Confusion flickers through my body. The letter we forced Jason to write certainly did not admit feelings for Haley. It was a suicide note of admission. How does someone misinterpret a pedophile admitting guilt to mean he was in love with a child and leaving his wife to be with her?
Fucked up. All of them.
″Is this a joke?” Haley laughs in disbelief. “What did the note say?”
″It said he had feelings for you and felt horrible for all the pain he caused you and your mother.”
“He had feelings for a woman he last saw as a child?” I chime in. “A child that accused him of rape?”
″Falsely accused. You admitted you were lying, Haley.”
″Because no one would fucking believe me!” She stumbles back, clutching her side as she grimaces.
″You okay, love?” I murmur against her face as I grab her.
″No,” she whispers. “I need to lay down. I don’t feel great.”
″Okay, let’s go.” I turn to her family. “Stay here, I’ll be right back.”
I help Haley down the hall, putting her in the room she’s been sleeping in. Once I’ve got her under the covers, I press a kiss to her forehead and head back to the kitchen.
″How long have you been seeing Haley?” Charlie asks, as I bring the kettle to the island and offer them mugs.
I shrug. “A bit.” How long has it been since she first kissed me? Only a month. But how long has it been since my heart claimed her as mine? Since I first laid eyes on her broken soul.
″She was always a troubled girl. She hasn’t mentioned if her stepfather came here?”
″What?” I snort. “You’re kidding right?”
″I’m not. Her mother—my ex-wife—is worried. I’m just trying to check everywhere. We’ve reported him missing and there’s been a statewide manhunt, but I just wanted to cover all our bases.”
″You wanted to cover all your bases?” I chuckle harder, scratching at my eyebrow. “You thought it would be a good idea to visit a daughter you abandoned and ask her if she’s seen the man who molested her as a child?”
″He didn’t—”
My fist slams onto the island before he can finish his sentence. My jaw ticks, eyes burning as I glare at him. “You stupid mother fucker. You let your daughter become homeless. You broke her trust in you. You failed her.”
″Failed her?” He shouts. “I did everything to give her a good life! She was so troubled after the car accident, so hard to control. Always lying, stealing, creating issues with my family. And then when she claimed her stepfather raped her? Well, how much could I take? My wife was going postal. My stepdaughter couldn’t share a room with Haley. What was I supposed to do?”
″You were supposed to be her father. You were supposed to protect her.”
″So you believe her, then?”
″The fucker wrote a note about it before he disappeared. Tell me, did you truly read it? Or are you taking the pill head ex-wife’s word for what it said?”
″Well, no, I—” he shakes his head. “I didn’t read it.”
″He raped her, Charles. And you didn’t protect her.”
He stumbles back, clutching his hand over his heart, eyes wide as the truth settles in. It’s as if I’ve just stabbed him. If only I could have.
Digging the metaphorical knife even further into his chest, because that’s what I like to do—cut people until they bleed their pain until they break and admit their transgressions—I continue to describe what the bastard’s done.
″Do you know how it started?” I step around the island so we’re face to face. “How he made her feel loved? How he took the grief of her lost sister and grew it into the need to be with him? Touched her until she felt like she wanted it?”
Charles pales, leaning forward as he clutched his mouth. He’s going to be sick, as he should be.
″So, no. We haven’t seen that piece of shit. He hasn’t come to Boston. But I promise you that if I find him in my city, I will fucking slice him until he’s begging me to stop, just as she begged him. I will do what you should have done when she told you what was happening.”