Defamed: Book Three (bxb) ✔️

Chapter One: Unwanted

Cameron Windsor

If someone had asked me three weeks ago what emotions were to me, I'd tell me they were worthless. They wasted my time. Feeling sad wasn't worth the effort. Happiness? I threw that away with the rest of them. Happiness wasn't something I could feel anymore. Not to its completion. Maybe I should feel elated that the person who has kept me prisoner for eight years was finally behind bars.

The torment was over.

But being freed from my tormentor left me with unease. Not because I thought he would be released but because he controlled me for so long. I lost all sense of direction. My life stopped being mine eight years ago, and now I was left to figure out how to pick up those pieces again. I needed to tell my family, which only consisted of my brothers, about my assault. I had to tell them before the media got their grubby hands on the story. 

I lived in that torture for eight years. I was taunted with a video of an assault on me that I didn't remember. For eight years, I never once watched past the part where I stumbled into the room and couldn't move. I saw someone enter, stripping off their shirt, and I had to stop it there. But after my attempt, I decided it was time to watch what happened to me. So, I did. Right after I was released from the hospital. 

Most would say that wasn't a bold idea, and maybe it wouldn't be for most, but watching that video provided me with the tools to help catch the person who'd been blackmailing me. Who assaulted me. He never blurred his face, and I knew he thought I'd never watch it. He wasn't wrong. I never had. Until the day I was sitting outside of the hospital. As much as I wanted to look away, I couldn't. I had to know what happened to me that night. 

But because I finally decided to see what happened, I was able to provide the police, who I'd been working with for almost two years, with the evidence of what happened to me and a visual of the person who'd done it. After which, they were able to gather security footage from that event and find him slipping the drug into my drink. 

Not many people get lucky with catching their rapist as I did. Many people go through life living in fear of their attacker finding them again. I lived with that same fear. All until I decided to keep moving around the United States, never staying in one place too long, and trying to find this person. 

Then to find that he was under my nose the entire time was a blow to my face. He tried to get to me through my brothers, and I wasn't going to let that slide. 

James was in jail now, and with all the evidence complied against him, there would be no trial. If he wanted to waste his time, he could. But I won't attend. My lawyer will be there on my behalf because I need to put that side of my life to rest. Even if I have no direction, I still need to figure it out for myself. I need to continue attending therapy. I have to convince my brother's that I won't try and commit again. I wouldn't do that to them.

I made an attempt on my life because I felt like this all wouldn't stop, but it stopped now.

The world still turned.

My life was still going. 

"There you are!" Carter snapped as I walked in the door. "That bastard better be staying behind bars."

My eyes traced the room, taking note that my past seemed to always find me. No matter how much it pained me. I looked at my brother as I closed the door. "He is."

"How can you be sure? He won't hurt you, will he?"

I shook my head. "No, he was denied bail."

Alastair walked up behind Carter with shock marring his features. "He was denied bail? They usually don't deny bail unless the crime is..."