Sebastian tried to throw himself at Donald but Mitch and Ches held his wrists and Shirley wrapped her arms around his waist trying to calm him down.
Donna gasped. “Donald, no! Think of the scandal!”
Donald smiled and turned to me.
“If you contact my son in any way: email, text, phone, letter, flying fucking carrier pigeon, we’ll prosecute. It’s a felony: you’ll go to prison. At the very least, you’ll be on the sex offender’s register for the rest of your fucking life – you’ll never work again. And the same goes for that fucking asshole of a son of mine if he tries to contact you.” He turned his eyes back to Sebastian. “Ever.”
Sebastian was yelling obscenities, trying to get to his father; Mitch, Shirley and Ches were desperately holding him back.
“And as for you, son,” Donald continued, “you can kiss goodbye to any idea about going to college; I’m not wasting another penny on you. But I’ll tell you what you will do: as soon as you turn 18 you’ll be enlisting. Do it, or your bitch will be facing jail time.”
I was still sitting on the couch, white-faced and shocked, barely able to take it in.
Donna spoke in a shaky voice.
“Donald, really! There’s no need for this. Surely if Caroline promises to leave quietly, we need say no more about it. Sebastian will be 18 in a few months and…”
“You’re such a fucking hypocrite, Donna. You’d really do anything for the reputation of this shit-hole of a Base, wouldn’t you?”
Donna’s mouth opened and closed several times but she seemed unable to speak again.
“And another thing, you fucking whore,” said Donald, glaring at me again. “The statute of limitations is three years: three years. You come anywhere near my son in that time and you know what will happen to you. Same goes if he contacts you. I’ll know! If you’re so much as in the same state I’ll make sure you get what’s coming to you.”
Three years. Oh, God.
I turned to Sebastian, love and loss filling me as my eyes started to blur with tears.
“Don’t listen to him, Caro!” gasped Sebastian, desperately. “He won’t do it, he won’t! He doesn’t care enough about me to bother. Don’t listen to him!”
“You’re right, you little shit,” smirked Donald, rubbing his ribs again. “I don’t give a damn about you, but believe me, it would give me a great deal of pleasure to send your little bitch to jail, if only to wipe that smug look off your fucking face.”
Shirley gasped and Donna looked disgusted.
David was lost and shattered, his gaze drifting around the room as if he couldn’t recognize anyone.
But it was Sebastian’s face that I couldn’t take my eyes off. All the fight had gone out of him and he sagged in Mitch’s arms.
I did this. I did this to him. All my rehearsed excuses flew away: I despised myself. And it was time to let him go.
“No, Caro!” breathed Sebastian as he read the decision on my face. “Don’t let him win.”
Like a sleepwalker rising to Judgment Day, I stood.
Mitch dropped his hands, releasing him, and Sebastian was in my arms for one last time. He held onto me so tightly I could hardly breathe, burying his face in my hair.
“I have to go now, tesoro,” I said softly, stroking his neck.
His grip tightened around me. “No!” he gasped as if he was in great pain.
“Yes. Sebastian, listen to me. I want you to have a good life, tesoro, a big life. I want you to be happy, to fall in love…”
“No, God, no, Caro! Don’t say that!”
“Yes! Do it for me.”
“I’ll always love you, Caro. Don’t give up on us. Please don’t give up. I’ll wait for you. It’s only three years. I love you!”
But it wasn’t just three years, was it? I knew that now.
“I love you, too,” I whispered so softly I didn’t know if he’d heard me. “Ti amo tanto, Sebastian, sempre e per sempre.”
I tried to peel his hands away from my body but he wouldn’t let go.
“No!” he cried over and over again. “No!”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” snarled Donald in disgust.