Page 57 of The Retaliation You Deliver

A knock at the door halts our conversation and I walk across the space to get the coffee I ordered.

Placing it on the coffee table, I fall down on the couch only for Letty to copy my move only two seconds later.

“What do you want, Leon? What do you really want?”

“I want it all to go away. The memories, the nightmares, the pain.”

“And you think hurting her will do that?”

I shrug because I have no fucking clue what it will take to achieve the peace I need.

“I think you know exactly what you want, you’re just too chickenshit to admit it. I should have taken Kane up on his offer of coming here with me to knock some sense into you,” she mutters, stealing my coffee seeing as I didn’t offer her one and taking a sip. “This needs some sugar. You need sweetening up.”

I watch her as she drinks half the mug before finally passing it over. “Thanks,” I mutter, rolling my eyes at her.

“So what happens now?”

“Continue with my bullshit life?”

“What about him? You know where he is now, you can’t tell me that you’re just going to ignore that.”

“I’m not telling you anything.”

“And Brett? We know you know where he is.”

“He’s gone.”

“Good. He should have fucked off years ago. But that’s not the point.”

“What is the point exactly, Letty?”

“The point is that if you fuck this up, you’re going to end up allowing them all to ruin your life as you rot away in prison for all this. Don’t think I haven’tt worked out why you’re suddenly friends with the Harrises, Lee. It’s not a fucking coincidence.”

“What if it is?”

“I’m not fucking stupid so don’t treat me like it.” She pushes to stand, running her fingers through her hair and letting out a long sigh. It’s the first time I notice just how exhausted she looks.

“We’re all here, Leon. We all want to help. All you’ve got to do is let us in.”

“And if you don’t like what you see?”

“Goddammit. We love you, Lee. Some fucked up event from your past doesn’t change that. It doesn’t change who you are. We love you for the slightly broken, dark parts of your soul. Your past makes you you. But if you want a future, you need to embrace it, accept it for what it was and find a way to move forward.”

“You’ve got an amazing girl out there who needs to heal just as badly. You can put your own pain aside for a bit and help her too, come out of it together, or you can both drown together. But let me tell you now, that both of you are too fucking awesome to drown.

“But that’s your decision to make.

“Are you going to fight, or are you going to give up and let all of this consume you until there’s nothing left?”

With that said, she turns her back on me and storms out of the suite, leaving nothing but her words hanging in the air.

“Goddammit,” I boom, throwing the mug and what’s left inside at the wall, watching as it shatters, much like my life.

She’s only been gone a few minutes when my cell starts ringing. Pulling it from my pocket, I groan at the name staring back at me.

Swiping the screen, I put it to my ear.

“What the hell did you do to my brother?” Reid barks.