Five minutes later, we were in his car and on the way to Patience’s house. There was no doubt in my mind where she’d gone. I could only hope I made it there before she got hurt.
I texted Finn when we left the apartment and he said he wanted to go, too, so since his house was on the way, we stopped to get him. We stuck together, and if the shit was going to hit the fan, I wanted my boys there to at least get Patience out of the way. We pulled up and he jumped in.
It felt like it took forever to get to her house, but soon we were pulling into the driveway. My car was parked up against the garage and then I knew for sure going there had been the right thing.
Finn and Tiny followed behind me. The front door was unlocked and as soon I as stepped through the doorway, I heard a gunshot.
I didn’t know where I was going, but I ran toward the sound. The house was so big and I found myself standing in front of a long hallway at the top of the stairs. I stood there waiting to hear something and then another shot rang out. My feet moved before I thought as I ran to the door where the shots were coming from. I heard Finn and Tiny on my heels. We could’ve been running into our deaths for all we knew, but it didn’t matter. All that mattered to me was getting to Patience and helping her.
When I got to the doorway I looked in and felt instant relief when I saw her standing there facing away from me. Then my eyes took in the scene, her sister lying in bed with her clothes ripped and her father’s bloodied body on the floor.
When I saw the look on her face, I knew what I had to do. Her skin was paler than usual, whiter than her hair, and her eyes were wide with shock. I wanted to hold her to me and tell her everything was going to be okay, but I knew we had to move fast.
Words couldn’t describe the way it felt to watch her being pulled away from me knowing I could never be with her again, knowing that once I took the blame for this my life would never be the same. She came into my life and washed away all the bad, and I loved her with every part of my soul. It was the least I could do.
I could hear her screams down the hallway and I waited for someone to show up so they could call the police on me, but she went silent and no one ever came. I stood there looking over the two bodies, one unconscious and one dead, and thought about what my next move should be. I dug into my pocket and pulled out my cell phone. The text messages were still open and I stared down at all the “Where are you?” messages I’d sent to Patience.
I cleared the screen and pulled up the dialer to call someone. I typed in the number nine, but stopped when I heard someone come up behind me. I spun around and came face to face with who I could only assume was Patience’s mom.
She gasped for air as she held on tightly to her IV stand. A purple handkerchief covered her balding head. She struggled to stand and I could only imagine what it took for her to get out of bed and come to this room. She stared back at me with fevered eyes and pale skin.
Her watery eyes took in the room. They grazed across Sydney passed out in her bed and then down at her husband’s crumpled body. Her shaking hand came up and covered her mouth as she started to cry.
“I’m so sorry,” I said into the silent room. “I couldn’t let him hurt her.” I pointed over to Sydney’s body.
“Is she… is she dead?” Her voice was as frail as she looked.
“No, ma’am, she just passed out, I think.”
I saw relief run through her body. She took in the room, her husband’s naked body, her daughter’s ripped clothes, and I saw it in her eyes the moment she realized what was happening.
“How did you know?” she asked.
There was no point in lying to her.
“Patience told me. He’s been molesting her since she was