Twenty
732 Words
FIONA
My hands are trembling so badly I nearly drop the phone.
The video keeps replaying in my head.
Flavian walking out of school. That little bounce in his step when he’s excited.
Sean was there.
Watching him.
A cold wave crashes over me.
“He knows where flavian goes to school,” I whisper.
Flavian goes completely still.
And that terrifies me more.
“Let me see,” he says quietly.
I hand him the phone.
He watches the video once.
Then again.
His expression hardens with every second.
By the time it ends, the warmth I’ve come to associate with him is gone.
Replaced by something sharp.
Dangerous.
“Okay,” he says calmly.
Okay?
“That’s it?” My voice cracks. “That’s not okay!”
“No,” he says, meeting my eyes. “It’s not.”
His jaw tightens.
“But now I know what he’s doing.”
The certainty in his voice cuts through my panic.
“You’re not scared?” I ask.
His gaze darkens.
“I’m furious.”
The words land like a spark in dry grass.
And suddenly, I realize something.
Flavian isn’t panicking because he’s used to control.
He’s used to fixing things.
Used to winning.
“I need you to listen to me carefully,” he says.
I nod automatically.
“Has Sean ever been violent?”
The question makes my stomach twist.
“No,” I say quickly. “Not violent. Just… cruel. Dismissive. Manipulative.”
Flavian absorbs that.
“Has he ever threatened to take your son before now?”
“No.”
“Has he ever tried contacting the school?”
“I don’t know.”
Silence.
Then he exhales slowly.
“That video changes things.”
Ice creeps into my veins. “How?”
“It proves intent,” he says. “He wants you to know he can reach your son.”
My knees go weak.
“He’s trying to scare me.”
“Yes.”
The bluntness knocks the air out of me.
“And it’s working,” I whisper.
His gaze softens slightly.
“Hey.”
The word is gentle.
Grounding.
“You’re allowed to be scared,” he says. “but i'm here, you're not alone.”
That almost breaks me.
“What do we do?” I ask.
It’s the most honest I’ve been in years.
Just terrified.
And for the first time in a long time…
I let someone see it.
Flavian doesn’t hesitate.
“We move first.”
His voice is steady. Strategic.
“We contact a family lawyer today. the video proves he has been stalking your son, we can push that for a restraining order”
“Mr. Hale already offered a family attorney from the firm”
“Good. We use his best one.”
There’s something almost lethal in the way he says it.
“And we inform the school immediately,” he continues.
I blink at him.
“You’ve thought about this before.”
A shadow crosses his face.
“I told you,” he says quietly. “I grew up watching what selfish men can do.”
Right.
This isn’t new territory for him.
It’s history.
“And you,” he adds, eyes locking onto mine, “ you need to stop going out alone for now.”
My heart skips.
“That’s a little extreme.”
“Is it?” he asks calmly. ''i dont know what he's capable of so i'm not risking anything.”
I don’t have an answer.
Because he’s right.
And I hate that he’s right.
“I don’t want you dragged into this,” I say softly.
The words slip out before I can stop them.
His expression changes instantly.
Cold.
like he's Offended.
“That ship sailed the second he threatened you” he says.
“I didn’t ask you to—”
“I don’t care.”
The intensity of it stuns me into silence.
“I’m in this,” he says, quieter now but somehow stronger. “Whether you like it or not.”
My chest tightens.
“Why?” I whisper.
The question hangs between us.
He doesn’t answer immediately.
Finally, he says:
“Because I can’t walk away from you.”
My heart stutters.
Because I know he isn’t just talking about today.
Or Sean.
Or the custody case.
He means all of it.
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