Chapter 312 - Will the press bury him? (4)

19 April, Steven's apartment, City K

All that could be heard was Abigail sobbing, and then Steven heard "Call me later son."

Hearing the unsaid question of make sure that revealing what happened in the press was what Abigail wanted, Steven then noticed that the call had been ended. While having Abigail in his arms was a temptation, Steven pulled back and said "Abigail, come and sit down we have to talk."

Nodding Abigail headed over to the couch and sat down. Steven, moved and sat on the couch across from Abigail, who quietly said "Please sit by me."

While that, given the close quarters they had been in for almost a week was the last thing he wanted, upsetting her given that she was as fragile this morning as she had been last weekend. Steven moved over and sat down as far as he could away from Abigail on the couch as he could.

Looking at a teary-eyed Abigail, quietly Steven said "Abigail, are you sure that you are alright?"

Nodding, Abigail quietly responded "Steven, I have put up with what mother has done for years, because I had to. She told me if I told I would be abandoned by everyone. I was stupid enough that I believed her when I was younger and as I got older while I knew it was not true, I was too ashamed to say anything because I had let it go on. I always covered for her. But I never knew the name of the man on this occasion. He terrified me and waved a weapon in front of me before shooting it into the wall behind me. It just missed my head and he said next time I would not be so lucky. As I never knew who it was, I took the words to heart and kept quiet about that and all the abuse from thereon in. As you know I have been able to talk about things this last week but seeing the photo in the on-line news story frees me to tell the truth. Daddy was worried, as he kept a close eye on me for weeks."

Steven, processed this, and along with what Kevin had told him the dots were connected. Abigail would have been nine or ten, and apparently, she was lucky to have survived a fall down the stairs at home. Now it seems like it was not a fall but a deliberate warning. For everything, his mother had done to him, she never physically tried to shut him up.

Seeing the tears, Steven reached over and wiped them away before saying "What do you want to do?"

"I want mummy kept away from me, but I want the truth told. Mummy needs to pay for what she did to me, but I worry that doing that will hurt Lexi. She has been nice to me the few times I have met her away from social events."

Internally sighing, Steven paused. He needed to stop this dependency on him, because despite his attraction that had developed over the last week it would not be fair on Abigail to create a relationship drawn out of her pain. She needed a fresh start, with someone not as jaded about relationsh.i.p.s as him who was recovering from the harsh blow he still felt with Sally and Andrew's marriage.

Looking directly into Abigail's eyes Steven said, "Abigail, as I have repeatedly told you, given the friendship between our father's I have been willing to give you sanctuary to get everything in place to keep your mother away from you. But here is not your real life. Your family is your real life. Your sister wants to protect you, and your father has told you many times this week that he wants to do whatever he can for you. He is genuine in his apologise for his failure to protect you from her abuse and blindly believing what your mother had to say. Talk to him to give you the support in talking to the press if that is what you want to do. Knowing Lexi as I do, as long as you are truthful, she will not blame you."

"But I feel safe here. I do not want to leave," came the anguished cry from Abigail as she quickly moved and threw her arms around Steven's neck as she moved and settled himself firmly onto his lap.

As she moved around trying to get comfortable Steven could feel himself reacting, so as carefully as he could he moved Abigail to sit beside him. "Abigail, I am not looking to chase you away from here, but you have realised that I cannot permanently stay here with you. I have a job, and while I can take a week or so to help you, I do need to be in the office to do it long term. But that does not mean that you will not be abandoned. You know my dad wants to help you, and I will simply be a call away if you want to talk."

"But…"

Taking a deep breath, Steven firmly said "Abigail, staying here is simply hiding from real life. If you want to make your mother pay for her abuse of you, you must stand up in public and denounce her otherwise she will manipulate the press that you are an teenager angry at her mother. Do not let her do that, because it will diminish the pain that she has put you through. Plus, being willing to step out, you can expose what her lovers including Richard Yao have done to enable the abuse. In doing that you will not be alone, there are people who you can rely on and I believe it will surprise you…"

Abigail stood up and ran off into the room that she had spent the week in. As she slammed the door, Steven collapsed where he was sitting. Helping now was causing so much trouble.

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