“But… but Auntie, I have to tell them. They can find mommy and help her. Help you,” Mia whispers sadly, then she looks at the detectives. “Please help my mommy and auntie, Mr. Officer, please.”
She uses a voice so small that sheds a light on her inner anguish that for a moment, even the detectives and doctor look stunned and sympathetic at her.
“Please,” she repeats, looking around the room at anyone, but at me. She’s effectively shutting me out.
“We’re here to help,” one of the detectives assures, then with a look to the doctor, he goes on. “If it isn’t too much for you, can you tell us, is there anything else you can remember of this incident?”
Mia nods mutely, briefly glancing at Nicky.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Nathan snaps, fidgeting in front of the cop. “Are you going to actually do this?”
“Sor, please shut up or I’ll ask you to leave.”
“No, I want to hear what she has to say.”
“No, you want to threaten her to keep her mouth shut about what you did, you piece of shit!” Dad seethes behind me. He’s obviously losing his temper now, hearing what his brother has done in the dark where no one was the wiser.
“This is your fault!” Nathan shouts, pointing at my dad, then at me.
“Mr. Montague, this is your last warning,” the detective says. Nathan falls silent, his face is puffy and red, as if he’s going to blow at any second.
Yes, you’re about to het fucked, you motherfucker.
“Please, do go on. What else do you recall?”
“I remember I could hear the sound of flesh being beaten up. I ran to help my mom only to see my aunt crying on the floor, my mom fighting, begging… begging him not to…”
When she trails off again, I hear the truth in the words.
“Begging him to…”
Mia mutely shakes her head as Nathan’s breathing becomes loud, almost crazed and out of control.
It’s in that moment that I realize I don’t really know much about Mia’s past.
She never volunteered anything, and honestly, I never asked.
I didn’t want the reciprocity of that torture inquisition, scared of what she might find, but now as she refuses to look at me, her battered and bruised face pale as she cries, I can’t help but torture myself some more.
Is it fucking possible that maybe she thought the same of me? That I’d judge her past when it was so clearly out of her control and not her fault? With my luck, and her devious nature, it’s highly likely, which only reinforces one thing.
She belongs to me.
Fuck this all to hell.
“Miss. Montague?” the detective prompts.
“Do you know where my mother is?” Mia whispers, distress in her voice as she starts fidgeting.
“Your mother?” the detectives look confused at Nicky.
“Mia sweety, Nancy…” Fuck, she might not be ready for this because immediately, she starts shaking. “It’s all right Mia, you’re safe.”
“I… I can’t,” she whispers in a voice so small, so broken, so full of dread, my protective instincts kick in. I know we should tell her that Nancy is gone but there’s something she’s trying to say about Nathan.
“You can, baby,” I whisper, shaking the hold on my shoulder so I can get close to her. “What is it?”
Mia looks at me, and the tears starts falling.
Fuck, how many times am I supposed to break? The hold this girl has on me…
She swallows, then nods slowly.
“It’s okay,” I whisper, my fucking voice craggy. She nods, her eyes wide, blinking slowly at me.
“Can you check the house please?” Mia asks the detectives.
“Can we ask why?” the doctor asks.
Nicky starts weeping silently, clutching her chest.
“Because he always locks her up after he beats her.”
“Jesus,” I hear Dad seethe behind me. “You sonofabitch!”
“What?!” Nathan blows up, taking a threatening step closer to Mia’s bed. “I don’t…”
Mia jumps.
“Get him out of here!” one of the detectives demands. “He’s scaring her.”
“He does that to Auntie too,” Mia cries and looks at Nicky. “Auntie, are you all right?”
“Oh Mia,” Nicky cries. “He… he’s a monster.”
At that, Nathan the fucked up asshole starts fighting. It takes both cops to hold him back. “You stupid bitch! You’re lying!”
“I was so afraid of saying anything,” Nicky says, looking down at Mia then to the cops. “He beat me up and forced me sign away my rights to my own child.”
“Your… child?” Mia croaks, her eyes wide.
“Yes, baby,” Nicky whispers.
“So, I’m… I’m your daughter?”
“Oh God, yes, Mia.”
Mia is silent for a while. Looking wildly around the room.
“What about… mom? Nancy?” Mia whispers hoarsely.
“She’s lying, princess! Nancy is dead!” Nathan shouts from the door, fighting the cops.
“Yes, because you killed her!” Nicky fires back. And with those words, chaos breaks in the room.
“What?” Mia gasps silently, then she looks at me.
The machine starts beeping incessantly now.
“Leave me alone!” Nathan shouts. “I’m not the criminal here! His son is! Arrest him. Now!”
“Stop resisting!”
The man is a despicable piece of shit and for hurting Mia, he’s going to get a taste of his own shit. I don’t give a damn if the cops intervene or not.
“No! Princess, tell them! Remember you told me that someone hurt you? You remember that, right?” Nathan shouts. With my fucking soul about to be expunged out of my body, I watch as Mia looks at Nathan, her gaze hooded, not revealing a thing. “You told me that someone hurt you and you told me his name. Isn’t that the insolent bastard who kidnapped you, assaulted and hurt you?”
“You’re leading her on! We don’t even know what she knows or what she remembers!” Nicky says in a rush.
“Tell these cops that he’s the one who hurt you!” Nathan demands, his words clipped as he stares down at Mia.
“Mr. Montague, please,” the doctor says, effectively cutting him off. Nathan looks at Mia, then to the doctor and Nicky. Silent but angry, the bastard steps back. “Do you remember what happened to you?”
Mia doesn’t react for a second, a second that drags on for an eternity.
I feel like I’m on a fucking bed of blazing hot stones as the weight if her answer pressed down on my chest.
If she says ‘no’ then there’s no way she’ll be able to tell the cops who took her or what exactly happened to her… Hell, someone will have to fucking explain it all to her and yet, she can’t even take Nancy’s death right now.
The devastation of that knowledge threatens to crash me, breaking me down until I’m nothing but still, I can’t look away, biting my own tongue until I draw blood.
She’s silent and then she… shakes her head mutely, her eyes wide with fright.
FUCK!
“Do you remember what happened?” She nods. “Can you tell us?”