Page 83 of Consumed By You

“What was the phone call about?” I ask as he leads me back to our table. John and Jasmine are already seated, talking with the others.

“I talked to my attorney. He’s finding out what we can do to get another hearing.”

“What?”He looks at me in confusion. “No, please. Don’t.”

“Why not? Darcy, they deserve to be in jail. Do you not remember what they did to you?”

“I remember well what they did.”

“Then how can you not want to fight this?”

“I want to forget it. I don’t want to fight it.”

“There is something called justice, Darcy.”

“Benjamin, you don’t understand. I can’t have any lawyers looking into my past,” I whisper urgently. This has become a complete mess.

His eyes narrow suspiciously. “Is this about your uncle? You didn’t do anything wrong, Darcy. He—”

“You don’t know the whole story,” I blurt, and his mouth shuts like a flytrap. I realize after a couple of silent moments he’s speechless and probably rethinking his whole opinion of me.

“I saw your background check. You don’t have any criminal offenses, so I don’t understand why you wouldn’t want people to see your past.” He rests his hand on my arm. “Darcy, you know you can tell me anything.”

“Can I?” I reply in a hushed tone, looking around frantically at the elegant people around us. “How much can I lay on you before you don’t want to deal with my shit anymore?”

“Your life, present or past, isnotshit, and I want to know it, no matter how disturbing. I can protect you.”

I glance down at my feet, unsure of what to say.

“Let’s find a place to talk.” He takes my hand and leads me to the doors.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Benjamin is speaking with the hostess, and I’m wondering what the hell he’s saying.

My stomach is turning crazily. I know I have to tell him. I have to tell him everything. He’s the only person that can tell his lawyer to stop the second hearing.

Benjamin takes something from the girl’s hand and walks over to me. The young girl watches me enviously when Benjamin places his hand on my back and guides me down the hallway.

“Where are we going?”

“An empty conference room.”

Ugh. So formal.

He scans the numbers on the doors, stops at eighteen, and inserts the key into the lock.

“Are you sure you can miss the event, Ben? We can do this later.”

“It’s fine, Darcy. I provide them money, that’s it.”

“That’snotit.” I yank on his arm and he looks down at me, surprised at my outburst. “Everyone I spoke to in there said they wouldn’t be able to do any of this without you. They said this foundation is close to your heart.”

He sits down on top of the table, sighing. “Did John say that?”

I nod.

“Of course.”