elderly man had no business being caught in the middle of it.
Even as weak and trembling as he was, Mr. Peters resisted my efforts to move him. Still clutching my phone in his quaking hand, he whispered, “I can’t risk my grandkids,” under his breath. I nodded and put a finger to my lips after motioning that he should stay put. I pointed to the phone and lifted my eyebrows, telling him he should keep the call connected so Huck could hear what was going on through the connection. I would bet every single thing I owned that he was already on his way to the old man’s house and cursing me out with every breath he took. Between him and Vernon, not only did I expect one of them to ride to the rescue, but also for them to have called the police by now.
There was no reason for me to walk into the lion’s den. It was stupid. It was dangerous. It was reckless.
But I was going in anyway.
I was done running from everything that might be bigger than me. I was tired of letting other people make me feel small and powerless. I was sick of not feeling like I was in control of my own destiny.
I was done being afraid all the time.
If I couldn’t face my fears now when I knew I had backup on the way, when else would I be able to?
If I didn’t go inside right now, I was giving up all the hard-won progress I’d made toward living a normal life.
“Okay. Let me put this medicine in the kitchen, then I’ll take you to the doctor, Mr. Peters. You just sit here by the door. You look really pale. You should’ve called me sooner if you were feeling so poorly.” I spoke loudly so whoever was inside could hear me and know I was coming in alone.
After dropping everything on the floor by the entryway that I had I hauled with me, I clutched the pepper spray in my hand and quietly tiptoed my way through the house. I knew it couldn’t be Sawyer terrorizing my elderly landlord. And I didn’t think my wayward one-night stand would be bold enough to lure me to the house after dealing with an angry Huck. Considering Mr. Peters indicated the way his harasser got him to call me to his place was by threatening his grandkids, there was only one other person I was absolutely sure could be that cruel and callous… the person who turned Sawyer into the monster he was. His mother.
Sure enough, as soon as I slipped into the normally tidy kitchen, I encountered the woman I hadn’t seen since she made my teenage years a living hell. She looked just as polished and wealthy as ever. She was even sipping nonchalantly on a cup of coffee from where she leaned against the counter in my landlord’s home. It would almost look like a scene from an HGTV show, except for a nasty handgun on the countertop in front of the elegantly dressed woman. That and the pure, unfiltered hatred shining in her crazy eyes.
How could someone have everything… except a heart? Or any sense of right and wrong.
I kept my hand with the pepper spray behind my back and met the angry woman’s hostile gaze. I used to be scared to death of her because she was so willing to do anything to make her son happy. It was almost like the rest of us weren’t human and had no value or reason to exist beyond our usefulness to him.
“You really came all the way here and threatened an old man and his grandkids, Mrs. Richman?”
One of her perfectly groomed eyebrows arched upward as she sneered at me over the rim of the coffee cup. “You’re the one who should be locked up. We both know you were the one driving the night of the accident, not Huck. You tried to kill yourself, and almost took Sawyer and Huck with you. I’m convinced of it. You’ve always been weak and pathetic, Olivia. I’ll never understand why my son was so obsessed with you. You were never worthy of his time or affection.”
She reached out a finger and tapped the handle of the weapon in front of her. “Regardless, my Sawyer hasn’t been the same since you left. Something inside of him is broken, and the only way to fix it is to bring you back to him. I knew you