Chapter 97: The Call
"Was he the one who did it to you?" William asked quietly, though the answer was already etched into his mind.
Anna nodded slowly, her throat tightening until the words dissolved before they could escape.
A part of her longed to finally speak it all out loud, to lay the weight of it in someone else’s hands for once. But another part—an older, more wounded part—clung tightly to silence.
Robert hadn’t believed her. He had called her a liar, accused her of seeking attention. And while she wanted to believe that William was different... it felt safer to leave the past untouched.
"We’ll get to him too," he murmured, pulling her closer until her cheek rested against the steady rhythm of his bare chest. "Every single one of them will pay for what they’ve done to you. I’ll make sure of it."
The words wrapped around her like a blanket of warmth. Comforting. Anchoring. William always knew what to say—but more than that, he was the only man she had ever known who truly meant every word he said.
After a moment, her voice broke the quiet. "What’s your nightmare? I want to know what’s been haunting you all this time... What made you so restless that you couldn’t find peace until Robert Hyde was out of the picture too?"
William paused. She felt the tension shift through his body as he adjusted his position, as though buying himself a few more seconds to think.
He had kept this truth buried deep, for so long. But after everything Anna had shared with him—after all the courage she’d shown—it felt only right to lay down his own truths.