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“He was trying to protect me.” Ramsay burst from my side.
I wrapped an arm around her waist, holding her back to me.
She strained against my hold. “Your father was threatening me. Scout wasn’t thinking—”
“Of course he wasn’t!” Miles muttered a curse, stepping back and running a hand over his face again. “Lo siento—I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” He switched his gaze to me, stricken.
That was a punch.
“I’ve taken you in. You are like my son. Don’t you get that? Why wouldn’t you have called me? We could’ve—we could’ve done something. Planned something. I—”
“You know what he’s doing to her.” We both knew who I was talking about, my mother. “He’s hurting her. He’s going to always hurt her. He’s going to always get away with it. If I go back, do what he wants, I’ll make him promise to let her go. I’ll—”
“You can’t negotiate with him. You know that. He’ll always win.”
I exploded, the pressure snapping, “Why do you think I’m doing this?”
Ramsay was back to molding herself against me, turning to me. Her hand moved under my shirt, resting over my stomach. “There’s no winning with him. I’m sorry, but I wasn’t thinking. When I realized he had Ramsay in the room with him, I wasn’t thinking straight.” A strangled laugh erupted from me. “I wanted to hurt him. Just one fucking time. I wanted to get back at him, and he moved to strike me first. I got a shot, one time, to hurt him. I took it. I don’t feel bad either. I’ll never feel bad about making him feel pain, and I swear . . . I swear that, when I go in, I’ll do everything in my power to destroy him. I will, Uncle. I will.”
A different look came over him, making him look broken. “Scout.” He came to me, a hand falling on my shoulder, and he kept it there. “I’m so sorry, Scout. So very sorry. I never should’ve let this go as long as it has. I—this has to stop.”
An uncomfortable shiver went down my spine. I really didn’t like what I was seeing, hearing from him, and I wasn’t alone. Angel and I shared a look.
He moved a step closer. “Wanna clue us in, Brother? What are you planning on doing?”
A wholly alien look was on Miles’s face as he turned to him, his hand falling from my shoulder. “I have to stop this. You know that—”
I sprang, wrapping my arms around his neck. He tried twisting out from my hold, but I held it in place. I didn’t give him an inch to get away. As his body fell, mine went with it until we were on the ground. He tried twisting again, using his body to remove my hold, but I wrapped my legs around him and held him firm.
It didn’t take long until he went limp.
“I’m guessing he’s unconscious, right?” Angel had knelt with us, his expression unnerved.
I let him go, his body slumping farther down to the floor as I stood. “Yeah. He’ll wake up in a bit, but you might want to handcuff him so he can’t go and do something stupid.” I reached for Ramsay’s hand, twining our fingers.
“Where are you going?”
“We’ll go to Ramsay’s place. It’s best if he doesn’t see me before I go. Don’t tell him where I am.”
His gaze was heavy as he looked up at me, but he wasn’t moving from my uncle’s form. “Not liking that option either, Scout.”
I didn’t respond.
There was no point.
86
SCOUT
Ramsay was gone when I woke the next morning. I felt her side of the bed. It was still warm, so she hadn’t been gone long.
My phone beeped.
Mom: Don’t do anything. I’m doing something on my end. You’ll see.
A normal son might’ve put stock in that, but I was me. She was her. I knew my mom. She’d want to help. She’d plan and brainstorm and maybe even make a phone call, but in the end, she’d back down. The hold he had on her was too deep, too severe. There was no going back. I’d given up on getting my mom back a long time ago.
Miles: Where are you? Are you at Ramsay’s?
Me: Yeah. Still here. I’m going to leave soon.
It was two seconds after I hit send that my phone lit up. He was calling me.
I answered, “Hey.”
“Your plan is stupid. Everything is stupid, but I get it. I get why you think doing this is the only thing you can do, but listen to me. Your mom is blowing up my phone, urging me to make sure you don’t reach out to him. Forget about what I want to do to him. Listen to your mom. I think she’s for real this time. She’s going to do something so you don’t go back into the family. And if she doesn’t, I will. I’m not going to let you go down this path. We both know how it’ll end.”
