one cared and no one seemed able to help.
There were laws against revenge porn now, but someone rich and famous like Zach Wyndham always seemed to be above the law. No police department would arrest him, let alone prosecute him! No lawyer wanted to take him on—not that Molly could afford a lawyer. Nobody would stop her horrible ex from making her life a living hell over and over and over again because nobody cared…
She sobbed it all out as Torus held her and he listened silently, stroking her trembling back and shoulders as she cried. At last when her sobs had turned to sniffles, he said two words,
“I care.”
“What?”
Molly looked up at him uncertainly. Her eyes felt red and puffy and her throat was sore from sobbing. She was sure she’d misheard him.
“I said, I care.” His face was grim and his silver-gray eyes had a dangerous glint of red in them. “I don’t understand how a male is allowed to treat his female the way you have been treated, but I do not think it is right and I do not blame you, Molly,” he added.
“You…you don’t?” She gulped and swiped at her eyes. “That’s really nice of you but…but I know you have to let me go anyway.”
“No, I do not!” he exclaimed, his eyes blazing. “Your employment here is not terminated.
“It’s not?” Molly could barely believe him. “But I’m sure everybody saw the video?—”
“It was sent only to our department,” he told her. “I have instructed everyone to delete it from their files and when I get back, I will wipe it entirely from the Mother Ship’s mainframe.”
“When you get back?” Molly sniffed. “But…where are you going?”
“Hunting.” His voice was grim, but he was gentle when he scooted her off his lap. Molly turned around to face him. Even with him sitting and her standing, he was still taller.
He took her by the upper arms and looked earnestly into her eyes.
“Promise me that you will not end yourself while I’m gone,” he said. “Promise me! Give me your word.”
Molly had never seen her stoic boss look like this. He was angry—absolutely enraged, that was clear from his blazing red eyes and the set of his mouth—but he wasn’t angry at her.
“I…I promise,” she said in a small voice.
“Good. Now go back to work.”
