Stolen

Chapter 7

James's POV

I don't know how she didn't give in to Alfie. He'd told us how he would pressure her, how he promised things would get better if she agreed to kill the baby, and become pregnant with his child. She always refused, always fought back. I don't know she did that, if the last thing she remembers is me expressing how much I hated her. He gave her the opportunity to take her own life if she wanted, and she'd still refused. She was living through a hell I could never imagine, she thought the father of her baby hated her, how did she keep going, how did she not give in? As I stand and watch her, I see how fragile and broken she is. How did she have the strength to keep going? I cautiously placed a hand on her shoulder, causing her head to snap over to me, looking at my hand skeptically. "How'd you do it?" I whispered, causing her eyes to meet mine. "How'd you keep going through this? Didn't you ever want to give up?" I asked. Tears rolled down my cheeks as I stared at her. She was stronger than I had thought, stronger than anyone had thought probably. She stared at me silently, tears still rolling down her face. Looking at her now, it hurt. She was so pale, and so thin, and she had a baby like 4 days ago, that's not good. Her hair was messy, and her eyes, which once carried a spark of happiness, of hopefulness, were dull. Blank. "How did you do it?" I asked again, staring at her in amazement. She was silent, and everything was still for a moment. Then I felt her hand collide with my cheek, a stinging sensation. She had slapped me, and the funny thing was, I didn't care. I deserved it. I stared into her eyes, which held anger. "Slap me again." I told her. She hesitated, and I thought she wouldn't, but sure enough, her hand collided with my face once again. She was breathing heavily as she stared at me angrily. I raised my eyebrows. "One last time, as hard as you can." I told her. She didn't even hesitate this time. When her hand met my cheek, it was equal to the force of Alfie's punches, and he was pretty forceful. I almost thought she had punched me, but I knew she hadn't. The collision had actually made me stumble slightly, but I didn't react to the pain. Yeah my cheek is bright pink, and it'll probably be bruised tomorrow, but I didn't care. Because in this moment, Riley softened. Tears filled her eyes before rolling down her cheeks again.
"How could you do this to me? If you had been there, if you had forgiven me, maybe this wouldn't have happened." She cried, as I stepped forward, wrapping my arms around her. She leaned her head on my shoulder, shaking and sobbing. I rubbed her back comfortingly, but didn't stop her. Getting angry and crying is better than keeping all her emotions to herself. I felt her arms wrap around my middle, holding me tight.
"I love you Riles, so much. I'm so sorry." I whispered to her.
"I love you too." I heard her mumble, a smile spreading across my face.