Chapter 260: Hannah

She knew the moment that he'd figured out who'd raped her. He'd been slowly stroking her arm and hair, trying to suppress the anger she could feel roiling below the surface, and then he went stiff as a board.

"Richard Schmidt raped you?" he whispered, and she could feel him against her back, shaking from the shock of it all. "But, but," he sputtered, "he's two years younger than me. He woulda only been what, 15, 16 years old at the time?"

This.

This was why she hadn't ever told anyone what had happened. Blaming a 15-year-old boy – "I'll be 16 next month," he'd boasted to her as he'd dropped his pants – of raping her...

It was ludicrous.

Then add into the equation that he was the beloved and coddled son of the judge in town who believed he could do no wrong...

It would've been suicide for her to tell anyone.

But it was especially stupid of her to tell Elijah. He'd liked her and look at what she'd gone and done. Just like she'd expected, he didn't believe her.