“Like a fucking whore. A million-dollar whore!” The tears were starting to fall faster than I could stop them. I grabbed a tissue from the table next to the couch. “I was a part of his plan. He used the one thing that he knew would destroy me to his advantage.”

“Brendon?” Dr. Roberts asked as he held up his pen.

“Yes!”

“Simon, would you like to comment?”

“Gabrielle, I’m sorry. You’re right about using Brendon, but he was no good for you. My god, the sadness in your eyes when I first saw you on the plane was like nothing I’d ever seen before. You were trying so hard to get his approval and he dismissed you like you were nothing. For fuck’s sake, he stopped you from eating a chocolate bar. He wouldn’t have sex with you and, when he did, the lights had to be turned off. He was constantly putting you down and comparing you to other women. You didn’t deserve that. I wanted to save you right then and there on the plane. I wanted to grab you and take you away from him. When you turned around and looked at me as I helped you with your bag, I was hooked, and you had been on my mind ever since. I would lie in bed at night and wonder if he was mistreating you. It burned me to my very core knowing that you were with someone like him. I knew your life would be better if you came to Seattle and worked for me. I knew you’d be safe. I needed to get you away from him. I guess I was falling in love with you already. Brendon gave you up without a fight. Why can’t you see that?”

“He’s always been a piece of shit! It doesn’t surprise me, Simon. Why couldn’t you have just come to New York and try to be friends with me? Arranged a coincidental meeting?”

“Would you have met with me somewhere?” he asked.

“Yes, because I had thought about you every single day since that flight. I never forgot you,” I cried.

Simon lowered his head. “I’m so sorry.”

“Look at me,” I commanded. “The only thing I ever wanted in my whole entire life was to be loved by someone. Was that so much to ask for? Isn’t everyone loved by someone in their lifetime? My need to be loved drove me to cut. The emotional pain of being a complete nobody took over my life. Then Brendon came along and I still cut because I knew deep down he didn’t love me, but I kept telling myself over and over that he did.”

Simon stared at me with tears in his eyes. “Have you cut because of me?”

“No.”

“Thank God.” He sighed.

“Don’t think I haven’t thought about it, because I have.”