Even as weak and trembling as he was, Mr. Peters resisted my efforts to move him. Still clutching my phone in his quaking hand, he whispered, “I can’t risk my grandkids,” under his breath. I nodded and put a finger to my lips after motioning that he should stay put. I pointed to the phone and lifted my eyebrows, telling him he should keep the call connected so Huck could hear what was going on through the connection. I would bet every single thing I owned that he was already on his way to the old man’s house and cursing me out with every breath he took. Between him and Vernon, not only did I expect one of them to ride to the rescue, but also for them to have called the police by now.
There was no reason for me to walk into the lion’s den. It was stupid. It was dangerous. It was reckless.
But I was going in anyway.
I was done running from everything that might be bigger than me. I was tired of letting other people make me feel small and powerless. I was sick of not feeling like I was in control of my own destiny.
I was done being afraid all the time.
If I couldn’t face my fears now when I knew I had backup on the way, when else would I be able to?
If I didn’t go inside right now, I was giving up all the hard-won progress I’d made toward living a normal life.
“Okay. Let me put this medicine in the kitchen, then I’ll take you to the doctor, Mr. Peters. You just sit here by the door. You look really pale. You should’ve called me sooner if you were feeling so poorly.” I spoke loudly so whoever was inside could hear me and know I was coming in alone.
After dropping everything on the floor by the entryway that I had I hauled with me, I clutched the pepper spray in my hand and quietly tiptoed my way through the house. I knew it couldn’t be Sawyer terrorizing my elderly landlord. And I didn’t think my wayward one-night stand would be bold enough to lure me to the house after dealing with an angry Huck. Considering Mr. Peters indicated the way his harasser got him to call me to his place was by threatening his grandkids, there was only one other person I was absolutely sure could be that cruel and callous… the person who turned Sawyer into the monster he was. His mother.
Sure enough, as soon as I slipped into the normally tidy kitchen, I encountered the woman I hadn’t seen since she made my teenage years a living hell. She looked just as polished and wealthy as ever. She was even sipping nonchalantly on a cup of coffee from where she leaned against the counter in my landlord’s home. It would almost look like a scene from an HGTV show, except for a nasty handgun on the countertop in front of the elegantly dressed woman. That and the pure, unfiltered hatred shining in her crazy eyes.
How could someone have everything… except a heart? Or any sense of right and wrong.
I kept my hand with the pepper spray behind my back and met the angry woman’s hostile gaze. I used to be scared to death of her because she was so willing to do anything to make her son happy. It was almost like the rest of us weren’t human and had no value or reason to exist beyond our usefulness to him.
“You really came all the way here and threatened an old man and his grandkids, Mrs. Richman?”
One of her perfectly groomed eyebrows arched upward as she sneered at me over the rim of the coffee cup. “You’re the one who should be locked up. We both know you were the one driving the night of the accident, not Huck. You tried to kill yourself, and almost took Sawyer and Huck with you. I’m convinced of it. You’ve always been weak and pathetic, Olivia. I’ll never understand why my son was so obsessed with you. You were never worthy of his time or affection.”
She reached out a finger and tapped the handle of the weapon in front of her. “Regardless, my Sawyer hasn’t been the same since you left. Something inside of him is broken, and the only way to fix it is to bring you back to him. I knew you wouldn’t come if I asked nicely, and I knew there was no way my husband’s bastard would let anyone else get close to you, so I decided to bring you back myself. You’re going to fix Sawyer, Olivia. You owe us after everything we did for you and your mother.”
I balked and curled my fingers even tighter around the canister hidden behind my back. I was going back over my dead body.
“You’re underestimating how well I can take care of myself. All I ever wanted was to get away from Sawyer. I’m okay on my own. I miss my mom, but I’m grateful every single day you can no longer use her against me.”
I was fortunate I found Huck and that we had reconciled, but I knew now that I could go on without him if I had to. He was my safe space in this chaotic and ruthless world. It was a treasured, hallowed place for sure. But he didn’t make up the entirety of my world the way I had for Sawyer.
Mrs. Richman shrieked and slammed her coffee mug down on the counter with enough force it broke. I flinched as she reached for the handgun, eyes going wide and wild as she continued to scream at me.
“You should’ve died that night! Everything is your fault! I lost my son because of you! I lost my husband because of you! Do you know how people have looked at me since Sawyer went away? As if something is wrong with him. Like I was a bad mother. The world will be a better place without you in it!”
Her tirade was interesting, yet not at all surprising. Huck’s dad had finally had enough and cut this awful woman loose? That would make why she had finally gone fully over the edge a little more understandable. All she had ever cared about was how much she had and how much she could keep others from having.
I recoiled when she suddenly pointed the gun at me, but I could tell by the awkward way she held it, she was unfamiliar with the weapon.
“You can threaten my landlord, my friends, and Huck. None of that is going to make Sawyer well or earn you any points with Huck’s dad. At the rate you’re going, you’re going to end up in prison. Without your husband’s name behind you, you’re finally going to have to see how the justice system works for those who can’t negotiate or barter for their innocence. If you end up behind bars, how are you ever going to check on Sawyer? How are you going to take care of him once he’s released from that facility? No one, and I mean no one, is going to be there for him besides you. Is that what you want? Have you really thought this through, Mrs. Richman?” Even if she did manage to drag me back to the mansion, Sawyer was in a facility where going to see him was a whole ordeal. Her threats served no purpose. She was just looking for someone to blame for her shortcomings.
She looked at me and then at the gun in her hand. Her maniacal gaze sharpened, and the look on her face was enough to make my blood go ice cold. “Of course that’s not what I want. What I want is for you to tell my son you love him. Promise you’ll be with him forever. Make him feel like he’s your favorite for once in your pathetic life. I want you to make him the way he was before you broke him by abandoning him. What I really want is for you to die the way you should have the night of the accident. You should be the one ready to take your own life, not my Sawyer. He’s destined for greatness. You’re destined for…” she sneered a little and waved the gun in the air. “For nothing more than that heathen I was forced to share my home and my husband with.”
She wasn’t wrong.
I was pretty sure I was destined to be with Huck as well.
“I was never even slightly tempted to kill myself. Not even when Sawyer made me question if I had a life worth living. That night I was driving and I lost control because of him. It wasn’t even an accident. That’s it.” Not that she would believe a word I had to say about that night anyway. “I’m sorry it happened, but whatever you think you’re going to do to me won’t change anything. I’m not going anywhere, and Sawyer won’t magically get better. All you’re going to do is make more enemies. Do you really want to get on Huck’s bad side now that you’re no longer in his father’s good graces? You have no idea how much smarter and how completely unforgiving he’s become since you and his dad forced him out on his own. He won’t hold back if you hurt me.”