Sophie (The Boss 8)

"I'm sure that's something that can be dealt with later. Right now, we need you to be safe," Neil said.

"It's impossible. I tried to leave once. The first time he..." she shook her head, her features crumpling with shame. "How did I let this happen?"

"You didn't let it happen," El-Mudad said firmly. "This was done to you."

He always seemed to know the crucial differences in language that passed us by in difficult moments.

"Right now, you have to decide if it's something you want to undo," Neil added.

She shook her head. "I know I should want to leave."

"There's not a handbook for how to feel in these situations. But suppose my experience watching people go through stuff like this has taught me anything. In that case, it's that none of the feelings anyone has are neat and tidy when it comes to domestic abuse." She didn't need to know that my "experience" was primarily based on Lifetime movies and papers I'd read in required college courses. "You don't have to stop loving him. You don't have to stop wanting to be with him. But you can stop being with him."

"Do you believe your life is in danger?" Neil asked her.

"Be honest," Rudy said, in a tone that suggested he already knew the answer.

She nodded slowly. "Maybe not right now. But I do think that one day..."

"Then it's better if we don't wait," Neil said before she could finish. "Because you have no idea when that day will come. And when it does come, it will be too late."

"What am I supposed to do? If I try to leave him, he'll do something. I don't know what. Kill me?" She laughed bitterly. "I'm afraid that my husband will kill me. That's who I am now."

“We can get an ex parte order,” I said, feeling very knowledgeable about the process. "You don't have to tell him you're leaving. He won't even know you've filed for the order."

She gave me a withering look that cut me to the core. “Do you know what my husband does for a living? The connections he has?”

"The connections don't matter. Keeping you safe is what matters." Neil spoke with the conviction of a man who knew he could command the universe, and it would obey him. That was one of his most significant personality flaws, but at the moment, it was reassuring.

"Could she stay with you?" El-Mudad asked Rudy. "You have security downstairs."

"And he likely has friends with badges who could skate right past them." Neil cursed under his breath. "The penthouse?"

"That's less secure than my place," Rudy said.

A horrible thought lit up my brain and I hated myself so much in that moment. But I loved myself, too, because it was brilliant. "The guest house. She can stay in our guest house."

The idea hung there for a moment, all four of them staring at me as though I'd just bitten the head off a live chicken.

"What?" I asked, crossing my arms defensively. I couldn't believe I was arguing for Valerie, Valerie of all people, to come live at my home. "We have full-time security. They've seen Laurence; they’ll know him on sight. We can post extra guards around the guest house grounds."

"And it would never cross Laurence's mind that Vee would be there," Rudy said, slowly coming around to the idea.

"You'd be closer to Olivia," I offered as if I needed to sweeten the deal somehow. "You could come to see her every day if you wanted to."

“You’re asking me to move into the guest house owned by the man I’ve loved for over thirty years so I can get over the heartbreak of yet another failed relationship.” She looked away, scoffing at the offense. “Perfect. This is perfect.”

“Vee—” Neil began.

She cut him off. “I didn’t say I wouldn’t do it.” She covered her face with both hands, repeating, “I didn’t say I wouldn’t do it.”

Neil cast a glance at El-Mudad and me; I’d never seen him so conflicted. My heart leaped into my throat at the sudden fear that he was about to say something terrible like he'd always loved her, and he wanted to be with her instead of us. When would that fear go away? I hated that it would rear its head now when we were supposed to be helping Valerie.

Of course, it didn’t help when Neil got down on one knee in front of her. He placed a hand on her shoulder. “I’m asking you, as a man who’s loved you for over thirty years, albeit not in the way you wanted me to...let my family help you. Not because we harbor ill will or want to humble you. Because we share a daughter and a granddaughter. Because you deserve far more happiness than what you’ve been given. And I had no small part in that.”