55. Matteo
Matteo
PAUL PI
I’ve got intel on what you asked for, but I highly suggest contacting the local authorities. I’ve taken one glance and won’t go any further. I don’t want to do anything to corrupt the files in case they take him to court.
Arms wrap around me, pulling me off Marcus Ellington. “Let me fucking kill him! Let me go! I want to fucking kill him!” I scream.
Her father.
It was her dad all along.
The man I worship.
The man Caleb and I idolize.
I’m going to be sick again.
Whoever is dragging me away from Marcus has no warning before I’m turning to the side and spewing the contents of my stomach once more, the tears streaming down my face mixing with the vomit.
It was her dad all along.
The one man who was meant to protect her above all else.
I’m a wild caged animal that’s been released, a predator locking on to its prey, and nothing can snap me from the red haze clouding my vision. The blood pouring down Marcus’s face isn’t enough to soothe the pain. Nothing is.
I want him fucking dead for what he did.
“Dude, what the fuck?” Caleb barks in my ear.
I don’t have time for him, don’t have time for anyone but Evie in this moment.
Flinging Caleb off me, my lip curls back in a sneer as he moves to restrain me again. “Don’t fucking stop me!”
Caleb raises his hands in the air, eyes wide with shock and something close to terror at seeing my anger completely unleashed. My hands shake at my sides as I look around, my eyes rolling as I spot Serena kneeling by Marcus. I keep going though, trying to find—there she is.
Relief comes through when I spot her, albeit only a fraction.
Because she’s standing with her arms wrapped around herself, hyperventilating.
I don’t think she’s even noticed herself that she is. She’s far gone, pupils blown as she remains fixated on Marcus, and I know it’s paining her to do so but it’s as if she can’t rip her gaze away, as if she’s afraid of what he will do once she does.
As the tears pour down her cheeks, a thousand thoughts float through my mind, yet one sticks and repeats until it has me striding back to Marcus and ignoring Caleb as he tries to calm me down.
I stand over him and Serena, spitting at her, “How could you fucking choose him over her?”
She lifts her head to mine, revealing her wobbling lip and glassy eyes.
The movement has my resolve snapping. “How?” I roar again at the woman who saved me growing up.
Caleb grabs me by my forearm. “Hey! You’re out of fucking line, Valenti.”
Shoving his chest with all my might, I point my finger in his face. “You have no idea what you’re fucking talking about.”
Caleb is in my face in a second. “Because no one will fucking tell me!”
“It’s nonsense, Caleb. Nothing but rumors.”
Serena’s words turn my body to stone. Turning to her slowly, the look I send her way has her paling. “Rumors?” I say, deathly quiet.
A whimper from behind me, from my precious girlfriend, has my heart splintering for her, at the pain I know that one sentence from her mother caused.
Scratch mother.
She is no mother.
Bending down, I get right in her face, keeping my voice so calm yet full of venom. “Your husband raped your daughter for over ten years and I am going to make both your lives a living fucking hell for what you both put her through.”
“I did no such thing—”
“One more word out of your mouth and I’ll happily sit in a jail cell for thirty years if I can look back at the memory of smashing your fucking head in.”
I’ve never screamed like I’m screaming now, have never lost my mind like I have now. But nothing could calm my temper in this moment.
My thoughts are running rampant as I straighten, my disgust evident as I stare down at Serena and Marcus on the ground. There isn’t enough fucking blood pouring from him. But I try to take a steadying breath anyway before going over to Evie to soothe her.
Until one word—one broken, whispered word—cuts through the mayhem.
“What?”
Turning, my eyes drift to Caleb, his face perplexed, eyes wide and incredulous, his complexion slowly turning green.
Serena helps Marcus up as Caleb stutters out, “He…no. No. He wouldn’t. That would be—” His head snaps to his father as he barks out a humorless laugh. “That’s preposterous. You wouldn’t touch my sister. You wouldn’t touch your daughter like that. That’s sick. Dad, you didn’t…”
He looks back to Evie, at her lower lip trembling, at the way that even when I approach she flinches, and that one little move is all it takes for the truth of the matter to click into place.
“Evie?” he whispers.
Every emotion Caleb is pummeled with is written stark across his face.
Disbelief.
Astonishment.
Anger.
Then finally, disgust.
Without warning Caleb empties the contents of his stomach by our feet.
Evie’s tears turn into sobs and I can’t hold myself back even if I tried. But blessedly, as I wrap an arm around her, Evie doesn’t flinch. Instead, she sinks into my warmth, clinging to my shirt like a raft in the middle of the ocean.
“Your sister is confused,” Serena cuts in.
Ignoring everyone but the two people who mean the world to me, I keep my arm around Evie and usher her toward Caleb. “Come on, Dove, don’t listen to a word she says.”
“She’s lying. She just wants attention because your life is doing so well and hers has fallen to shit.”
The words from Marcus make both Evie and I stop in our tracks. And Caleb—despite the shocking revelation, despite how jarred he is, he takes one look at his broken sister who begins to gag and needs no further proof.
Within the blink of an eye, rage consumes him.
“I’m going to fucking kill you,” he seethes, already moving. “How fucking could you?!”
He’s screaming with such agony my heart rips open, a pained sob breaking free from my chest as I watch the two people who mean the world to me shatter. Evie cries, too, as Caleb throws everything he has into punching his father.
“You disgusting pedophile!” Caleb roars but his voice cracks halfway before turning into a wail.
“Stop it, Caleb, you’re going to kill him!” Serena begs.
“Good! He fucking deserves to die!”
The sound of sirens wailing out along the main street is what snaps me out of my frozen stupor. Hating myself for it, I let go of Evie and run after Caleb.
Ripping him off Marcus is the hardest thing I have ever had to do.
Caleb, like me before, tries to keep going, tries with all his might to throw me off, but I’ve always been slightly bigger.
Despite dragging him away, Caleb’s fists keep swinging and his legs keep kicking as he wails in pain, screaming obscenities at his father.
I can’t even understand what he’s saying but I can’t let him go to jail.
Kieran appears out of nowhere, a wild look in his eyes as he helps me pull Caleb away. Serena stays with Marcus, crying as she tries to soothe her abusive husband.
Three police officers round the corner and it’s only then that Caleb sags in my arms. Utter devastation wracks his body and he begins to sob in earnest.
Lifting my head to Kieran, no words are needed. He flicks his chin behind me and says, “Go, I’ve got him. I’ll meet you back at your apartment. Take care of Evie.”
Not needing any more convincing, I turn to find the love of my life a shell of who she is.
I didn’t even hear them arrive but Bella, Layla, and Cindy are gathered around her, along with three other people I don’t know.
Evie doesn’t say a word, just stands motionless, her eyes on her parents and the officers.
Every now and then, her mother points at her daughter with a shaky finger.
No fucking way in hell am I letting Serena put this on Evie.
I don’t care if they track us down. I fucking hope they do. They can come to my door and I’ll tell them.
Because there is no more covering this up.
The genie is out of the bottle, and nothing will ever be the same again.
Nothing ever should be.
Evie was right about that. Once it came out, everyone’s lives would change.
Moving for my girl, she falls in my arms, and without another word, I lead her toward the parking lot. We should stay and speak with the officers but quite frankly, Evie has seen enough, and all I care about is getting her to safety and away from that despicable monster.
I hope with every shred of my heart and soul that I can help her come back from this, that I can help her come back to herself. But I don’t know if I can.
Buckling Evie into the car, I see Kieran try and wrangle an incoherent, sobbing Caleb into his car down at the other end of the parking lot, Grayson hot on his heels carrying Evie’s purse.
Shutting my car door, I walk to the back where Evie can’t see me, bend over, and vomit for the third time tonight.
Her father.
No matter how many times those two words flash through my mind, it still doesn’t help my mind comprehend the utter betrayal.
The terror that clutches me, though…that’s all for Evie. Now I understand why she hasn’t been herself and why she feared she never would be again.
How do you recover from something like this?
How do you move on?
How do you look back on your childhood and still see any goodness in it?
How can we ever repair what can’t be fixed?