ADELINE'S POV
It has been a week since I spoke to Colton and convinced him not to kill himself. I feel so happy that he decided to make this decision. He and I have been speaking every day and I realized that I actually didn't forget how to be a therapist. I've been being a friend to him and I've been helping him go through the way in his head while simultaneously battling with mine.
It hasn't even been a month since I left erotica. Everything is still fresh to me. The memories, the scars it left on my soul. Dante and Liam have been here for me all through the way. They're always checking up and me and making sure I am okay. I tell them not to worry too much because if healing will ever come, it will be from within. They have to rest too and I feel bad when they worry about me all the time like this.
Detective Kent also pays me a visit from time to time. He has become close friends with Dante and Liam now and I told him about my plan to start my own little secret organization with Dante, Liam, Naomi and Colton. He said he definitely wants to be a part of it along with the five men that Dante and Colton hired while they were searching for me. Kent is still going to keep his position in the FBI. He was promoted to director after the victory he brought against erotica.
These men, I have learned are family to Dante now. They all look up to Dante and they say Dante changed all their lives for the better. It doesn't do anything to ease the admiration that I already have for him.
It hasn't been easy being strong since I left Veronica. Some nights are better than others. On some nights, I actually manage to get some sleep but on other nights, it seems impossible to even close my eyes because the minute I do, all I see are dead bodies, all I se are Veronica, Adrian and their guards making out lives a living hell. Living with this experience is nothing short of hard.
Some days you wake up and you want to live. Some days you wake up and you want to kill yourself. But every day, I wake up to fight. I will never stop fighting.
My parents haven't stopped bugging Liam. All these days I have been talking about forgiveness and letting go so I decided to forgive my parents. I no longer hold a huge grudge against them. I just do not care for them anymore. I will always be there for them if they need me for something but I don't think I will ever be there for them as their daughter ever again and not just because of what happened with Adrian.
My parents may care about me now, but this is not the stage in my life where I need them. When I needed them, they weren't there and right now, I do not want to acknowledge them. I just want to live my life many many miles away from them.
Liam went to fetch them today and he'll be here with them any minute now so that I can get it over and done with them. As I stare out the window, at the house Dante built for me, I start noticing small details around the house that I never noticed before. Everything I told Dante I would like to be in my dream house, he gave to me. He listened to me and he reproduced exactly what he heard coming from my heart. He has always been thoughtful. After the meeting with my parents, Dante is taking me to see Silver and he said he as a surprise for me.
When Liam's car finally pulls over in my massive driveway, my parents step out of the car and stare at the tall building in awe. I look down at them with disappointment in my eyes. I tried so much to be a perfect daughter to people who didn't even care. I tried so hard and all the wanted to do was exploit me. They never once tried to understand me or even acknowledge me as a person with my own dreams and desires. All they ever wanted to do was raise a robot they could force their beliefs on and I grew up resenting them for it.
I'm grown up now and I have learnt to love myself without them. I don't need them anymore and they regret it. Thye regret it because they are getting old and they are all alone. I researched about their new company when I got the chance and it thrives. They managed to make a name for themselves in the business world and I am genuinely happy for them. I just don't want to have anything to do with them anymore.
Cold air flows in through my windows and land on my skin, making goosebumps rise on my flesh. I embrace the cold air and breathe it in. I have been locked up for so long that now nature is one of the most important things to me. It is something that I think humans do not appreciate enough. I have decided to give it all my attention.
I have decided to wake up every morning and admire the sunrise in the evening, I enjoy the sunsets. I enjoy the rain and I enjoy the plants because reality is fleeting and I only have so much time.
Liam leads my parents inside and I take in a deep breath as I go downstairs to receive them. once I open my doors, I see Dante waiting for me. He takes my hands in his and squeezes gently to let me know that I am strong and I can do this. I can face my parents. I used to be scared of them. I used to be incapable of telling the no or going against them but I am not a child anymore and they will realize that today.
As I walk down the stairs, my parents become aware of my presence and rise to their feet. They look the same as the last time I saw them. My father looks stern and strong as always and my mother looks beautiful and she stands next to him, his hands around her waist in a protective stance.
"Adeline. Oh Adeline." My mother runs to hug me once I am down the stairs. I keep my hands to my side, not hugging her back like she expects me to. I do not hate my parents. No. That is something I could never do. I just do not have an emotional connection to them anymore. I will always respect them as the people who birthed me but it ends there. There doesn't have to be anything more.
My mother lets go off me and then it is my father's turn to pull me in for a hug. It surprises me but my face betrays no emotion. My father was never one to hug me. All he would ever do is give me handshakes when we met. Even if we spent years without seeing each other.
My father was never one to show me that he misses me. He was never one to show anything except for that fatherly authority.
"We heard what happened dear." My mother says clutching her hands to her chest as her eyes become watery. I really don't want her to cry right now because I wouldn't be sure how to comfort her.
"And we heard you were the one to save her." My father says addressing Dante with a nod. "I think we owe you an apology for how we acted. We trusted Adrian too much. We would have never thought he was that evil or else we would have never chosen him for our daughter." My father speaks and all it does it make me angry.
He is still talking in that way that he always does. As if I am a child.
"Maybe you should have done you research before blindly giving me away to a psychopath daddy." My last words comes out in a sarcastic tone making my father avert his gaze towards me.
"There are no words to tell you how sorry we are Adeline. We haven't been the best parents to you."
"You have been the worst parents." I say truthfully, not holding back from telling them exactly how I feel. I have kept it all in for so long as I let them dictate my life. I have let them push me around and I have let them make choices for me that I should have been making myself. I have let them use me.
"Do you have any idea what would have happened to me if I had never met Dante dad? I would have eventually agreed to marrying Adrian because I felt like I could not be loved by anyone else after being cheated on by Dain. I would have done what you asked of me because I as such a good daughter." I say to them in an angry tone.
"Do you know how that would have turned out daddy?" Both my parents bow their heads in embarrassment as I speak. I want them to know exactly how I feel. I want them to know exactly how much they have hurt me.
"I would have been stuck with a bipolar monster dad. I would spent the rest of my life with that idiot! Maybe I would have even eventually ended up in erotica and since Dante would have never been in my life, I would have had no way of escaping. That is what my life would have looked like mom!"
"Adeline please forgive us. There is nothing more we can do or say at this point. We are so sorry. We know you have gone through unimaginable things and we want to be there for you. We want to be better parents to you, if you would let us." My mom pleads as she stans next to my dad.
"I don't hate you mom and dad, I just hate the fact that both of you weren't there for me while I was growing up and I didn't have any parental figures to look up to. You two were either always busy with work or always traveling together and leaving me with the countless nannies that you guys paid to stay with me. Do you know what that does to a child??"
My voice rises with every word. "it made me feel like I was not something worth wanting or loving, It makes me feel like I was accident you two weren't ready to take responsibility for. It made me so sad when I saw other kids happy with their parents and I had to live my life every day with the people who gave birth to me, going out of their ways to be absent in my life!"
"I grew up resenting both of you but you know what? I got over it, because I am not a child anymore and I do not need you two in my life anymore. I don't hate both of you. I do not have the energy for that. I just do not need you anymore."
"Adeline please." My mom pleads with me.
"I will always be here for you mom. I'll always be one call away if both of you need anything. I will not cut you both out completely from my life. I have been through absolute hell and I just need to be alone and away from both of you. I'm afraid this meeting is over."
My parents don't argue. I mean what else can they say. Everything that I am shooting at them is the truth. Maybe one day, if they really mean it and out in effort into showing me that they want to be in my life again. Maybe then we will be a big and happy family as I have always wanted but till then, they are going to have to prove themselves and show me that they actually want to be in my life.
Till then, but I just want them to leave right now.
They shoot me apologetic looks and then they walk out of my house. Liam looks towards me with a smile on his face telling me he completely understands how I feel and then he walks out to drive my parents back. I look over to Dante.
He was quiet the entire time. Even when my father presented his apologies to him, all he did was nod. I know he doesn't like my parents very much and with good reason.
"Are you okay?" He says as he walks towards me. He cups my face and places a kiss on y forehead and suddenly I am at peace again. Everything about him brings me peace. How could I not be okay?
"I'm perfect. You're here. Everything is perfect." I say to him sighing deeply when h grabs my waist ad pulls me closer to him.
"You read to go see Silver?" He asks and I nod at hm with a huge smile on my face.