I don’t feel like enough.
Without looking back, I climb into my car and drive out of Axel’s Bodyshop.
Chapter74
Axel
My fist tightensaround the phone. “Not that this is any of your goddamn business, but I’m not gonna throw everything away for some piece of ass.”
I can hear her huff, “You’ve nearly done it before.”
This bitch.
“I’m 52. Not some fucking 30-year-old idiot.”
“And she’s closer to the age of your son than to you!” Aunt Janet snarks.
“You think I don’t know that?”
“Sounds like someone has daddy issues.”
“Daddy issues?” I let out an acidic laugh. “You have no idea what you’re even talking about.”
“No? This seems like another one of your mistakes.”
“I won’t be repeating past mistakes.”
I shake my head. “I’m ending this before it goes further.” My eyes slide shut, thinking of what Maddie must have gone through. “I should’ve known you were behind this. I want you to apologize to her.”
“What?!” Aunt Janet shrieks.
“You heard me. I want you to apologize – with a letter that you’ll mail to my shop, so she doesn’t have to see your face or hear your voice – and then I don’t want you to ever say another word to her again.”
“You can’t-”
“I can and I fucking am,” I snap. “You hurt her. And if I had to pick one of you to never see again for the rest my life, I wouldn’t need even a full second to decide.”
I end the call.
There’s so much more I want to say. So many names I want to call her. But I know that no amount of shouting or reason will get through to her cold dead heart.
My mother’s sister has always been an awful bitch. Full of spite and anger and the only joy she finds in life is causing other people pain.
“Fuck!” I shout at the window in front of me.
It all makes so much sense now.
Maddie’s red-rimmed eyes. Her silence. The way she turned away from me, kept me at a distance.
She was struggling.
And she didn’t lean on me.
My molars grind as I flex my jaw.
We’re gonna need to have a chat, she and I. There’s no secrets. Not between us.
How long would Maddie have gone without telling me?