Page 94 of Dark Tangled Truths
What if I can’t stay here? What if we have to disconnect Damon’s cameras?
“They didn’t happen often, and came from different numbers. I didn’t always check on you, Evan.” Mom reaches across the table for my hand. “Are you okay? Why are you so pale?”
I set my fork on my plate and give up all pretense of eating. My mind spins with all the possibilities. I need to know everything. “Why did we move from the apartments, and why didn’t you want to go back there?”
Something happened. I know it did. I never questioned it because I wanted away from Jackson.
Mom puts her hand to her throat and sits back in her chair.
“You should tell her,” Adam says.
It hurts to know she trusted Adam with this and not me.
“The apartment building was inexpensive. It was what I needed to be able to get ahead on some debts.” Mom clutches her neck like she doesn’t want to tell me any of this. Her gaze remains on her plate. “I figured if we could make it a year we’d be able to save up for somewhere better. Somewhere safer.”
I lean back in my chair and watch her as if she’s a movie.
She sighs and lifts her gaze to mine. “Our next door neighbor was a cop, and I thought that would make us safer, but his wife seemed to think he had a thing for me.” Mom shakes her head. “She’d bitch at me about the simplest things. Like you left your wet shoes out in the hallway once. Or how you slammed the doors in the apartment, which you didn’t. I could have lived with that, with her nitpicking.”
“What made you move out?” I lean forward, expecting something like the husband finally made a move.
She reaches for Adam and he takes her hand. “Someone was breaking into our apartment when we weren’t there. At first I didn’t notice, but things would be moved or something little would be missing. I figured you moved it.”
My breath catches. It’s reasonable to believe it was me. “What made you realize someone else was doing it?”
“I noticed I was missing some panties.” Mom stops and covers her mouth for a second, and then she meets my eyes. “I didn’t want you to worry. When I realized what was happening, I rented the house the next day after staying up all night with a baseball bat and my cellphone next to me.”
It’s hard to think. I wouldn’t know if I was missing anything while we lived there. What if it was Jackson breaking in? What if it was some other monster?
Mom looks down at her plate before lifting her gaze to mine. Her eyes shimmer with unshed tears, and distress lingers in the depths. “I did what I thought would make it all go away. I rented the house, changed our phones, and got us out of there. I bought that security system and used it faithfully for months. Fuck, I was tempted to change our names and move towns, but I couldn’t take you from your program at school. Jason would have never forgiven me, and it wouldn’t be fair to you.”
She wanted to take me from here? Someone had been in our apartment, and I didn’t know? Energy flows through me with no outlet, releasing me from fear’s hold.
“Why did you keep this from me?” I jerk to my feet.
“I didn’t want to scare you. To have you looking over your shoulder every moment. I wanted us to feel safe. You were sixteen, and I was supposed to be the parent. This was what I could do.” Mom looks down at the table before looking up at me. “I thought it was someone trying to make me move. Maybe ourneighbor. Maybe someone else. That apartment building wasn’t good. So as soon as I could, I got us out, but then the house cost so much more. I worked overtime to try to make it work, but they wanted to raise our rent this year. I couldn’t tell you we were practically broke. I didn’t want you to worry. You seemed so happy, like everything was going your way. Adam—” She cuts herself off.
My heartbeat is erratic. Was that the real reason someone did that? To get us to move? Is that threat gone or has it just taken a new shape? How safe am I? Did they break in while I was there? How would I have known? Damon was in my house when I was asleep, and I never knew. Could this person have done the same, and I never would have known?
I struggle to work through the problem.
This doesn’t make sense. I was alone a lot in our house. If it was Jackson, why stop? Maybe what happened at the apartment wasn’t related to Jackson. Maybe they accomplished their goal—to scare my mom into moving. Otherwise, what were they waiting for? Why not strike when I was alone in our old house?
While this house is far more secure than that apartment, I’m glad Damon kept me to himself in his room. That he hoarded me in his bed like treasured gold while calling me his.
There were all those nights she left me alone in our old house. When I was unaware of any danger. Damon snuck in. What if he wasn’t the first? What if whoever broke in was more careful about what they took? What if they’d taken me?
I’m cold all over. I can’t settle on a single thought. My voice is stuck in my throat with so many questions tangled around it.
Mom takes a breath and meets my eyes. “Adam and I were dating when they gave me the new lease agreement. When I showed it to him, he asked me to move in with him. Even though I already knew I loved him, I figured it was too soon. I thought I’d be able to find something else for us, but the only apartmentsavailable were back at that apartment building, and I couldn’t bring you back there.”
Between here and there, here was definitely the only option. What would I have done if we’d had to move to the apartments? I knew about Jackson, but I didn’t know about the other parts. Is it possible Jackson was the one who broke in? Could he have felt the same way Damon did about my mom? That my mom wasn’t there for me and was trying to force her hand? Or did he want her to be afraid that I could slip out of her life in a moment?
I glance at my phone. I never told her about Jackson. Never told her about the boy I was secretly seeing while she was working. Was he my stalker? Was he the person creeping in our house? Would things be different if I had?
Mom clears her throat, and I lift my gaze to hers.
“I finally accepted this would be the safest place for us. I don’t know if what’s happening now is related to anything that happened at the apartment complex. But when Adam showed me the room next to Damon, I figured it would be safer to have someone nearby in such a big house.” Mom plays with her fork on her plate. “I believed we left it behind when we left that apartment building.”
