“Yeah, it was bound to come out,” Amanda told Mom bitterly. “Our little secret, you said. Bribing me with fucking clothes and handbags and makeup. I thought it was worth it, for a second of your attention. How wrong was I, Mom? You never loved me, despite everything I did. All I was to you was a meal ticket. A fucking way to get even more money out of the men you made me sleep with. I was the fucking in-town entertainment and you didn’t give a shit. You wanted them to use me. You got a hefty check in the end and I got a nice bag and all was well, wasn’t it?”
“You should be grateful,” Mom snarled at her.
“You need to get out,” Levi told her firmly, snapping out of it as Mom tried to make a grab for Amanda. “You need to fucking leave, right the hell now, before I call the cops.”
“She’s my daughter!” Mom snarled, and Amanda stepped up, looking her right in the eyes with so much hatred my heart swelled with pain.
“But you aren’t my mom,” she said simply, then walked away from the living room.
Mom started shouting after her, obscenities flying out of her mouth, screaming and insulting her.
But Levi dealt with it quickly. He forced her outside, locked the door firmly and called the front desk, making sure they got rid of her that instant.
And then it was just us, the heaviness of the conversation thick in the air, my eyes filling with tears as Levi glanced at me.
“Did you know?” I asked him shakily, and he shook his head.
I knew he was telling the truth, from the way he stood, looking so fucking defeated.
“We need to help her,” I whispered. “We need to help Amanda.”
He reached for my hand and I took it.19LeviMy head and my heart both fucking hurt.
So now the truth had finally come out. We knew what Barbara had been doing all those years, what Amanda had been so desperate to hide.
Kendall and I walked into the guest bedroom hand in hand, finding her sister in a corner, her knees pulled up and tears flowing down her pretty face.
God, I felt fucking guilty. For everything I’d done to her that day, for judging her like that, for making her pay for the actions of her mother. I’d never hated myself more, and I could only hope that with time, Amanda would learn to forgive me somehow. Whether I’d ever be able to fully forgive myself, I wasn’t sure yet. I’d painted this picture of Mandy in my head – a sweet but promiscuous young girl. I’d never known it was a fate her mother had pushed her towards, and I blamed myself for not noticing the warning signs sooner.
“Mandy,” Kendall said gently, her hand leaving mine as she kneeled down on the floor next to her sister. “I’m so sorry. I never knew… I swear, I had no idea.”
“It’s okay,” Amanda said dismissively, offering her a brave smile and sniffling as she looked up at us. “I promise, I’m okay. I’m just glad I finally got away from this whole mess. That things are finally going to be okay now.”
“They are,” I said. “They’re going to be perfect, girls, I promise.”
“What’s going to happen to us?” Kendall asked in a shaky voice, and I sighed, sitting down on the guest bed and burying my face in my hands.
“You’re both eighteen,” I told them simply. “So, you’re free to stay wherever you want. Your mother wields no power over you anymore. You can do whatever the fuck you want, and I want you both to know I want you to stay with me. I know… I know I haven’t been perfect. Fuck, don’t I know it. I should have noticed the warning signs before. But I want to help now. And you both know I love you.”
I glanced at Kendall, the unspoken words from before heavy on my tongue, and she smiled at me shyly.
“I want to stay,” she said gently. “I want to stay with you. But I’m going to do whatever Amanda wants.”
She turned her questioning eyes to her sister, and I watched a silent conversation go on between them as they looked at one another.
“I want to stay too,” Amanda finally said, and my shoulders sagged with relief.
Thank fuck she’d said that, because otherwise I would’ve had to insist. They had no money, no nothing, and I had everything to offer them. And I was going to take care of my girls, whatever it took. I was going to make sure they were both okay and well taken care of. I would never be able to forgive myself if I let them slip through my fingers now.
“Okay,” I said gently. “You can stay as long as you want to. If it were up to me, I’d keep you forever. But I want you both to know I’ll never force you to be here. Whatever happens, you can always walk away from this, and I’ll help you in any way I can. Both of you.”