Page 89 of The Retaliation You Deliver

“Oh no, she never did any of that. Probably one of the only girls in there with some integrity. But she needed money to pay her mom and Kayden’s medical bills. And it’s the best paying place in town. It’s also owned by m—”

“By your dad,” she finishes for me, clearly guessing where this is going. “Did Peyton know?”

“No, but he did. Of course. Manipulative cunt. He attacked her along with his manager. They were going to rape her until Luca stopped them.”

“Holy shit. Your dad sounds like a fucking asshole.”

“He’s a fucking cunt, Mace. I can’t even begin to express how much I hate him.”

“What happened?”

“Luc knocked him out, and by the time I got there, he was still out cold. He also called Kane to come and help, and he and Bry, the bartender, also called Reid.”

“R-Reid Harris?”

“Yeah. You want someone wiped off the face of the Earth, then Reid is a pretty good place to start.”

“He’s scary,” she confesses with a shudder.

“If you’re on the wrong side of him, yeah. But he’s a good guy deep down.”

“If you say so.”

I hesitate continuing with my tale because it’s the next bit that is really going to test just how badly she wants to be here. How much she really wants to associate herself with me.

I know telling her is a risk. But who else can I tell who would understand?

Luc might hate our father, but I don’t think he’d get it, my need to torture him like I did. I can’t tell my mom, she’d probably have me committed after everything, and that just leaves Macie.

“What is it, Leon?”

“Are you sure you want to hear the rest?”

“If you want to tell me, yes. If you don’t, I understand.”

“You already know the darkest parts of me. You’ve already seen it. I might as well give you all of it.”

“What did you do, Leon?”

“Reid was going to kill him. The second he learned that our dad laid a finger on Peyton, and what he did to Libby, he was after blood. He looked at me like I’d lost my mind when I told him no.”

“You let him go?” Macie asks innocently.

“Hell no,” I laugh. “I asked them to put him somewhere. Somewhere no one would find him, but that I only had access to.”

“O-okay.”

“They locked him up in this warehouse over the border into Harrow Creek. Tied him up, treated him like the piece of shit he is.”

She nods, concern flickering through her eyes. But she hasn’t attempted to run yet so I take that as a good sign.

Sucking in a deep breath, I prepare to spill the rest.

“I used to visit him often. Let him know exactly what I thought of him. The night I turned up at your dorm. The blood… it was his.”

“Holy shit, Lee.”

“Taking it out on him, it felt like some kind of cleansing. Knowing he was hurting, knowing I could cause him pain much like he’d caused me, Luc, Shane, Kayden, Libby, our mom. Everyone I love has had their lives touched by that cunt at least once. He’s hurt all of them.”