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I shake my head and swipe at the tears flowing down my face. “You didn’t protect me! You put me in harm’s way. You put us in harm’s way.” My gaze meets his, the hurt swims in his eyes, but I ignore it and clench my teeth with a steely determination to see through with my plan.
“We thought we were doing the right thing!” he says, and instantly, I want to hurt him. I want him to know the depths of the depravity I endured.
“I had to suck that scumbag’s cock, Jace,” I spit out, and his face pales but I continue on, holding his gaze with my every word. “Just like when I was a child.” His body jolts. “You didn’t protect me then, and you can’t protect me now.” Jace clings to the wall, and he looks like he’s seconds away from vomiting, and part of me wishes I could take back my words, take back the pain I just unleashed, but I can’t, and a bigger part of me doesn’t want to. I want them to feel the pain that I feel too.
I spin on my heel to face Cole. “And you! I trusted you! I asked you not to lie to me!” My face floods with tears. “I trusted you, Cole—” I choke on a sob. “I trusted you.”
“I’m sorry.” I ignore the panic in his voice. “I’m so sorry, Tia. I swear.” The gut-wrenching edge to his voice almost brings me to my knees.
I grind my teeth, pissed at how his reaction affects me when I want to remain strong, when I want to make them pay too.
“I don’t want any of you anywhere near me. Do you hear me?”
“What happens now, Tia?” Cole asks, his voice broken and empty as he stares at the carpet. “What do you want from us?”
I lick my lips, already reconsidering my plans, can I do this? Can I hurt them more than ever before?
My throat clogs with a ball of anxiety, and it takes a moment before I clear it and continue on with my plan for them to move out. “Can you get Lucas in here, please?”
Cole’s eyes dart toward Jace, then he scrubs his hand over the top of his head before looking back at me. “Fuck, Tia. Really?” He knows as well as I do that this will push him further away, hurt him the most.
I simply nod, too frazzled by the guilt at hurting them rolling in my stomach.
Jace pushes off the wall. “He isn’t here.”
Cole’s eyes widen. “What do you mean he isn’t here?”
Jace scoffs. “It isn’t fucking difficult. He. Isn’t. Here.” Then he shrugs, ignorant to the way Cole’s face has drained, but my heart speeds up at his expression. Something has happened, I can feel it.
“Where is he, then?” he asks, his focus drilling into Jace.
“How the fuck would I know? I assumed he went to pour his heart out to you.” His voice is mocking, and I want to hit him in the back of his head, because as Cole stares back at him with a look of bewilderment and terror, my blood floods with a prickling awareness. He’s in danger. I can feel it.
“What happened?”
Cole’s eyes snap to mine, and he gulps. “I said some shit I should never have said.”
I huff in understanding. So, he took his guilt out on Lucas.
“What did you say to him?” I say through clenched teeth.
He sighs, darting his eyes away, then brushes his hand over his head. “Fuck.”
“What did you say to him, Cole?” I stand firm, refusing to back down and needing to know how far he went. How far he’s pushed him.
When his gaze finally comes back to me, I startle at the devastating look in his eyes. He fucked up, big time.
“I told him I hated him.” Tears well in his eyes. “I told him he was pathetic and a scared little boy stuck in the past.”
I suck in a sharp breath as pain pierces my heart. “You said that?” My voice comes out like a whisper, and I hate myself for how weak I sound. “How could you say that?” I bellow. “After everything he’s been through, Cole. How could you say that?”
Cole jolts. “I know. I’m sorry.”
“Where is he now?” I flit my eyes over to Jace, who is on his phone, no doubt searching for Lucas’s location on our family tracking app.
He gives his head a shake, indicating he can’t locate him.
“Fuck.” Cole bends over with his arms folded behind his neck, and when he lifts his head and his eyes clash with mine, the fear in them has my breath stuttering with intensity. “He’s going to do something stupid, Tia. I can feel it.”
