woke up… I found out the case was closed and had been filed away. We were told the chauffeur took the blame and had been pardoned by the law; except, he wasn’t the one driving that night… that boy was. I know because I did my research after I woke up. My grandparents helped, and we tried to open the case again.”
“Lila,” Maddox breathed. His head fell into his hands. “Goddamn it.”
“I was in the hospital, still recovering from my injuries, when the dad walked through the door. The look on his face, God, I can still see it so clearly. There was no remorse, Maddox. Nothing. He didn’t care that I just lost my parents because of his son. He didn’t care that I was practically crippled in a hospital bed, in pain, in so much fucking pain. He took out a check…”
“No,” Maddox let out a curse. “Fuck, no. Lila, no.” He banged his fists against the wet, muddy grass.
I laughed and laughed, dry and empty and cold. “Yes. He offered me one million dollars to stay silent. He said he’d give me more if I’d just shut up and leave his family alone.”
Then I cried.
And cried… and cried.
“We… lost…the… case,” I hiccupped back a sob, but I was only choking on my own saliva. “Money and power and too many connections, he had everything, and we stood no chance against him.”
“He paid off the judge?” Maddox growled, his words laced with anger.
“I assumed he did or he didn’t have to. They were buddies.”
I tried to breathe, tried to stay alive, forced myself to survive. Inhale, exhale.
I wanted to scream until I pass out and forget all of this happened. Maybe when I’d wake up, I’d find myself in a world where my parents were still alive, and we were living happily ever after.
“When you’re rich, you can pay for someone’s silence, buy life and death, play god and win. That’s what he did. I’m a mere mortal… I lost.”
“I’m sorry.”
I am too.
“I hated you because you were a reminder of the boy who ruined me and stole my life from me,” I croaked, my ability to speak fading. I rubbed my chest, over my scars. “So rich, so spoiled. Such a brat with so much arrogance.”
Maddox made a sound at the back of his throat; it sounded almost like a silent cry before he spoke. “I’m sorry,” he said again.
With all my strength gone from my body, I couldn’t sit up anymore. My body swayed, and I fell onto my back and closed my eyes. I was drained of everything, all the pain, all the suffering… my past and all the memories.
I felt… empty.
And numb.
I didn’t have to open my eyes to feel him. Maddox settled on the cold grass and laid down beside me. I felt his warm breath against my neck. He was really close.
I breathed in the fresh air, and there was a comfortable silence between us. It lasted for a long time, and I soaked it in, the warmth from his presence. Until Maddox broke the silence.
“Tell me about your parents. How did they meet?” he asked gently.
So, I did.
I told him about an unlikely love story.
“My mom was the only Hispanic in their neighborhood, and all the other kids would pick on her. My dad was apparently one of her bullies until she grabbed him one day and slammed her lips against his then pulled back, looked him straight in the eye and told him, ‘If you can't shut up, I'll shut you up.’ He said he fell in love with her right then and there. My father always told me to be with the person who makes your heart beat a thousand miles an hour,” I told Maddox.
We stared at my parents' headstones, and I wondered if they could feel me since I was so close to them? Were they watching over me?
There was a dull ache in my chest, but I didn’t feel like crying anymore. Maybe I’d finally spent all my tears; because even though it hurt, the urge to cry was gone.
Until next year, until I allowed myself to break down again. I hated being vulnerable. The last time I was; I had been in a hospital and I couldn’t give my parents’ the justice they deserved.
I didn’t know why I let Maddox see me like this, why I allowed him to see my weakness… but all I knew was the moment he sat on that bench next