AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She sat up straight and shook her head, wiping away more tears. “Nothing, João.”
I stepped closer to her and balled my hands into fists behind my back. “What happened?”
“Nothing.”
When she pulled her hair into an elastic, I saw her neck covered in bruises, her skin with blotchy red hickeys, and her swollen lower lip. Rage rushed through me, and I stopped myself from putting a damn hole through the drywall.
“Who the fuck did that to you? I’ll kill the motherfucker.”
Mom stood and faced me, shaking her head. “Please, drop it,” she said, voice so quiet that I could barely hear it. “This was what I signed up for. I knew what I had to do when your father left. It’s the only way …”
“You didn’t sign up to get raped.”
More tears slipped down Mom’s cheeks. “João …”
“That’s what’s happening, Mom,” I snapped quietly so Ana wouldn’t hear. Our house was too small. I moved closer to her, my mouth drying. I didn’t understand why she did this day in and day out. It hurt to see her like this, after I had begged her to stop it.
After a couple moments of silence, she finally dropped her head. “I need a couple minutes alone.” She glanced over at her nightstand. “Please, João. Give me a couple moments.”
Knowing that she wouldn’t tell me—no matter how hard I tried—I walked out of the room and pushed away the hot tears that threatened to fall. If she wasn’t careful, Mom would drive herself into the ground.
When I finally emerged from the hallway, Ana was putting the plate of chocolate into the refrigerator to cool. She ran in front of me toward the front door and grabbed her jacket. “Come on, João! Imani said that she’ll make a leaf pile with us.”
“I’ll be out in a second,” Imani said to her.
When Ana disappeared through the front door, Imani turned to me. “How is she?”
“Good,” I said quickly, grabbing my coat.
Before I could follow Ana outside, Imani grabbed my hand and stuffed a piece of paper into it. “Here.”
“What’s this?” I asked Imani.
She wrapped her hand around mine and smiled up at me. “A list of names who could’ve given Ana HIV. At least, if he’s still in Redwood.”
I curled my hand around the piece of paper and shoved it into my pocket. “Where did you find this? Was it Akio? That fucker told me that he didn’t have access to that fucking information.”
“That’s none of your business,” Imani said, glancing out the front window at Ana, who was playing in the fall leaves.
With her coat bundled up to her chin and her brown hair blowing into her face, she looked toward us and waved.
“Be happy that you have it, João. And use it wisely.”
