Unstoppable: Truth is Unstoppable (Truth and Love Series) Read Online Free PDF

blooms in my chest. The petals are spikes and the stem is lightning.
    A garden bursts in my body–chain daisies and barbed-wire posies and jagged-rock mums and dirt and muddy weeds.
     
    The pain has turned my body into something foreign
    a sarcophagus I must shred my way out of.
    My body is not my own anymore.
    My world is not my own anymore.

 
     
    DEREK
     
    He hangs up the phone. The dialing sound, the ringing tone, the conversations have stopped. Finally.
    “Victoria is still asleep,” I say. William nods. I nod too. I shift in my seat and clear my throat. “You know, I know you said last night you wanted her to stay here, but, uh, are you sure you don't want to reconsider? I mean, it's just...I think it might be hard for her when she wakes up. I think the memories of this place will outweigh any benefit that being in familiar surroundings might give her. We technically don’t close on the apartment for a bit longer, but she can stay with me at my parents’ house. I know they won’t mind.”
    “And will moving her make her stop crying?”
    “Uh…no. I guess not.”
    “Will it make her not grieve?”
    “No. But—”
    “Will she get better more quickly?”
    “Not right awa—”
    “Then she’s not going anywhere.”
    I sigh. “I’m just trying to help.”
    “Yes, and removing her from this house wouldn’t be helping. She needs supervision now. Not coddling.”
    “Supervision? If you’re suggesting that she’d hurt herself, I would never let her do that.”
    William stares at me. Just. Stares. Finally, he says, “Do you know what happened when Victoria’s fish died a few years ago?”
    Thrown by the question, I stare at him while my brain churns and searches for fish memories. Finally, I find it.
    “Yeah, she felt terrible,” I say. “The tank fell over while she was at school and—”
    “Is that what she told you? And you believed it?” William scoffs. “Tell me, Derek, how do you think a twenty-pound aquarium just fell over? Ghosts? Gremlins? A minor earthquake that only hit the southeast corner of the house?”
    “She told me the cleaning lady bumped it.”
    William gives me a look and I swear, I want to lean over and punch him.
    “The tank didn’t break,” William says. “And the fish just died. It was a fish , for God’s sake. And Victoria…she stayed in bed for two days afterward. She didn’t shower and she didn’t eat. Then, when she finally dragged herself out of her room, she went to the library, picked up the tank, and threw it down the stairs.”
    I swallow uncomfortably, and for some reason, my face starts to burn.
    William says, “This is what she does. She gets upset, throws herself a nice big pity-party, then lashes out, heaven help anyone in her way. Whether it’s a goldfish or her father. It’s textbook. She's like a two-year-old in a temper tantrum.”
    Flabbergasted, I can't even summon words. How do I reply to that?
    William must notice that my mouth is moving but words don't come out. I probably look like Victoria's fish right before it died. He says, “Indulging her makes it worse. It’s nothing but a waste of time and energy and if you were smart, you wouldn’t waste either. Crying over something won’t change it. At the end of the day, the only thing you can do is adapt. Victoria needs to learn that lesson. And apparently, so do you.” He adds, “Consider this both your wake up calls.”
    Oh yeah. I have definitely never wanted to punch William more. In my mind, I can actually see myself lunging across the desk and wrapping my hands around his throat. 
    “She lost her father,” I say. “And if she wants to scream and throw things, or just stay in bed for weeks, then she can do that. I’m not indulging her. I’m letting her grieve. People mourn differently. But being this upset is normal. You’d have to be a psychopath if you weren’t.”
    William goes totally still. His brown eyes, which to me, were always a bit hard, are practically