AllFreeNovel
Share Us
That responsibility should have never fallen on my brothers. Our father should have been our protection. Instead, he was the monster inside.
Veronica allowed us to have a moment to catch our breath. Lincoln sat back down, but he was like a bomb ready to detonate at any second.
“I ask this of every person I interview who has suffered repeated abuse, so please take the question for what it is. Why did you keep going back?”
“I didn’t,” I blurted. “I never intended to see him again or at least never be alone, especially after he became more violent. But the last time, which was the worst, I was blindsided.” I touched both of my brothers’ legs and squeezed Cal’s hand. “We all were.”
I opened my mouth. Then closed it. Then opened it again. “I-I want to stress the importance of having at least one person to call in an emergency. It might be the one thing I got right. But I should’ve also gone to the police.”
Veronica tilted her head. “Why didn’t you contact the authorities?”
“I was ashamed. And my father didn’t want a scandal.”
She made a noncommittal noise. “Who was this person to you? A boyfriend? A colleague?”
“Neither.” I took a deep breath. Somehow what I had to say was harder than anything else I’d admitted. “Our mental abuse started when we were children, by our father. The person who physically abused me was the man he tried to force me to marry.”
Her lips parted.
No one knew the Hollingsworths’ nasty little secret. We weren’t the perfect family. Our father was a tyrant.
And it was time to end his reign of terror.
Chapter Thirty
Cal
“I’m so damnproud of you.”
Beau had told her story in a relatable way. She hadn’t held back. There wasn’t a question she didn’t answer for over two hours.
I hadn’t known what to make of Veronica Espisito initially, but even she’d wiped her eyes a few times.
“I just hope it helps someone.”
“It will.”
Until Beau had opened up, I hadn’t understood why she had anything to do with her father. Other than he was her family and a person was supposed to stick by them no matter what.
I’d made plenty of mistakes, just like all my brothers. That didn’t mean we gave up on each other.
But I couldn’t imagine having an entire life of this push and pull. Moments of what looked like a form of love or much-wanted attention along with absolute control. It was all she’d known.
Of course it had felt wrong, but it was compounded by the fact he was the only parent she had left. Walking away from that wouldn’t be easy for anyone.
She hadn’t wanted to cut him out. She’d wanted to fight for a relationship with him. He held all the secrets to her mother. And he was her father.
She’d held out hope he’d change.
He hadn’t.
“I’d like to go for a walk.” She grabbed two leashes.
Copper and Brutus trotted over, knowing they were for them.
“I think we’ve been adopted.” I accepted the leash she held out to me, and I bent to loop it around Copper.
“Can we have pets at our apartment?”
