"Lola, you're the only one who understands." She sounds like she's trying not to cry.
And that wraps around my heart and squeezes tight.
I lean on the washing machine in the laundry room. "This isn't about that. It's safety."
I'm not sure she's listening.
"And you're the only one I'll talk to. And I need to talk this out. I know you'll understand. You've been screwed around just as much as I have by this situation."
"We can talk. Here. It'll be fine. Everyone's so worried about you, so come home."
"I don't have a home," she snaps, her voice breaking.
"You know what I mean."
"I don't, Lola. How can I belong when I've been lied to my whole life?"
"Coming back here just means we can talk in a safe place." But I already know I'm going to meet her there.
I hook the phone between my shoulder and ear and get the washing. Sure enough, there's a line outside, so I start hanging the sheets. Badly, but I hang them.
"Lola, I don't need that kind of safe space. I need this one, with actual distance between me and Enzo. I just need someone to talk to."
I get where she's coming from, I do. And she came with me when I ran.
My mind is already made up, anyway.
"Okay, I'll come. But on the condition that you come home with me after we've spoken."
"Deal."
I leave the phone, undo the gate, and slip through.
Hopefully, we'll be back before anyone notices I'm missing.
Chapter Thirty
ENZO
I stare down at Luke,the little prick who was in my sister's bedroom. The catalyst in my head for all this.
What I truly want to do right now is kill him.
Of course, if I go with common sense, I'm not overly sure if he deserves a slow death or not. Definitely torture and death if he laid a finger on my sister when he shouldn't have. Probably not, if it's Dad jumping to the wrong conclusion.
But that is not the point. The point is there is no one else I can take this out on.
And who the fuck knows? Maybe he has an idea of what my sister does or where she goes when she's upset.
After all, she claims they are close.
Close enough to have him in her bedroom and him holding her.
The lava-hot fury comes over me as I look him over again.
My lip curls. "You look like utter shit."
The guy looks like what he is. Beaten to an inch of his life, a few broken bones...I'll give my father's specialists that. They know exactly what they're doing.
