Page 138 of Girl, Forgotten (Andrea Oliver 2)

“No,” she said. “Jack, don’t do the easy thing. Fight for your happiness. You’ve wanted to get out of here since we were in elementary school.”

“What else am I going to do?” he asked. “You heard Clay. He’s not going to change his mind. And my grades are shit. I’m barely graduating fucking high school. I can’t join the army because they outright ask you who you are, and I can’t tell them. I mean, I could, but hell, I could end up in prison. Or dead, if my dad finds out. At least in Longbill, I know the people I’m dealing with. And they think they know me.”

“Jack—” Emily couldn’t argue with him. He was just as trapped as she was. “If you really do become a cop, if you can stomach it, will you make me a promise?”

“Of course. You know I’d do anything for you.”

“I want you to find out who did this to me,” Emily said. “Not for my sake, because I don’t want any of those callous, hateful bastards in my life. I want you to catch him for the sake of the girls who come next.”

Jack seemed surprised by the observation, but not because he disagreed. “You’re right. Criminals have a modus operandi. They repeat their patterns. That’s how you catch them.”

“Promise me.” Emily’s voice cracked. She could not imagine another girl having to go through what she was going through. “Please, Jack. Promise me.”

“Emily, you know I’ll—”

“No, don’t make a promise because I’m crying. Make it because it matters. What he did to me matters. I matter.” Emily got on her knees, hands clasped in front of her. She was suddenly overwhelmed by sorrow for everything she had lost. “He didn’t just rape me, Jack. He knew that I wasn’t really there, that I was more like a—a receptacle.”

“Emily—”

“No, don’t tell me that’s not what happened.” Emily fought back the wave of devastation. “It wasn’t only that one night that he hurt me. The stain is on my soul. He turned me into nothing. I am ruined because of him. My life that I worked for, that I planned for, is gone. All because he decided that my wants, my desires, were nothing compared to his. You can’t let that happen to another girl. You can’t.”

“I won’t, Emily. I’ll find out who did this if it kills me.” Jack was on his knees, too. He carefully wrapped his broken hands around hers. “I promise.”