Page 168 of Stains of Desire

Sloane tilts her head. "Penelope, you've been through a lot of trauma, haven't you?"

"I'm okay. We just need to focus on Millie."

"I'm not here to pressure you, but if you ever want to talk about what you've been through, I'm here."

"Thank you. But Millie is my priority."

"It's not going to hurt you," Axel says.

I turn to him.

He brushes the hair behind my ear. "You've gone through a lot, green eyes. And we've barely talked about what William or Santiago did to you. Every time I bring it up, you brush it off. Now that Millie and you are together, I think you should deal with it."

Anger surfaces. I try to remind myself that Axel only wants the best for me.

"Can I add something to that?" Sloane asks.

I sigh. "Okay."

"It would be good for you and Millie to have some sessions together. She probably will feel safer talking with you, and things might come out about the time you both spent with William."

"Whatever will help her," I adamantly state.

"But it could trigger a lot of things for you."

I bite my lip and look at my lap. I just want to forget about every moment spent with William, Santiago, and the last few years away from my daughter.

Axel turns my head toward him. "Will you humor me and agree to some sessions with Sloane? In addition to the ones with Millie?"

"You think I'm crazy, don't you?"

He strokes my head. "No. Not at all. I think a lot happened last week, in addition to everything else. And I know you're relieved to have Millie back, but you can only hold in what you've been through for so long. Things will creep up on you, out of the blue, if you don't deal with them."

The pain of everything suddenly hits me. It surprises me. I thought it would be gone once I had Millie back, but all this talk about it rears its ugly head again. I wipe my tear.

"It won't hurt, green eyes."

"Okay."

He smiles. "Thank you."

I turn back to Sloane. I ask again, "So how do I explain to Millie why I wasn't with her?"

"I think you should be honest with her. She understands what a bad man is, so tell her a bad man took you, but now that bad man will never be able to hurt either of you again."

The door slides open, and Vanessa holds Millie. "There's your mummy."

Millie's face is stained with tears. "Mummy!"

I take her from Vanessa. "What's wrong, gorgeous?"

She squeezes me and buries her face in my neck.

I rub her back. "Did you have a bad dream?"

"No. I woke up. You were gone." She sobs.

"I'm right here, baby. Let's get back to bed, okay?"