Page 244 of Wicked Brutal

She goes quiet. I look at her bruised wrist. Her cheek. The shoulder she let me photograph. Then at my own arms.

“I understand now.” Her lips tremble. “I didn’t before. I thought you could leave and didn’t.”

“Ally—”

“I thought you stayed because some part of you still wanted him.”

A tear slips down her cheek. “I am so sorry.”

“No.”

“I should have—”

“Don’t ever apologize to me for surviving him.” Her eyes open. “He did this to you before he ever did it to me.”

She breaks. I catch her. “I was supposed to be your mother.”

“You are my mother.”

“I let him turn you into this quiet little—”

“No. He did.” She cries against me. “He built this, Mom. Not you.”

All the cops. The judges. The lawyers. The money. The families. The agreements. The threats. All of it. The machine we’ve been raised inside without ever being allowed to see the gears.

“He made sure none of us thought there was anywhere to go.”

“I should’ve found somewhere.”

“We’re finding it now.”

She pulls back. “You take Tobias.”

“I will.”

“Promise me.”

“I promise.”

“And the baby.”

My hand covers my stomach. “Always.”

“No matter what happens.”

I know what she’s trying to make me promise. I shake my head. “No.”

“Ally.”

“No. No matter what happens. You’re coming too.”

“You can’t promise that.”

“I’m not leaving you here.”

“You may have to.”

“I won’t.”