Page 84 of Fall onto me
Mom backs away from his desk as he walks towards us. I have half a mind to scream for Foster, but I can feel it in my soul that he’ll be rounding that doorway at any moment.
“She’s leaving,” I tell him, narrowing my gaze.
He laughs, tossing his head back. “You’re funny. Cara, darling, grab me a drink.” He nods his head to the decanter of liquor, although he’s closer to it.
When she doesn’t budge, he pours one for himself, then walks over to me. “You’ve fucked this family over enough, Skyler.”
“I’m not leaving without her.”
He calmly sets the glass of whiskey on his desk, a flitter of rage swirls in his eyes, and before I can back away, his fingers curl around my throat. “Then you’re not going to leave at all.”
I punch and kick, but he doesn’t move. Mom tries to pull him away, screaming for help, but he rears back and punches her in the mouth. It feels like ages, with my body growing tingly and my hands going numb before something besides pain fills the room.
I choke on air as everything plays out. I’m on the ground, trying to capture oxygen while Foster rubs my back.
Wes is beating the shit out of Kent as sirens wail in the distance.
A few frantic moments later, Foster is holding Wes back from going to prison for murder, Mom is near me clutching onto my arm, and Kent is standing with his back pressed against the wall.
Mom sends him a hollow laugh, grinning with a bloody smile. “You’re going to prison!”
“You can’t fucking touch me, Cara. Skyler, do something with your mother! I’m sick of the childish bullshit. I should have you all fucking arrested.”
“She won’t do a fucking thing for you,” Wes spits.
Kent throws his head into his hands, ignoring him and directing his attention to me. “You started all of this. You ruined our family. Running off with that sorry excuse of a man, then filling your mother with lies. You’re just like her, a slut from the fucking slums. That’s where you belong. You don’t deserve to be in this family!”
“There is no fucking family here!” I scream back.
He doesn’t raise his voice, he simply frowns. “It’s all your fault, Skyler.”
I scoff, laughing angrily. “The fuck it is! You beating me wasn’t my fault. That was your own sick and twisted fucking way of controlling me.” I didn’t realize this until Foster made me spend months with a therapist. He doesn’t have much but fuck if he didn’t pick up a few extra races to support my mental health.
“And mom, I blamed her my whole fucking life, but you were doing the same to her, even worse! You were holding my safety against her. I can’t even imagine how many sleepless nights she had bruised and beaten writhing in bed, and she was gladly taking more beatings from you and taking the brunt of it all.”
He looks up, knowing I now know the truth.
“She was plucked from what could have been a good life!”
He snorts, arrogance seeping from his tongue. “She had nothing! She is nothing without me!”
“She had love! With my father!”
The room stills. “Your what?”
Boots are rushing up the stairs, but Kent doesn’t move an inch, he’s relaxed in Foster’s tight grip, looking as if he did nothing wrong. He’s the poster child of a man who has never had to pay for his actions.
Detective Askena walks in with three officers behind her. She shakes her head when she sees me. “I’m going to have to get your autograph. You seem pretty popular around Miami tonight.” One of the officers takes Kent away from Foster.
Her line-of-sight travels to the sorry excuse of a man who raised me, and all pleasantries fly out the window. “Kent Johnson, you’re under arrest for tax fraud.”
How did they get him for that? “You have no proof. Cara.” He knows it’s pointless, that she’s already turned against him, but he tries anyways. “Call my lawyer!”
Mom grins and cries at the same time. It’s decades of torment and fear escaping from her. “I’m the one who called them, sent the paperwork over this morning.” She walks closer, until she’s chest to chest with the man who abused her for so long, and then she knees him in the balls.
He topples over, but the strong officer doesn’t allow him to crumble.
Askena groans, knowing this will cause even more paperwork for her to attend to on this busy night. “We’re going to have to arrest you for assault, Cara.”