Page 153 of Ravage God

Somehow, I didn’t think that would yield anything. I just nodded. It was something, at least.

“What happened?” I asked.

Elio tightened his hand around mine marginally. “You were shot, near your abdomen. But it was a clean shot. The bullet went through the other side. We managed to capture a lot of the Devil’s Wings members at that house, and we’re hunting the rest. We’re not going to stop until every last one of them is hunted down.”

I nodded because what could I say to that?

“Joseph escaped along with Walter Thompson,” Valentino said.

Joseph?

When did he start referring to Dad by his name?

I looked at him strangely, and a haunted look entered his eyes. I had never seen my brother look like that.

“Tino? Are you okay?”

He grabbed my other hand and looked at it, swallowing hard. I turned to Elio for help, but he had the same haunted look in his eyes as well.

“Sweetheart, why didn’t you tell me?” Valentino asked.

“Tell you what?” I whispered.

“Why didn’t you tell me that fucker was hurting you?”

My eyes widened. “How do you know…”

He shook his head. “That’s not important. What’s important is why you didn’t think you could turn to me. I wouldn’t have let you live even another day in that fucking house.”

“It's not that,” I said, my heart breaking for him and Elio. I knew it was probably easy to tell.

Tears welled in my eyes. “It wasn’t always bad.”

“Don’t make excuses for that fucker,” Valentino said.

“I’m not.” And I wasn’t. “It really wasn’t always bad. The worst times happened when he was drunk. And by morning, he acted as if everything was normal. I was convinced at one point that maybe he just didn’t remember. That he didn’t mean it. And then it escalated.”

I looked down at the bed sheet in front of me. My vision blurred. I didn’t want to talk about this, but I knew I had to.

“But it didn’t happen all that frequently.”

“Once is fucking enough,” Valentino began. Elio stopped him with a look.

“I was… I was ashamed.” My voice cracked at the end.

“Oh, baby. You know it's not your fault.”

I nodded. A huge part of me knew that. But there was a small, incessant part that made me doubtful.

“I didn’t know how to ask for help, and it became harder as more time passed. And that’s on me, so please don’t blame yourself, either of you,” I said, looking from Elio to Valentino.

I knew they were going to take on the blame for what happened to me. Tears fell down my face, and Elio wiped them away with his hand.

It only made me cry harder. And then it seemed like everything was hitting me all at once.

The floodgates opened, and I didn’t know how to stop them.

A loud sob escaped my throat, surprising all of us.