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I barge past my mother, open the door, and walk out of the house. I can hear my mother yelling my name in the distance, but I don’t give a shit. I take out my cell phone and dial Damien. It only rings twice when he answers.
“Where are you? Nancy said you went off like a bullet.”
“I’m just leaving our parents’ house…”
“What did you do?” he interrupts me.
“What I should have done a long time ago. I broke our father’s nose.” I squeeze my hand a couple of times and feel the protesting knuckles. “I want to see him burn. That whole house repulses me.”
“Where are you going now?”
“I want you to bring me Kally’s mom and dad. I need to see them, but I don’t want to give their location away. Colton is on the run. He could be anywhere.”
“Fuck! Okay. I’ll be at your house at about four o’clock. Can I trust that you’ll go home and not do anything stupid?”
“Yes.” I hang up before I snap at the one blood relative I have that I actually love.
Punching my father was therapeutic. I hate causing pain to others, but with him, it was rewarding. It just wasn’t enough. I want hell to rain down on him. I want to see him lose everything, to beg for mercy as the gates of hell open up to consume him because that’s the only place he deserves to go.
***
Over three hours have passed since I spoke with Damien. Nancy keeps watching me like I’m about to do something stupid.
My front door opens, and Damien walks into my house with Kally’s parents beside him. They’ve aged since I last saw them in the hospital, but right now, I can’t and won’t have sympathy for them. I’m not a parent, but I know that if I ever found myself in their predicament, I would have ended my life rather than let my kids suffer for my mistakes.
“Clark, where’s Kally?” asks Joselyn.
“She’s not here.” Joselyn holds her hands over her mouth, but I quickly realize how bad that might sound. “She’s in the hospital. She had a few dark days and she needed help. This was her choice, and we have to respect that. That’s not why I wanted to see you.”
“What’s going on, son?” asks Joe.
“Right now, until I know the full story, you’re no better than my father, and he has lost the ability to call me son.”
Joe nods. He at least looks hurt by my remark.
“I can’t get my head around all of this. I need your help to understand why you could sell Kally to pay off your debts.”
Joe sits down on the couch and runs his hands through his hair, or what’s left of it.
“We had no choice. I think this was the plan all along. We applied for a loan but were turned down. Your father somehow found out and offered to help us out. I never thought it would come to this. I didn’t realize that the loan from your father came with other stipulations. We got further into debt, and it became impossible to pay back. I trusted him as a friend.”
“What other stipulations?”
“I had to launder money through my accounts. When I stopped doing that out of fear of being caught, he started adding charges to the loan. Before I knew what was happening, I owed him 4.5 million dollars.”
“You know what my father’s like, Joe. He never does anything for anyone unless he gets something in return.”
“I know. I feel so stupid. I can’t stand what’s happened to Kally. Do you know how hard it is to look in the mirror and see someone staring back who has blood on his hands? That’s how I feel about myself. My little girl has endured pain and grief like no one ever should. If I could turn back the clock, you have to know I would.”
I sit down on the couch opposite Joe. “Why did you not fight for her? Why did you agree to their terms?”
He shakes his head. “I had no choice. Kally thinks it was between our life and hers because that’s what Colton told her, but I didn’t have that choice. I was told that was what was happening, and that was it. After they killed us, they would have killed her.”
I shake my head. “Why didn’t you come to me before agreeing to their terms? Why didn’t you come to me for a loan?”
“Enough people were dragged into my mess, Clark. I had no way out. I thought if I agreed, then Colton would at least treat Kally right. I thought if I protested it, then Colton would make her life hell. I had no idea she was going through hell anyway.”
“You were dammed if you did and dammed if you didn’t.” I shake my head. “This changes things. I brought you here to rip you a new asshole, but I think the guilt you have to live with for the rest of your life is enough to deal with.”
