Page 188 of His Reckoning

I walk past her and into the living room, dropping my bag on the floor like it suddenly weighs too much to carry.

I press both hands against my forehead briefly as I pace once across the room before finally sitting down on the couch.

“He read it,” I say. “Not all of it. Just enough. And he—” I stop. I don’t even know how to finish that sentence.

Melissa sits down across from me, watching carefully.

“He thinks I used him,” I blurt before fear can catch up to me.

Melissa exhales slowly. “Okay.”

Not agreement or anything, just like she is processing.

“Walk me through exactly what happened.”

I stare down at my hands.

“He was already upset when I walked in. He had the book in his hand.”

Emotion swells painfully in my chest. “And he just … started listing things.”

“Things?”

“I can’t say what they are. It’s not for me to share. But”—I swallow hard— “he sees himself in it.”

Melissa nods slowly. “That makes sense.”

I shake my head immediately. “But that’s not what I did.”

“I know,” she says. “But from his perspective?—”

“I didn’t write his story,” I cut in.

The words come out sharper than I expected … more defensive. Because I need her to understand that. I need someone to understand that.

Melissa holds up a hand slightly. “Hey, I’m not accusing you.”

I press my lips together, trying to calm the sudden spike of emotion.

“He thinks I took the worst parts of his life and turned them into a book.” My voice cracks slightly. “And I don’t know how to convince him that’s not what this is.”

Melissa leans back, studying me. “Okay,” she says carefully, “then tell me what it is.”

I hesitate because that answer matters more than anything else right now. I let out a slow breath, my fingers twisting together in my lap.

“I didn’t write his story.” My voice is quieter now—less defensive and more certain. “I changed everything that could ever point back to him.”

Melissa tilts her head slightly. “Everything?”

“Yeah.” I nod. “The background. The family. The setting. I made it foster care instead of family. I rewrote the entire structure so there’s no way anyone could ever trace it back to him.”

She watches me carefully. “Okay.”

“But”—I hesitate because this is the part that matters— “the emotional pieces stayed.”

Melissa nods slowly. “That’s what he recognized.”

“Yeah.” My stomach twists. “That’s what I didn’t think through.”