Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 94598 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94598 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
“Why did you leave this morning without talking to me?” Phoenix asked.
“Because I knew you’d try to stop me.”
“Stop you from what?”
But I shook my head. “I just wanted one last day with Henry. I went to see Father O to tell him I wouldn’t be able to volunteer at the soup kitchen anymore, but he told me you got a call about Amani.” I lifted my eyes to his. “Is she okay?” I asked.
He nodded. “She’s fine. There was an issue with her feeding tube, but they got it sorted out by the time I got there.”
Thank God.
“Levi, why did you need one more day with Henry? Why can’t you volunteer here anymore?”
I shook my head again, but when Phoenix kissed my temple and whispered, “Please tell me,” I caved.
“Because I don’t want to live like this anymore. I knew T wouldn’t stop and I didn’t want Betty to get hurt so I knew I had to go to the cops. T…T and Gun hurt Hank. Because of me…to get to me. I knew it was never going to stop so I was going to tell the cops about T and what he wanted to do to Betty and then I was going to tell them what happened that night. I just needed time to say goodbye to Henry and call Children’s Services…I wanted them to take him away from Dina so she and my father couldn’t do to him what he and Ricky did to me.”
I felt Phoenix’s hand rubbing my back, but when he rubbed over my shoulder, I winced. His hand stilled. “Are you hurt?” he asked.
I shook him off and climbed to my feet.
I didn’t dare approach Seth, but I made sure to face him when I said, “You deserve justice for everything that happened that night. I don’t know where Jed is, but my brother, Ricky, is dead. He’s the one who hurt your mom,” I managed to say. “I wanted to give you the chance to confront me in a courtroom, but you can do it here too. I don’t care. I’ll listen to anything you want to say to me and then you can decide my punishment. Whether it’s prison or death, it doesn’t matter. I deserve it. All of it.”
Seth still had ahold of Ronan’s hand, but he didn’t say anything at first. When he went to open his mouth, Phoenix cut him off.
“Seth, I need to ask you a question before you say anything.”
Seth’s eyes shifted to Phoenix before he nodded.
“That night…do you remember anything that happened after you were stabbed?”
“Bits and pieces,” Seth said softly. “The man with the snake tattoo coming at me, someone screaming the word no, the paramedics telling me to hang on.”
“After you were stabbed, did you move at all?”
“No,” he said with a shake of his head. “I don’t think so.”
“He didn’t,” Ronan said. “I saw the crime scene. The paramedics worked on him in the same spot he was stabbed…I could tell from the amount of blood on the floor. Most of it was limited to the spot where Seth and his father were attacked.”
I was certain I was going to be sick again as an image of Fred Nichols went through my head.
“Seth, if you didn’t move, who called 911?”
“What?” he asked as his brow furrowed in confusion.
“Who notified the paramedics?”
Seth turned to glance at his husband, but Ronan shook his head. “Your mother?” he asked.
“No, my parents didn’t keep a phone in the bedroom…not even their cell phones. My mom didn’t like how many calls my dad would get, even at night, so they left their phones downstairs when they went to bed.”
“Seth, while Jed was attacking you, Levi managed to call 911 from your house’s landline. He wasn’t sure if the call got through or not because he had to hide it from Jed. I had Daisy check the 911 records. The call did come from your house and not a neighbor who might have heard something. And that voice you heard saying no was Levi’s. He said it right before Ricky discovered him making that call…and then stabbed him.”
Seth’s eyes shifted to me.
“It doesn’t matter,” I said. “It doesn’t change anything.”
“Yes, it does,” Seth said.
“No! It doesn’t! I saw the way you looked at me when I put that tape on your mouth. You were begging me to help you! And I did nothing!”
“Damn it, Levi!” Phoenix shouted. “There was nothing you could do! Your gun wasn’t loaded, your brother and Jed were armed with guns and knives! You were a scared sixteen-year-old kid dealing with two psychopaths bent on murder!”
When Phoenix tried to grab me, I twisted free of his hold. “It doesn’t matter!”
“Levi.”
The sound of Seth’s voice had me quieting and I turned to face him.
“I remember that moment too…when you put the tape on my mouth. Yes, I was terrified, but I saw the same thing in your eyes. Not that you didn’t want to help me, but that you couldn’t help me.”