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LANDON
After paying Jace a visit, Kai and I went back to his house to come up with a plan. If Jace Harbor could come through with two million dollars, we would need to risk our lives to get information for him. A month ago, I would have been fine with it because I really didn’t have anything at Redwood to look forward to, but now …
I had Imani.
“You think Jace will actually come through?” I asked Kai.
“Yes.” Kai tapped a couple keys on his computer, the many screens lighting up the room. “But we have bigger problems than that.” He pulled up some information on the cop we had tortured last night and then Harvey, the tech teacher, and furrowed his brow.
Grabbing my coat, which really did nothing to warm me with all the fucking holes in it, I pulled it over my body. “What is it?” I asked, knowing that Kai had something against the police since his father had died.
I didn’t know if it had to do with that or something … worse.
“I don’t know yet,” Kai said, typing faster on his keyboard, lost in his own world. “But I’m going to find out.”
Because I had nowhere else to fucking go, I headed back home. I wanted to ignore Mom and Dad as much as possible, so I decided to disappear into the basement, but blood was smeared on the back door.
I froze in my tracks and stared with wide eyes.
Fuck.
What the fuck happened?
Hurrying toward the door, I thrust the kitchen door open. Chairs were knocked over, glass plates had been shattered to pieces, and more blood was everywhere. I stepped over the glass and rushed through the room, following the sound of Dad shouting in the living room.
“You’re a crazy fucking bitch,” Dad slurred.
When I reached the living room, I saw Mom standing in front of a man I had never seen before, and Dad was … holding a gun.
A fucking gun.
I didn’t know where the fuck he had gotten it from. I had found his last one and thrown it the fuck out because I was terrified this would happen, that he would get drunk off his ass and threaten me or Mom. Mom might’ve loved the man in some fucked up way, but he would kill her, whether it was an accident or not.
“Landon!” Mom scolded when she spotted me. “Leave now.”
Dad turned toward me, waving his gun everywhere. The man behind Mom grasped his leg, where blood gushed from.
I tensed and furrowed my brows, my heart racing. “What’s happening? What did you do?”
“Shot the fucking bastard that your mother slept with.”
He took another threatening step toward Mom and grabbed her by her hair, forcing her to her knees. Tears streamed down her face, her eyes red and puffy.
“Why do you have a gun?” I whispered.
Terrified.
I was terrified that he’d shoot me too, that I wouldn’t get to see Imani ever again.
“For shit like this.” He stuck the gun against her temple.
I waved my raised hands at him. “Please, let her go, Dad. She’s your wife.”
“You sticking up for her, boy?” Dad asked, waving his gun at me too.
“No, I’m not sticking up for her.” I raised my hands up higher to show him that I wasn’t a threat. “I just want you to put the gun down. You’re going to kill someone with it.”
“Maybe I fucking should,” he said, slurring his words and holding the gun to Mom’s throat. “This whore deserves it.” He tightened his grip on her hair harder and smacked her in the side of the face with the barrel. “Don’t you?”
Mom grabbed the hand holding her hair and sobbed, tears pouring down her cheeks. “Please, let go of me. I haven’t done shit to you! Leave, Landon. You’re just making him angrier. I had it under fucking control.”
My heart pounded inside my chest. I wished I hadn’t come home. It seemed like I only made things fucking worse around here. I couldn’t even fucking come back to the house without getting smacked or threatened.
A car pulled up outside, the engine shutting off. I decided to ignore it and stepped closer to Dad. As much as Mom thought that I was making it worse, I couldn’t leave her with him while he was out of his mind and had a gun to her head. She was fucking crazy if she thought I’d do that.
Dad looked out the front window and toward the street. “Your little slutty friend came in time for the show.” He chuckled menacingly. “You want me to show you what I’m going to do to your mother? Your friend will be the perfect fucking example.”
Chest tightening, I sucked in a breath and looked over my shoulder. Imani stood outside the house, about to knock on the basement door with a huge smile plastered on her face. Dad threw Mom to the ground and barreled toward the door with the gun.
And I knew I had to do anything to keep Imani safe.
