The night is heavy with silence, except for the rhythmic hum of the engine.
Even Trixie, small as she is, senses the weight in the air. She clutches her stuffed bear tightly, staring out the window, her little brows furrowed.
Ricky grips the steering wheel, his knuckles white.
He should say something, anything, but for once, words fail him. He knows he did the right thing by getting Adele away from that monster. But he also knows she's angry. Even in her silence, he can feel it.
_
He has nowhere to take them, but that doesn't matter. He has money. A hotel. A safe place. Something, anything, until he figures out the next step.
But Adele changes all his plans when she finally speaks. Her voice is hoarse, thick with the remains of her tears.
"Stop the car."
Ricky tenses. "Adele..."
"I said stop the car!" she snaps, her voice sharp, final.
Ricky exhales hard and pulls over. The car jerks to a stop on the side of the empty road.
Without hesitation, Adele unbuckles her seatbelt, scoops Trixie into her arms, and gets out.
Ricky watches, disbelief twisting inside him. "Where are you going? It's the middle of the night!"
"Go home, Ricky," she says, walking away without looking back. "Your parents must be worried about you."
The words sting. He gets out and follows, grabbing her wrist. He has lost it too.
"Why are you like this?!" he yells. "You wanna go back to him?"
Adele rips her arm from his grip, spinning to face him. "It's none of your business! I told you to go home. Stop meddling in my life! What I do doesn't concern you even a bit! You have done nothing but ruin my life ever since we met! So leave me alone Ricky, this is the last time am warning you!" She snaps.
"Meddling?" Ricky's voice rises, raw with frustration. "Adele, do you even hear yourself? What do you think he was going to do to you when he got back inside in that house!? He was drunk! And it's not the first time! You know what he does when he's like that!"
Adele flinches, her eyes flickering with something, pain, maybe fear, but she sets her jaw, refusing to answer.
"I helped you," Ricky continues, his chest heaving. "And all you can see is that I ruined your life? You wanna know who's ruining your life? You are! You and that worthless excuse of a man!"
"Stop," Adele whispers, but Ricky doesn't. He can't.
His voice cracks. "And you're not the only one suffering, Adele. Trixie is! She's just a kid! She doesn't deserve to grow up in that hellhole! It's going to affect her, growing up!"
Adele's lips tremble. "Don't..."
"She's terrified of her own father, Adele!" Ricky presses on. His throat feels tight, his vision blurry. He wipes at his eyes angrily, hating how much this hurts. "And you... you're letting it happen!"
Trixie stirs in Adele's arms, burying her face into her mother's neck, she cries holding on tighter.
Adele turns away. She doesn't say anything.
"Help me understand," Ricky pleads. "Tell me why you're so desperate to hold onto a man who doesn't deserve your love. Who hurts you. Who hurts daughter."
"What are you trying to do!?" Ricky demands. "Wait? Hope? Endure? Until he becomes a good husband? You are waiting for nothing but for him to break you until there's nothing left!"
Tears spill down Adele's cheeks.
Ricky steps closer, his voice softening. "Adele, am begging you. Please make the right choice. Right now. If you go back to him..." He swallows hard. "You won't just ruin yourself. You'll ruin Trixie too."
Adele closes her eyes.
"I can help you," Ricky says, desperate. "I can help you build a life without him. A safe life. A good life." He exhales sharply, running a hand through his hair. "I really care bout you. I really love you."
Adele's breath catches.
"This isn't just some boyish crush," Ricky continues, his voice steady despite the storm inside him. "This isn't love with strings attached. I love you, Adele. And I love Trixie. And it kills me to see you suffering like this."
"Adele, please," Ricky says, his voice barely above a whisper now. "Choose yourself. Choose her."
For a long, aching moment, Adele just stands there. Torn. The night stretches between them, heavy with everything unsaid.
Then, slowly, she lifts her gaze to Ricky.
By now, Adele can tell that Ricky truly loves her. It's in the way he looks at her, in the desperation in his voice, in the way he fights for her when she no longer has the strength to fight for herself.
But love alone isn't enough.
It never has been.
She looks at Ricky, and the earlier occurrence comes rushing back like a wound torn open.
Her boss's cold, accusing eyes.
The whispered rumors that spread through the office like wildfire.
The humiliation of being escorted out, her dignity stripped away.
She remembers the warning from Ricky's father, the sharp bite of his words.
"You forced yourself on my young son."
"You're a woman with a child, and you're trying to manipulate him."
"Stay away from Ricky. I won't allow you to ruin his future."
"Am so disappointed in you!"
Adele lost her job because of those accusations. She lost everything. And Ricky still doesn't know.
How could she tell him? How could she stand here, after everything, and accept the love of the one person she's been told to stay away from? He is way younger than her too and she would never accept it herself.
She glances down at Trixie, her daughter's small fingers wrapped around her own, clutching tightly, as if sensing the storm inside her.
Trixie deserves stability, safety, not more scandals, not more suffering.
She swallows hard, forcing down the lump in her throat, before finally meeting Ricky's gaze again.
"Ricky," she starts, her voice hoarse, "I can't deny you have been good to us, and I'm sorry because I cannot give you what you want."
Ricky stiffens, his heart drumming at yet another rejection from the woman he is madly in love with.
"You have a great life ahead of you. You should stop messing it up with my mess. And... I can never be thankful enough for opening my eyes... because I'll never look back to that man ever again, I promise you that."
Pain flickers across Ricky's face, but Adele pushes through it, knowing she has to do this, knowing she can't let him fight a battle that isn't his.
"Please," she whispers, her voice trembling, "go live your life. I'll find my own way."
Ricky's hands clench into fists at his sides, his body rigid as though he's barely holding himself together.
His chest rises and falls heavily, his breaths uneven. For the first time, he doesn't have a response. No clever comeback. No fiery argument.
He just stares at her.
And then, without waiting for an answer, Adele turns away.
She grips Trixie's hand and walks toward the dimly lit street, her heart pounding against her ribs, her stomach twisting with each step.
Trixie looks up at her, confused. "Mommy, where are we going?"
Adele doesn't answer. She can't.
She feels Ricky's presence behind her, unmoving, watching her walk away.
The weight of his silence is unbearable.
Her vision blurs with unshed tears, but she doesn't stop.
She can't stop.
Because if she does, if she turns around, if she sees the heartbreak on Ricky's face, she might not have the strength to leave.
Ricky stands frozen, his heart hammering.
Tears burn in his eyes, but he doesn't wipe them away.
He knows Adele won't listen to him right now. He knows she's drowning in all the fears she won't say out loud.
But at least, at least she promised never to go back to that man.
And that is enough.
For now.
Ricky exhales sharply, raking a hand through his hair. His mind is a mess, his emotions a wreck, but one thing is clear
, he's not giving up on her.
He promises himself that he will talk to her tomorrow when she goes to work. When she has calmed down.
But what he doesn't know is that his father already took that chance away.
Adele has no job to return to.
And right now, she's walking into the unknown, with nothing but her daughter's tiny hand in hers, hoping she has the strength to survive one more day.