Release (Release #1)

by Aly Martinez

This included when he’d built a shoddy ramp out of two concrete bricks and a piece of plywood about as sturdy as a spider’s web.

few had already added a divorce and marriage number two to their relationship résumé.

Because being alone wasn’t my deepest darkest fear. It was his.

He smiled. “Because lies or not, you lived. You smiled and laughed. You traveled the world. You created a successful business. And you were hell-bent on taking over the whole damn world that had wronged you. Those were all the things I did not do when I lost your mother. My job is not to be your friend. My job is not to make sure you have all the facts of a troubled girl’s life. My job is to protect you. So I did whatever was necessary to shield you from the pain so that you could live. l have no regrets, Thea. None.”

That saying about the truth setting you free was bullshit. The truth was nothing more than a needle you could use to slowly chip away at the concrete walls of betrayal. It was going to take time for our hearts to stop hurting, the what-ifs to fade into what was, and the gaping wounds of regret to scab over. But