Page 79 of Criminally Yours
Millie jumped up and paced the room. “This isn’t getting us anywhere.”
“Pixie, you’re acting strange. Do you need to visit your brother?”
Millie blasted a sardonic laugh. “Sure, because he’s perfect and the saviour of the world.” Her mum gasped. “As I said in my message, I’ve spoken to Strike—Caleb. He told me what you and Dexter did.”
“What did he say?”
“You told him you’d cause problems with his parents’ finances and send me to boardingschool.”
“Oh, that.”
“Oh, that? I can’t believe you’d do something so awful.”
“He wasn’t good enough for you. You were giving up medicine to be with him. It was your life’s dream.”
“No,” Millie snapped. “I was giving up your dream for me. In fact, I did give it up and went into psychology. It had nothing to do with him.”
“But you’d not said anything about psychology until you dated him. He told us he loved you. You were teenagers. You didn’t know what love was.”
“I knew what love was, and I loved him. He left because of what you said. You made him feel like he didn’t have a choice. You wonder why I don’t have friends and why I haven’t brought someone home. It’s the impact of what you did. You betrayed me.” A sob wrenched itself free from Millie’s mouth.
“I did the right thing at the time,” her mum argued. “But you cried for months after he left. I’d made a mistake, but telling you what we’d done then was pointless because it wouldn’t change anything. The best thing I could do was encourage you to live a new life.”
“You tell me everything I do is wrong. You want me to live the life you’ve determined is right.”
“But you’re not getting out there and meeting people. Watching you cry after Caleb left was heartbreaking. I vowed to ensure you weren’t sad again. You’re sad in your little flat.”
Millie slid down the door until she crouched on the floor, her knees tucked against her body. “You’re overprotective.”
“I want the best for you.”
Millie shook her head. “This isn’t it. Speaking to you daily and forcing me to do things I don’t want to do isn’t the best for me. Telling me my brother should protect me isn’t the best, and threatening our neighbours, the kindest people in the world, certainly wasn’t the best.”
“I want you to be happy. Caleb couldn’t even cope with alittle threat. And he didn’t say goodbye. Those aren’t the behaviours of a loving boyfriend.”
“Because of you. You don’t understand how much you messed up my life.” Millie banged her fist against the wall. “None of you did the right thing.”
“I gave you a future. You were the baby girl we weren’t meant to have. Our little miracle to keep safe,” her mum pleaded.
“You tried to wrap me in cotton wool and stop me from living.”
“I’m sorry. I just… I thought I knew best. I did know best. Are you able to forgive me?”
“Based on how I feel right now? No.” Millie rested her forehead on her folded arms. “Please do something for me.”
“Yes, sweetheart, anything.”
“Tell Dexter to call me immediately. He’s avoiding my messages, and he’ll respond to you.”
“Okay. But are you safe? Normally, I know where you are because you don’t leave your flat and?—”
“Goodbye, Mum.”
“I love you, Millie.”
She hung up the phone and let it fall onto the soft carpet. She buried her head in her hands and rocked, desperate to stop the way her heart collapsed.
CHAPTER 34
