My heart shatters for her but more so for Slade. She’s right, how will he feel finding out that he shares the same blood as the monster who repeatedly raped his mother and years later, the girl he likes?
My eyes drop to my lap and we sit in a deep silence as I consider the possibility of not sharing this with him. How could I not? But at the same time, this is so much deeper than me, so, so much. For me to tell, would mean betraying Daniella’s trust and sharing her shame with the one person she’s desperately tried to keep it from. I’m thrown back to that party, to where Blake shared with the world that I’d been raped and in that moment, I realize that I could never do the same to a fellow survivor. It has to be Daniella and it has to be when she’s ready.
I look back up at her and let her see right through to my soul. “I’m terrified that he’s coming back for me and Slade. He told him that if he follows through with what he wants, he’ll give him anything he’s ever dreamed, but if he doesn’t, he’ll make sure that he never plays basketball again. I can’t have that on my conscience.”
Daniella’s eyes focus on the coffee table in front of her, deep in thought. “No, it’s not possible,” she says to herself. “He couldn’t know…”
“He couldn’t know what?”
“It doesn’t make sense why he’d offer him the world unless….”
She drifts off into silence and it tears at my curiosity until I can’t possibly take it anymore. “Unless what? I don’t understand.”
“He knows,” she says in horror. “He knows that Slade is his son.”