Page 66 of My Addiction
“I still want to ask it, then I want to tell them that I hope they burn in hell,” I say with all the conviction I can muster.
We sit in silence for a while. My hands are shaking, and I twist the seatbelt around my fingers over and over.
“Why are you nervous?”
“I’m not.” I lie. Not sure why I do. I’m more nervous now than when I ran with Ollie that night.
“You are. You’re doing the fabric thing.”
I turn to look at Ronan. “What fabric thing?” I ask.
“When you get nervous, you play with the closest piece of cloth.” He removes my fingers from the seatbelt and holds them in his hand. I forget sometimes exactly how observant Ronan is.
“I don’t know why I denied it. I’m freaking out.”
“It’ll be over soon, and they can’t hurt you,” Ronan assures me. I lean my head on his shoulder and just breathe in his smell. It’s clean and crisp, like linen dried in the sun. It fills my lungs and calms me. I’m going to confront my parents for the last time. That part of this nightmare ends today.
Chapter 36
Ronan
The roar of the engine fills the silence as we get closer to the compound. The place that my family uses to erase the abusers and predators of this world. Today, it will be the place I get peace for Colton.
“Where have you been lately?” Liam asks Conor, breaking the silence.
“None of your business.”
“Sure it is. Finn had to fill in for you twice.”
Conor smirks. “Anyone ever tell you you’re a nosy fucker? Besides, it’s more fun not to tell you. You can’t stand not knowing everything.”
I study my older brother’s profile. The tightening of his jaw is the only indication that Liam’s prodding is irritating him. I keep my mouth shut. I have trackers on everyone’s phone. None of them knows. Conor has been at the fights more in the last three months than in the last three years. He’s also been following one of the fighters around. I don’t know why, and right now I don’t care.
Liam drops it as we pull through the compound gate. A ten-foot electrified and razor-wire-topped fence protects the property. Dense woods surround it. Dad actually planted briers and thornbushes in the underbrush. He said that it was nature’s own deterrent.
After Liam parks, I lead Colton through the front door of the large structure. From the outside, it looks like a modern contemporary house. It’s a front for the structure that is buried beneath it.
“Are you ready?” I ask Colton.
“As I will ever be.”
I take his face in my hands to make him look at me. “I’m right beside you.” I kiss him and lead him to the hidden door that takes us to the cells.
Finn meets us in the hallway. “I put both parents in cell one. I thought that would be better for Colton. One stop shop.”
“Thanks.” Finn is the baby of the family, but only by eleven months. Everyone has the impression that he is the quiet one, and Liam is the loud one. Finn is the shit stirrer of the family. He does it quietly and then sits back to watch the mayhem. But he is reliable and steady when it comes to our vigilante business.
The hallway is stark white with polished concrete floors. Every surface is sealed, so no evidence will be found once it’s cleaned. I open the door and go in first. Daniel and Rebecca Peterson are tied to the metal chairs in the middle of the room, glaring at the door. I see it on their faces the moment Colton enters behind me. The hatred there was laser-focused on him. I wanted to say something, wanted to gouge their eyes from their sockets.
I hear a sharp intake of breath behind me, and turning, I see Colton standing rigid in the doorway. His body seems to be locked in place. His breathing is getting harder, and his eyes are wide as he stares at his parents. I reach out and grip the base of his neck. Pressing on his nape makes him look at me instead.
“They can’t hurt you. I’m right here with you.”
He nods his head and walks fully into the room.
“I hate you both,” he says quietly. “I hate you with every cell in my body. I hate what you did to me, what you were going to do to Ollie. And for what you did to those other kids. I just want to know why.”
I gesture to Conor to remove the tape and gags from their mouths. I want them to answer him. But years of doing this sort of thing have shown me that he is not going to get the answers he wants. Conor rips the tape from the father first, then the mother. There are angry red patches where the skin was just seconds before. When the tape is removed from his mother, she starts the tears.
