BEAU (TheLarssonLegacy#1)

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN - SIENNA

Six weeks later...

It's frustrating because I can't open up to my therapist about certain things. She has a duty to guard my safety, and if she knew what had happened, she would be straight onto the phone to the police.

The knock on the door sends a hurricane of emotions through me. She's here? Gayle gets up from her chair to let Paulina into the office.

Our eyes catch, and Paulina looks incredibly weary standing in the doorway. Gayle widens up the door as an invitation inside, but she's still waiting quietly.

"Hello," she greets eventually, tugging at her long suit jacket, eyes jumping from me to the floor and back to me. "Sienna."

She made an effort with herself... for me? "Hey."

Her shoulders sink as she steps inside the cosy room, sitting beside me. She fiddles with the handbag on her lap, ignoring us as she pulls out a bag of sour Haribo to place it on my knee.

My eyes zoom over to Gayle, who subtly raises her eyebrow, my fingers starting to play with the edges of the sweet packet until Paulina clears her throat.

"These sweets were your favourite." She clears it again. "When you were little."

Sour sweets are my absolute weakness. I turn the packet in my hand. "Thank you."

She waves it off, fussing with her hair before settling back into the chair with her arms wrapping around her waist. It goes quiet, the only sound coming from her heel hitting the floor as she bounces her foot.

"I'd like to start by thanking you both for coming here. My office is a safe space, but I do have to warn you of the policies. If anything is mentioned that makes either of you unsafe, I have the right to inform the appropriate authorities, okay? Are you both willing to go ahead now knowing this?" Gayle asks.

I nod. "Yes."

When Paulina takes her time, we both turn to watch her. She shrugs jumpily. "Yeah, okay."

"Brilliant." Gayle grabs her notebook from the table beside her. "I'm going to let you both decide where we start."

"I don't know where I want to start. I haven't done this before," Paulina says, glancing at her knees once she sees me looking at her.

"I'm pregnant."

Okay, so that came out of nowhere. I hadn't planned on blurting it out right now. In fact, I wasn't sure I even wanted her to know until now.

But, she does something I completely don't expect. She cries. Hard. Sobbing as she lowers her head into her hands.

My eyes widen on Gayle, hands pressing between my knees as I hear her lose it.

"Oh, Sienna," she croaks, climbing off the armchair to crawl so she's kneeling before me. "You're going to be an amazing mum."

Gosh, now she's got my eyes filling up. "I know I will. I'll be everything you weren't for me."