She Made It, Then Dumped Me novel · Chapter 17 of 24

Chapter 17: What Sonia Offered

Penelope's POV

The visitors' room at the county jail smelled of bleach and old coffee.

I sat at a steel table bolted to the floor and waited for a woman I had watched win Best Actress three weeks ago.

I had not slept.

Wesley had driven me there himself, and then stayed in the car.

"She asked for you," he had said. "Not me."

"I know."

"You don't have to go."

"Yes, I do."

I had spent a long night learning exactly how much of his heart was left unguarded, and I had no wish to leave it that way for her.

A guard brought Sonia in.

She wore an orange jumpsuit, and her hair was tied back with a rubber band.

She had no makeup on.

She looked younger without it, and tired.

I knew better than to trust that.

She sat down across from me and put both hands flat on the table.

"You came," she said.

"You asked."

"Was he gentle with you?"

It took me a moment to understand what she meant.

"That's none of your business," I said.

"It's my business. I know exactly how he is." She smiled, thin and quick. "He's tender. He's careful with everything he loves. It's very easy to confuse that with being safe."

"I'm not confused."

"No?" She tilted her head. "You're an Ambrose. He ruined your father."

"And paid his debts."

"Because he felt guilty. He does that. He picks up strays when he feels guilty. Jace. Me. Now you."

I held still.

I had expected the pity.

I had not expected it to land.

"I was a stray too," she said, softly. "A waitress in a bar in Queens. He bought my dinner and let me think he was poor. It lasted exactly as long as I needed him to. Then I became the project. Do you want to know what a project is, Penelope? It's a person he decides to fix. They can never be equal to him, because he keeps all the keys."

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