Page 59 of The Retaliation You Deliver

“I-it’s n-not your f-fault, Lee. I’m the one who should b-be s-sorry. I’m your mom and I didn’t know,” she sobs, making me hold her tighter.

Fucking Luca.

“I didn’t want you to know. It’s not your fault.”

“But I should have known. I should have seen it, sensed it. I failed you.”

“No, Mom. No. You didn’t. The only person who failed me was Dad.”

She pulls her head from my chest, my heart constricting at the sight of the tears streaming down her cheeks.

“H-he knew?”

I nod, not that she needs me to confirm it. She knows.

“Fucking asshole. How could he? How could he do that to you?” she seethes.

“It’s okay, Mom.”

“No,” she snaps, ripping herself from my arms. “No it’s not, Lee. He let you go there knowing that you were being… being hurt. I’ll kill him. I’ll fucking kill him for hurting my baby.” Her body vibrates with anger as she stands in the middle of the room looking like her world is crumbling around her. “I hate him,” she sobs, her voice broken and utterly defeated. “I hate him so much.”

“Mom,” I say softly, taking a step toward her.

She stares at my chest for a moment before her eyes roll up to meet mine.

“I’m so sorry,” she sobs, throwing herself at me, breaking down in my arms.

My own eyes burn with emotion as I move us backward and sit down on the edge of my bed.

“Everything is going to be okay, Mom,” I say softly. Even though everything feels anything but fine right now, I know that I need to do whatever I can to make it that way. Mom, Luca, Shane, Macie, Libby, we’ve all been through too much to have to keep dealing with this shit.

It’s time to finally put an end to the asshole who’s controlled our lives for so long.

I think about Reid’s words from earlier. He’s right.

Torturing Brett has been fun, freeing in a way. But I can’t keep it up.

Every time I go there, every time I look into his traitorous eyes a little more of his poison trickles through my veins.

“Do you know where he is?” Mom asks.

“B-Brett?” I ask, wondering briefly if she means Richard.

“Yeah.”

I shake my head, hating that our mom was subjected to his bullshit for so long.

I know she’s as suspicious as Luca after what went down with Peyton and Libby but I refuse to put this weight on her shoulders as well.

“I don’t.”

She pulls away from me.

“Leon Dunn, if you are lying to me I’ll—”

“Mom,” I breathe.

“S-sorry. I just don’t want you to end up in trouble because of him. He doesn’t deserve any of your time or attention. He needs to rot in hell for all the shit he’s pulled, all the pain he’s caused.”