A Fresh Start (46 page)

She had thought that if she were to keep her past a secret, she could bury it deep enough that someday, she’d completely forget about it.
 

Thus far, time had proven her theory to be entirely wrong. Ghosts of the past had a way of haunting one, no matter how much one had changed.
 

After so many years, Evelyn thought her past was so far behind that the only remnant of it was in her mind.
 

Again, she was wrong.

She was beginning to doubt if she would ever be free from the past she couldn’t shake.

There was a simple solution, and she knew it.
 

All she had to do was to spill the beans; let everyone know what had happened to her before, and the blackmailer would have nothing to threaten her with.

It should have been an easy thing to do.

All those things happened so many years ago. But even after a decade, it was difficult for her to open up and talk about what had happened to her, or about what she had done.

Kate was the only one who knew her secret, and Evelyn was sure Kate would never reveal it to anyone unless she allowed it to be so.
 

Before, she had kept it a secret because she didn’t want to talk about it, she didn’t want to discuss it with anyone and relive her nightmare.
 

Now, even though she didn’t want to admit it, the truth behind her silence was her hope to keep Dan from ever finding out what she had done.

She’d battled with the decision of telling Dan, to end everything once and for all, but the resolve to do so always disappeared before it ever took root in her heart.

Each time she made up her mind to tell Dan, fear would creep in.
 

Fear, with its little voice, would tell her that Dan would never accept her after what she had done, and he would be disgusted with her.

The little voice, which seemed ridiculous in the beginning, began to grow louder until she could no longer ignore it.
 

Soon, the voice in her mind dropped into her heart, and she was convinced that Dan would scorn her when he found out what had happened.

Though she was no longer seeing Dan, though they were never officially dating, she couldn’t bear the thought of Dan finding out her past. She couldn’t bear to see his reaction.

It didn’t take much for the fear to convince her that she was alone in this matter. No one, not Dan, not Kate, would want to be involved with her shady past.

Brusquely, she wiped the tears away on the back of her hand and picked up her bag by the side of the table. Another trip to the bank was necessary.

Evelyn drove up the lone, single driveway that led to the mansion. Green, towering trees that stood throughout all seasons flanked both sides of the road. For a moment, her eyes flickered onto the trees. She forced herself to focus on the road and kept her eyes away from the never-ending woods.
 

Even after a year, Evelyn couldn’t get over how creepy and isolated the mansion was.

Whenever her eyes wandered to the trees, thoughts of someone, or something, suddenly appearing out of the forest to attack her would surface.
 

Even with her wild imagination aside, she hated the drive up to the mansion.

She wasn’t sure if it was the scenery of the impenetrable forest or the solitary drive, but a sense of melancholy always accompanied her on the drive.

If only Kate had chosen to live somewhere else, then she wouldn’t have to make this drive up every other day.

She tightened the grip on her steering wheel as she turned into the mansion and saw Dan’s car.
 

She hadn’t seen him for weeks, not since Kate went on her honeymoon, not since that day at the park, but that hadn’t stopped her from thinking about him.

She sighed, pushing the thoughts from her head.

They were no longer together, and for good reason.

Stepping out of the car, she strode up to the door and turned the knob. As expected, it wasn’t locked.

With so many people going in and out of the house, Marianne had made it a policy to leave the door unlocked during meal times.
 

Evelyn stepped through the doorway, and her entrance was immediately announced by the motion sensor alarm.

She didn’t understand why Tyler had bothered with that thing. The kitchen didn’t offer a direct view to the main door, so the alarm did nothing to indicate who was coming in. For all they knew, she could have been a burglar.

Strolling past the luggage in the living room, she headed straight into the kitchen.
 

She forced her lips into a wide grin. “Hey!”
 

Kate turned around with a blissful smile and gave her a hug. “Sit! I’m giving out the presents. These are yours,” Kate said, giving the two large paper bags on the oval dining table a slight nudge.

Without even looking, Evelyn knew it was probably two new branded bags.
 

Bags were her sole indulgence.
 

Having grown up with barely anything instilled some habits in her.
 

She always made sure she set aside more than half of her income in the bank. She didn’t go for expensive food and had been driving the same secondhand car for years.

But bags, she was always willing to cut back on other expenses for her bags.

She sat beside Kate and watched her dole out the presents to Dan and Marianne. It was strange to see so few people in the usually crowded kitchen.

Kate’s husband, Tyler, sat back against his chair, his arm draped lazily across Kate’s chair.
 

The past year had brought about many changes to all their lives.

A year ago, a will left behind by Tyler’s grandfather ended up bringing Kate and Tyler together. Along with Tyler, Dan, Ryan, and Joseph all tagged along. They had all become part of the regular people in her life now.

Besides Dan, she wasn’t close with any of the guys.

She wasn’t a sociable person in the first place. She was the sort who fared better at being alone than having to mingle with people. Having one friend was more than enough for her.

Her on and off relationship with Dan definitely didn’t help her score any points with the other guys as well.

Joseph, in particular, was exceptionally cold toward her. He never spoke to her directly unless necessary.
 

Even Ryan, the friendliest in the group, hadn’t warmed up to her either.

But she did have to admit that everyone had been cordial with her for Kate’s sake. Even Marianne, Tyler’s housekeeper, who loved all the boys like her own children, never showed any disapproval of her despite the things she had going on with Dan.

Evelyn hadn’t meant to keep Dan in her craziness. Each time she had walked away from him, she had promised herself that it was the last time and that she wouldn’t get involved with him again.

Logic and rationale told her that they weren’t meant to be. But each time she needed someone, she couldn’t stop herself from reaching for her phone and calling Dan.

“How was the honeymoon?” Marianne asked.

As Kate launched into how perfect everything was, Evelyn stole a glance at Dan.

She hadn’t spoken to him since the whole blackmail began.

It was her decision, her own doing, but that didn’t stop her from missing him terribly.

She smiled ruefully as Dan ran his hand through his blond hair, causing the sleeve of his shirt to inch up, revealing the muscles under it.

Though he wasn’t the largest guy in the group, his tendency to work alongside his men in his construction company had built quite a few sturdy muscles.

Dan hated folding up the long sleeves of his shirt. He hated having to pull the edge back down his elbow whenever he lifted his arms.
 

Her smile faded as the dull ache in her heart worsened.

All the details she remembered about him only reminded her of how happy she was whenever they were together, how people like her didn’t get happily-ever-afters.

And the blackmail she had been receiving was the reinforcement of the different world they belonged in.

Dan grew up in a complete family. They weren’t perfect, but at least he grew up safe.
 

The horrors she had gone through, the things she had done were beyond the worst nightmares that someone like Dan could ever imagine.

Pushing the thoughts from her mind, she reached into one of the bags on the table and took out the bag inside. She twirled the new handbag, pretending to be examining it while her thoughts were consumed by the payment due later that night.

The money was draining out of her bank account faster than before. Just two days ago, she had paid off her blackmailer. Now, she was to prepare another three thousand dollars.

It had started out with a few hundred dollars. Within two weeks, her blackmailer had quickly upgraded the demands. Besides demanding more money, her blackmailer was increasing the frequency of the demands as well.

“You don’t like them?”

Kate’s voice broke her thoughts. Evelyn looked up, rearranging her features into a small, pleasant smile. “You know I love them. I was just thinking about some stuff at work. Speaking of which, I brought some new projects that you might be interested in. They’re in my car; I’ll get them.”

Before anyone else could say another word, she was up from her chair and out of the kitchen, heading toward the main door.

Evelyn knew she wasn’t acting like her usual self very well. Before driving up to the mansion, she’d reminded herself to behave as normally as she could. Kate was particularly astute at picking up emotional disturbances in people, and Evelyn knew she had to be careful or Kate would be all over her.
 

She tried; she genuinely did, but it was difficult to keep up her smile with the apprehension of meeting a ghost that had latched onto her.

Halfway through the living room, she heard the familiar ringtone she had grown to dread.

Crap.
She spun around and sprinted back toward the kitchen.

Why did she put down her phone to play with her new bag?

The moment she got back to the kitchen, she saw her phone in Kate’s hand.

Without thinking, Kate tapped on the screen and answered the call. “Hello?”

Evelyn’s eyes widened and she snatched the phone from Kate’s hand. “Don’t pick up my calls.”

She could see the confusion on Kate’s face and felt the stares directed at her. She knew her strong reaction would appear to border along temporary insanity, especially when they all knew how close she was to Kate.
 

“I always answer your phone when you are not around,” Kate stated hesitantly while Evelyn checked who the caller was.

“Stop doing that,” she hissed, and headed out of the kitchen with the phone in her hand.

Hastening her steps, she exited the mansion. Once the door was safely closed behind her, she lifted the phone to her ear. “What do you want? I know I’m supposed to hand you the three thousand dollars tonight.”

“Is that your friend?”

“What do you want?” Evelyn repeated her words, irate at the situation she was in and at how senseless she was behaving toward the only person who gave a damn about her.

“I changed my mind. I need five thousand.”

“Don’t push it,” she said through clenched jaws.

“No, Evelyn, don’t push me. I’m sure you don’t want the-one-who-always-answers-your-calls-when-you-are-not-around to know what’s going on, right?”

Evelyn hung up the call and clenched her phone. Boiling, but with nowhere to vent, she got into her car and began to beat up her steering wheel.
 

She slammed her arms against the steering wheel while jolts of pain shot up her arm. Though her hands became the eventual victims, her anger was slightly appeased.
 

Her fingers pinched the bridge of her nose, and she forced herself to take in a few deep breaths while her arms burnt with a dull pain.
 

After a minute, she rearranged her features into a carefully placed smile and got out of the car.
 

As she entered the kitchen, everyone kept their eyes on the food that was on the table, and no one said a word to her. Although they had all been polite to her, they had never been overly concerned about her.
 

Evelyn didn’t blame them. She was the one who kept everything to herself, and that had the tendency to keep everyone out.
 

In fact, she rather enjoyed people staying out of her business. It saved a lot of time and effort from explaining things that she rather not talk about.

Kate looked up from the table and smiled at her, a smile that didn’t reach her eyes.
 

Act normal.
Evelyn sat and slotted her phone into the back pocket.
 

From the corner of her eye, she noticed Kate staring at her arms, which were red and slightly purple at certain areas where bruises were beginning to form. She quickly pulled her hands back and placed them on her legs. She was sure that if she refused to speak about it, Kate wouldn’t pry it out of her, not right now anyway.
 

And she was right.

After a moment, Kate turned away from her and casually asked, “Where’s the work you mentioned?”

“Oh, right.” She got up, shaking her head at her absentmindedness. “I’ll get it.”

She turned and left the kitchen again. This time, she cast a brief glance over her shoulder, a glance long enough to see Dan staring at her. Their gaze held for a moment until she tore her eyes from him.

It pained her to see the questions, or maybe accusations, in his eyes.
 

Each time, she had only turned from Dan when he had tried pushing her into a serious, committed relationship.
 

This time, she had simply shut him out of her life for what would appear to him as no apparent reason.

It was difficult to be so near to him and yet be so clearly separated that they might as well be a thousand miles apart. She wanted so badly to let him understand why she pulled away from him, but she could never find the words and she didn’t know where to begin.