Once to the detectives and once to the jury that convicted my father.
Never in my life had someone held me like this. Let me cry out my nightmares without punishment. Made me feel like I actually mattered.
I sniffled, gulping in large bursts of air, then finally pulled away from Enzo. For a moment, I couldn’tlook him in the eyes. There was too much shame inside me because I hadn’t saved everyone.
Enzo stood, left the room, and returned with a box of tissues. I brought my knees to my chest as he wiped my eyes with one and then used another under my nose.
He squeezed my knee again while sitting. I immediately climbed back into his arms, turning so my back was against his chest.
“When the police arrived, I told them what had happened and pointed them in the direction of where my parents had gone.” I went on because I wanted Enzo to know me, wanted him to know I was trustworthy. “They’d climbed through the window in the office. The police found them behind the shed they used to keep me in and arrested them.”
Enzo stayed quiet, not asking any questions.
“Later, my father insisted my mother hadn’t wanted to escape and he’d forced her against her will. Being his wife, she was shielded from testifying against him and refused to give a statement. The police needed someone to testify against him.”
“And that someone was you,” he said.
I nodded slowly. “That someone was me.”
“What happened?”
“He received a life sentence.”
“Should’ve gotten death,” Enzo said under his breath.
“By the time sentencing was over, the judge gave him another life sentence.”
“Why was that?”
“My father asked to read an apology letter to the victims, and the judge allowed it. In that statement, he stared at me the entire time. He said he regretted not drowning me in the river, and if he ever was freed, he’d find the nearest one and keep me underwater until he could no longer stand.
“The feds sealed my records in exchange for my testimony. For some reason, the federal prosecutor had instructed the police to withhold the details of what had happened from the media. Theysaid it was to protect the other younger victims and me. Social media was practically nonexistent back then, so nothing about it ever went public.”
“And your mom?”
“She quickly remarried a rich man, who paid off those who had survived to never breathe a word of it and then made them sign NDAs. Most of the people who’d died didn’t even have families to report their deaths because my father had preyed on those who felt alone or were homeless.”
“You still speak to your mother, though? And your stepfather?”
“We don’t exactly speak. She called me a traitor for testifying, but she likes to keep me close and cared for. She’s worried I’ll tell people about what she did. That’s how I ended up at Saint Vale. They still wanted to control where I was but not have me around.”
My shoulders sagged as all the tension that’d been bottled up inside my body collapsed.
“That’s my truth, Enzo,” I whispered. “I’m everything you hate.”
He wrapped his arms around my waist and squeezed me tight. “What do you mean?”
“I testified against my father. That first day I met you, you called me a rat. It was said as a threat. You also murdered Jett because he was one.”
Why I’d been keeping this such a secret finally dawned on him.
He shook his head violently. “There’s no comparison to you and Jett. And technically, I didn’t kill Jett. He succumbed to his injuries.”
I tipped my head back on his shoulder at that remark and shouldn’t have found that devilish smile that formed on his lips to be adorable. But I did.
And at that moment, I was happy I’d told Enzo.
Happy I’d finallylet it all out.
