Alex hands me a glass of wine and sits down next to me on the couch in the family room.
I down half the glass. "I need to tell the police everything. I want them to find John, arrest him, and prosecute him. I want him convicted and sent away."
Alex narrows his eyes, and stares at me. "It ties my hands if we handle it your way, Kylie."
"I understand, and without wanting any details of your plan to destroy him, let me just say this. I don't want him dead, Alex. Not because I feel empathy for him. I feel nothing but hostility and loathing. He needs to experience immense pain. Sitting in prison, losing everything he holds most dear, maybe he'll become the object of a fellow prisoner’s obsession. I don't care. All I want is to visit him every week so that he can see me—see that I’m free. Free of him and his sadistic, twisted mind-fuck. And I want him to see that I survived. I won, and he lost."
Alex lifts his eyebrows and scrubs his hand along his jaw. But there's a flicker in his eyes. "We'll do it your way. I'll support you, however you decide to handle it. Just tell me what you need from me."
For the first time since I saw the spray-painted artwork above my bed, my tough façade cracks. This man holds my heart in his hands, but it no longer terrifies me to be this vulnerable. I feel relief. I know how deeply he cares for me and wants to protect me. Letting him doesn't make me weak. It empowers me. I'm stronger, secure in the knowledge that he is there to back me up when I need him.
I rest my forehead against his. "Just help me get through this. You're the only person I've ever told. I'm scared they won't believe me."
Tears roll down my cheeks. The weight of everything that's happened, and the prospect of what is to come, sits on my chest like a heavy boulder, suffocating me.
His lips press softly against mine, his voice a whisper. "I'm not going anywhere. I'll always be here."
I rest my head on his chest, and curl into him. "Can you just hold me, please?"
He holds me, tight and secure. "For as long as you need, baby, and a lifetime more."