It was almost impossible for Tammy to keep her cool in the face of such bigotry, but somehow, she managed. ‘I’ve decided, Dr. Richards, that I’m not going to engage with this anymore.’
‘What do you mean?’ he asked, looking hopeful. ‘You’re no longer going to engage in paraphilic infantillism?’
Tammy scoffed. ‘Listen, buster. You can ask me questions — as many as you like. About my childhood. About whether you think my mother’s early death made me into a Little. About my father sedating me from the age of five. Or you can ask about my polyamorous relationship with identical twins. Heck, you can ask me about my stuffies, my pacifiers, whatever. But just know that I’m not going to reply. In fact, I plan on this sentence being the last thing I ever say to you.’
Then, she was quiet.
‘How interesting,’ Dr. Richards said, scribbling down a few notes frantically in his book. ‘What makes you put up these defenses all of a sudden?’
But, of course, Tammy didn’t reply. She just breathed.
‘How was the session with Dr. Richards?’ her father said in between bites of his dinner. Steak. He ate steak twice a week. Said it was good for the blood.
Tammy looked down at the gray slab of meat on her plate. Her stomach turned. ‘Not productive,’ she replied.
‘He told me that you mentioned your mother. He considered it to be something of a breakthrough.’
Tammy was shocked. ‘He discussed my session with you? Isn’t that a breach of patient-doctor confidentiality? Don’t you think that’s…unethical, father? The kind of thing you might get sued over?’
Tammy’s feelings of betrayal and sorrow still hadn’t faded. When Haze had explained the situation — that her father had threatened to sue him over the allegations of her having a relationship with her patients — it had broken her heart. Mainly because she knew that her father was willing to do that. It would destroy her career. And it would destroy Liberty, too.
The people of Liberty didn’t want to live under that kind of spotlight. All of the protections that Haze had struggled to get in place for them would be stripped away.
They’re better off without you. Just like everyone in the world is better off without you.
She didn’t want to think about the Healy twins. It was too painful. Too raw.
‘I’m your father,’ Vincent said. ‘Feel free to sue me if you think that’s the right thing to do.’
‘Did Dr. Richards mention that I only brought up Mom in the context of explaining exactly why I was never going to speak to him again?’
‘You know,’ her dad said, ignoring her question, ‘you remind me a lot of Eleanor.’
Tammy winced. Her mom had hated that name. She’d always told Tammy she liked to be called Ellie.
‘I’ve never told you this,’ he said, ‘but Eleanor’s childhood wasn’t happy. Did she ever talk to you about that?’
‘I don’t remember many of our conversations.’
He looked genuinely sad for a moment. ‘I’m sorry, Tamsin. You see, your grandfather was very… physical with your mom. When I met her, she was a terrified little thing. But I could see that she was wonderful, too.’ There was emotion in his voice. Was he actually capable of feeling sadness? ‘She always told me that I saved her life. I pulled her out of a horrendous home situation. But you know, at the time, it was almost against her will. She loved her father — like all girls do.’ He looked at her for a moment. ‘She didn’t want to leave him. But I whisked her away. And within a couple of days, she knew the truth: that he was an abusive monster.’
It was so hard to imagine her fathersavingsomeone. He seemed so selfish. But her mom must have loved him. He wasn’t an evil man, but hewasruining her life. How could she make him see that? How could she make him see that the kind of torture he was putting her through right now — making her question her identity, doubt her sanity — was just as harmful as physical abuse?
‘I’m confident that now you’re away from those degenerate brothers, soon, like your mother, you’ll realize that I only have your best interests at heart.’
Vincent stabbed his steak. Blood oozed from it and he licked his lips.
*
Shay Healy felt as though he was losing touch with reality.
Sure, in a sense, he was working as a kitchen porter at a horrendous fried chicken restaurant in downtown Austin. But that wasn’t where his head was at, not even close.
He felt like he was adrift. He’d expected his brothers to be angry after he’d brought Tammy’s dad to Liberty, but he never thought they’d just cut him off like this. Neither of his brothers had returned a single call or message for the two weeks he’d been away.
It was driving him crazy. For all he knew they could all be dead or sick or… anything. To not have any updates on them or Tammy was just the most painful thing.
He was living in a shared apartment with two other guys from the chicken place. It was a tiny place, reminiscent of the shithole he’d lived in with his brothers in New York. This was worse, though, because of the company.