“One day I asked her why she never tried to make me talk like everyone else did.” I smiled at the memory. “She said, ‘Why would I? You’re already saying everything I need to hear.’”
“That’s the most ridiculous therapeutic approach I’ve ever heard,” Dr. Frost scoffed.
“It worked.”
“Security, please escort—” Victoria started.
“Wait.”
The voice was so small, so soft, that for a second I thought I imagined it.
But Richard’s face went white. His champagne glass slipped from his fingers and shattered on the marble floor.
Amelia stood up.
Every eye in the room locked on her. She took one step. Then another. She walked past the experts. Past the millionaires. Past her own father.
She stopped right in front of me.
“You see me,” Amelia whispered.
My throat closed up. “Yeah, sweetheart. I see you.”
“Everyone else sees broken.” Tears started rolling down her cheeks. “You see me.”
“That’s because you’re not broken. You never were.”
Amelia looked back at her father. Richard was frozen, his hand over his mouth, tears streaming down his face.
“Daddy?” Amelia’s voice got slightly stronger. “I’m sorry I stopped talking. I just… I didn’t know how to tell you it hurt.”