Third person's POV
Tabitha did the math and realized she had been with Wilmot for almost half a year.
From their initial cautious interactions to him becoming like a full-time nanny, taking care of her child without complaint, Tabitha had long stopped being as vigilant as she once was.
"I..." she started to say something but swallowed her words. The situation was too complex. She didn't know where to begin.
"It's okay, my lips are sealed. I won't tell anyone else," Wilmot reassured her.
Tabitha glanced at Ayla and said, "Let's talk about it later."
"Alright."
He responded, patient as ever. He had already spent half a year waiting for Tabitha to open up to him, so what was a little more waiting?
When Ayla took a nap, Derek sat outside by the flower bed, waiting.
As Tabitha came out, he immediately stood up and said, "Ms. Hartley."
"No need for formalities, let's sit and talk," she suggested.
"Of course."
Derek agreed, preparing a glass of juice for her. They sat under the sun, the sea breeze gently blowing, making the atmosphere quite pleasant.
Tabitha took a sip. It was freshly squeezed lemon and orange juice, very refreshing with a slight tang.
"Would you like to hear a story?" she asked.
"I am honored by your trust," Derek replied.
Putting down her juice, Tabitha looked out at the distant sea and began, "The story starts with a shipwreck..."
It was the first time Derek understood their emotional journey from Tabitha's perspective.
She had fallen in love with him the moment he saved her.
She didn't go into detail about the terrible things he had done to her. She just mentioned them briefly.
After listening, Derek was silent for a long time.
The events were his own experiences, but hearing them from Tabitha's mouth was like salting her wounds all over again. He wished he could slap himself for the pain he had caused her.
"He and I are divorced, but my ex-husband is a very stubborn and extreme person. Once he sets his mind on something, he won't let go. If he finds out I'm alive, he will definitely imprison me and Ayla."
Tabitha used the word "imprison" bluntly.
Derek pondered for a moment before speaking, "From what you've told me, I think your ex-husband must love you very much. Maybe he just wants to protect you and never intended to hurt you and the children again. And the children are his own flesh and blood. He would be overjoyed to know they are alive. Have you ever considered remarrying him?"
"Impossible!"
Tabitha rejected the idea without a moment's hesitation, "I will never remarry him. Love is not an excuse to hurt others. I don't deny that he might love me, but he used love as a pretext to hurt me over and over again."
Her eyes filled with intense hatred as she continued, "If it weren't for him, my adoptive father would still be alive, I wouldn't have lost my family, and I wouldn't have been separated from my children!"
Lifting her wrist, she showed the scars, "Besides the emotional damage, this is the evidence of his physical harm. Even though his pack did many evil things and tried to kill me repeatedly, in the end, he would always side with his childhood sweetheart and shoot me without hesitation. If I forgive him, it would be a betrayal of all the suffering I've endured, the blood I've shed, and the heartache I've felt."
Her hand had healed somewhat, but it couldn't move as flexibly as a normal person's, at least not in the short term.
The scars on her wrist would remain forever on her skin and deeply etched in her heart.
"I despise him to the bone and loathe him utterly. Even for the children, I could never live with that devil again."