“I don’t know what to say, Sam,” she says, her hand squeezing me gently.
“I have a way to get away from him and that house. Between the horrific memories trapped within those white walls, and my father who couldn’t give enough of a shit about his kids to hang around and take note of what was happening under his own damned roof, to our cunt of a grandmother who always treated us like lepers that didn’t belong in her thoroughbred family tree. There’s nothing left for me here. I need to be free of him or I’ll go mad.”
I watch her straighten her shoulders and get her shit together. She swipes at her tears and looks me in the eye. “Okay, so what can I do?”
I purse my lips. “It’s bad. So bad, I can’t ask it of you.”
She frowns, looking a little bit frightened, but she swallows and tucks her hair behind her ears. “Sam, I told you, we’re in this together. Let me help you. You and Sabella.”
My heart and head feel heavy. Burdened by the guilt and anger I’ve kept with me. Not just anger at Maxwell, but at myself, because I killed my mom. It was my fault. But maybe if I can get us both away from Maxwell and this shitty family with all its secrets, I can learn to forgive myself. Living under his roof, seeing the way he looks at me, I’ll never be able to.
I take Patience’s hands in mine and bring them up to my lips before kissing them.
Iclimb back in my car, and Patience gets into the passenger side. I expected her to crumble, to hate me and call me any number of names when I told her what I needed her to do. I wouldn’t have blamed her—I would have deserved it. But she didn’t. She listened, nodding and waiting for me to finish, and when I had, she stood up and left the room without saying a single word to me.
I hated myself more in that moment than I had my entire life. And I carried a lot of self-hate around with me.
I sat with my head in my hands, my heart pressing against my ribs for God knows how long, before she came back in. She was dressed in a thin cotton top, the front of it low, too fucking low because it revealed her full cleavage. Her skirt was short, short enough to make my dick hard even in my current misery. And then she told me to take her to school. That she’d emailed Dean Griffin and asked him to take a meeting with her to discuss her current grades.
And now here we are, on our way to school.
Patience reaches across and takes my hand in hers and I feel sick from the love swelling inside me.
Maybe Sebastian is right. Maybe I do have everything.
“You’re sure about this?” I say gently, my eyes leaving the road to look at her.
Her features are strong and determined, but her pale complexion gives away her fear. “You’ll stop it before it gets too far.” She squeezes my hand.
“I will,” I swear. “And then I’ll fucking kill him.”
She gives a nervous laugh, but it’s forced. “There’ll be no need to kill anyone. It won’t get that far. I trust you.”
I’m not sure who she’s trying to convince, herself or me. But there isn’t anything that is going to keep me away from killing that motherfucker if he lays a hand on her.
My cell rings in my pocket, and I pull it out, putting it on loud speaker before I realize who it is.
“Samuel,” Maxwell’s voice booms out, “where are you?”
I groan. “I’m busy,” I snap, and reach to hang up on him.
“Sabella’s missing,” he says abruptly, and I stop, my hand poised in front of the end button.
“What do you mean she’s missing?” I pull into the school parking lot and turn the ignition off. “Since when do you pay attention to her whereabouts?” I bite out angrily. “She’s probably at the Humane Society or at the mall or some shit.”
I hear him breathing heavily, like he’s running. “Despite what you think of me, I do actually give a shit about you both.”
I bark out an angry laugh. There aren’t enough words to describe how much of a lie that statement is. “She was due home and didn’t arrive.”
Thud. Thud. Thud.
“Have you called her? I’m going to call her. She’s never late. There will be a good reason. She will be fine.”
His words race around my head bouncing of my fucking skull. Sabella is fine. I’d feel it if she wasn’t. I’d know. I’d fucking know.
“They found her car, Samuel,” he says ominously. “They found her car, abandoned, the door wide open. Where are you? I’m coming to get you so we can look for her.”
“Maybe she broke down. Who is they? Who fucking found her car?”
