Page 54 of Under Their Watch
“What?” I ask.
“She was aware of what Marcus was doing to you. She knew you were with Marvin. She knew all of it. Marcus was about to run for office and if you were still around, she would have been caught,” she explains. “I need you to understand this because her lawyer is going to try and get you to testify for her to get her out of this.”
“Fuck no,” I snap. “She starved me. She beat me. The first time she hit me so hard that I passed out, I was six-goddamn-years old. That bitch can rot in here for all I care. I promise you; they do not want me getting on that stand to defend her.”
“That’s what I told them,” she says. “Her lawyer is with her, but she isn’t allowed to talk to you. If she wants to, she knows she must go through Emma.”
“Ready?” I ask the others. They nod, so I turn and open the door. Mom looks up and she looks worn out. She is dressed in a bright orange jumpsuit and is shackled to the table. “Rhea,” she says happily.
“Don’t you mean Rachel?” I ask. “You weren’t very creative with my name.”
“What?” the woman asks Casey. “What is this about?”
“Debby Jones, you are being charged with the following,” Casey says, glancing at her paper. “Kidnapping. Felony child endangerment. Felony child abuse, Violation of a protection order, Accessory to statutory rape, eighty-six counts of possession of child pornography with intent to distribute, filing a false police report, and human trafficking. You are not booked under the name Debby Jones, so your court appointed lawyer will receive updated documents. This meeting was called by Rachel Genesis. This is not an interview, but it is being recorded. If you have any questions, we will allow you to ask those once Rachel is not present.”
“Why is he here?” she scolds, not looking at me anymore.
“Because his daughter requested his presences,” Logan says coldly. “With her is her lawyer, Emma Rivers and her psychiatrist, Theo Dache.”
“What’s wrong, Mom?” I ask, sitting at the table in front of her. Dad and Theo take a seat on either side of me.
“What do you want from me?” she asks bitterly. “You want me to apologize? I never fucking wanted you.”
“Then why the fuck did you steal me away from someone who did?” I ask, laughing dryly. “Oh, right. It’s because Marcus wanted a little toy to play with, and you wanted to make him happy.”
“I wanted to hurt him,” Mom say, nodding in my dad’s direction.
“How is that working out for you?” I ask. “I’m free and you are in here.”
“For now,” she says. “You’re free for now.”
“Oh, let me guess. Marvin is looking for me?” I ask. “Please… I’m not concerned about him. Let’s talk about you, Mom. Let’s talk about how you were so fucking stupid to not only kidnap me, but to keep me ten miles from him. You fucking sold me off to a man who worked for him, and then that idiot took me to a club run and frequented by not only the employees of the man you stole me from but also the two men who took care of me when you didn’t.”
“What?” she asks.
“Oh, didn’t know?” I ask. “Quinn and Jace are the ones who saved me from Marvin. Quinn and Jace were the ones who fedme and basically raised me because my piece-of-shit mother and her sick husband had other priorities.”
“Marcus loves you,” she snaps. “Do not sit there and act like…”
“Act like what?” I yell. “Act like he didn’t make me jerk him off at six? Like he didn’t force me to suck him off at ten? Oh, or should I not act like he didn’t rape me for the first time when I was twelve? How about all of the times he told me that it was our little secret because Mommy would be jealous. Yeah, he may not have hit me. He might have never endangered my life until last week, but he raped me over and over and over. But you knew this. You knew what he was doing to me. You hated me because he would rather fuck me than you, and you couldn’t fucking stand it. You couldn’t stand that he wasn’t interested in you. You know how many times you could have helped me? How many times you could have given me back to my father. You stole twenty-seven years away from us. You stole my entire fucking childhood. For what? What did you gain? You didn’t want me. You didn’t want Marcus to want me, so why?”
“Because I wanted to be a mother,” she says quietly.
“You are fucking disgusting,” I laugh dryly as I stand up. “Understand this right now, Debby. If you try to put me on that stand to defend you, I will make sure every motherfucking person in that courtroom knows what you allowed Marcus to do to me. They will all know you failed to protect your daughter, and then you can go to jail where all of those prisoners will learn about what you did to me. Oh, and the fun they will have with you will make what you put me through look mild. So please, call me to testify. Put me on that stand so I can tell everyonethe stories about how you’d force fed me, and then shoved your fingers down my throat to make me throw it all up. I’ll tell them all about how you’d whip me with an extension cord for wetting the bed at seven because I was too afraid to get out of bed and have Marcus take me back to my room.”
“I am your mother, Rhea. You owe me…”
“I owe you nothing,” I snap. “Fuck you, Debby. I sincerely hope that you suffer for the rest of your miserable life.”
I am seconds from crying, so I turn to leave, but my father wraps me in his arms and hugs me tightly. Mom is dead silent as he holds me. “I’ve got you,” he says softly.
“Can we go?” I sniff.
“Yeah, baby. Let’s go,” he says with a soft smile. He looks up at Mom for a moment before speaking to her. “I hope you are happy with where life has led you, Debby.”
We leave the room, and I turn to Casey. “Is he here?” I ask.
“Yes,” she says slowly. “Why?”