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“Once we were married and moved in together, things started to change,” I continue. The brothers listen quietly, their eyes scanning my face as if they can see right into my heart. I know I can’t hide from them, and I no longer want to. “It wasn’t sudden. There were little things, little issues, that no longer sat right with him. His mother started coming over for dinner, a tad too often for my taste, but it didn’t matter to Colby. He was more than happy to have her company because the two of them would team up against me, eager to point out what I was doing wrong as a wife, and later on, as a mother.
“When Luna was born, Colby didn’t even want to see her at first. I’d managed to convince him to keep the gender a secret until the baby was born. But Colby wanted a son. When the doctor announced that he was the proud father of a girl, he threw a hissy fit and walked out of the delivery room, leaving me there with our newborn daughter, dumbfounded and embarrassed.”
“Fucking hell, Halle,” Wyatt mutters, his brow furrowed with genuine grief.
“I made excuses for him back then. I found reasons for everything else that followed, mind you,” I smile bitterly and continue my story.
An hour later, the Danson brothers have a much clearer picture of what my life with Colby Nash was like. Of how the abuse started, and how it got to a point where I couldn’t take it anymore. I can’t tell them about what I saw the night I left. It will put them and their family in danger. It’s bad enough that Chase riled Colby up tonight. I can’t make it worse.
“What made you finally leave?” Eric asks me.
“The million-dollar question,” I exhale sharply. “One morning, I woke up and said that I had seen and lived through enough.” Not a lie. It’s still the truth, just not all of it. “I grabbed the kids, pretended to go on about our day normally with school, errands, stuff like that. It was hard, but I did it. Once I was out of the house, the first thing I did was file for divorce. My mom knew a lawyer, thankfully. I’ll give the woman credit for that because she helped when she could.”
“He didn’t let you work, did he?” Chase asks.
I shake my head. “I depended on him for everything.”
“Classic narcissist,” Wyatt sighs.
“Yeah. It took me a long time to figure that out, though. I started seeing a therapist in secret because I was having panic attacks. Those made everything worse, it pissed him off to see me hyperventilating and losing control. Eric raises an eyebrow. “But that came with a price of its own.”
“Still better than staying with Colby,” Chase cuts in.
This is where we can all agree. I do feel better. I’ve been living with so many shadows hanging around my neck, it’s a miracle I didn’t suffocate from emotional exhaustion.
I can finally breathe again—a lungful of air that brings everything into focus. It’s relief. It feels like the ocean’s cool breeze tickling my skin. I want to smile, but the fact remains that I’ve kept the guys in the dark for too long.
“I am so sorry,” I say, then give Chase an apologetic smile. “I had to. Not taking it back. I am genuinely sorry for lying, for telling half-truths, for everything. You were nothing but kind and supportive and all of you deserved better.”
Eric’s demeanor now seems softer. With a faint nod, he gets up from his seat and walks over, getting down on one knee before me. “Halle, I can’t say I blame you. Knowing what we know about the guy, you had every reason to react the way you did. He put you in a fight-or-flight mode where you didn’t feel like you could trust anyone. We didn’t know how badly he’d hurt you, and so we operated on different assumptions. We assumed a deadbeat husband was most likely it but certainly not a ruthless mobster, a psychopath.”
“How could you have known if I didn’t tell you?” I ask.
“It’s okay,” he says. “What matters is what we do from now on.”
“What we do?” I ask, feeling my eyebrows pop up in surprise. “What do you mean?”
“If you think we’re letting you deal with this alone, you’re nuts,” Wyatt replies. “There’s no way in hell that it will end well for you unless we help.”
“You can’t help. You know who the Nash’s are, what they’re capable of,” I reply. “I’m practically radioactive. The mere fact that you’re still letting me stay here puts you and your parents in danger. Hell, I think it puts the firehouse in danger, too.”
Chase scoffs. “Halle. You’re not going anywhere. You are staying right here, and you will let us handle this.”
“How?” I snap, losing my patience. “The last thing I want is to have your deaths on my conscience. I can’t bear the thought of…” I choke up, tears quick to fill my eyes. “No. There’s nothing you can do. I’ll just leave, it’s better for everyone.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” Eric growls and pulls me into a kiss. It’s a loaded, angry kiss. His lips dominate mine, his tongue demolishes my defenses and claims me, mercilessly and passionately. I lose my breath and senses all at once. “When will you understand that you’re not alone anymore, Halle? You are our woman, you hear me? Our woman. Whatever fate throws at you, we handle it together.”
“I… I…” I have lost my words altogether, unable to look away from him.
“We will protect you and your children,” Wyatt says matter-of-factly.
“We have the skills and the resources to keep you safe,” Chase adds.
“You will never be alone again,” Eric chimes in. Their hands move while they speak to me, yet there’s a hypnotizing dissonance that I can’t quite wrap my head around. All I can do is let them lead while my body responds to each touch with a thousand fires lighting up inside of me at once. The world beyond the walls of this house begins to disappear, and I find a sweet and familiar safety in their arms.
“You can’t fight this devil on your own, angel,” Wyatt whispers in my ear, then plants a soft kiss on my cheek. “You shouldn’t have to, anyway. You’ve got us.”
“I do, don’t I?” I mumble as my clothes begin to disappear.
