Wicked Liar (Dark Syndicate 3)

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Dominic

Once she was all cried out, I managed to get her cleaned up then placed her in the bath where she sat in silence for over an hour.It was like she was trapped in her mind.

I just sat on the floor watching her silent numbness, thinking about what she told me about her fucking uncle.He raped her and her mother too.Candace also said he wasn't alone.Fucking fuck, she was just a child.I can't imagine what hell she must have gone through.

Lucas Ricci, you are dead when I find you.

That fucking dog was always the first person to step through the church doors on Sunday morning.That fucker would sit on the front pew near Father DeLucca like he was St. Peter guarding the gates to heaven.Ma insisted that we went to church, I never knew such devils would be there too.

I can't believe it. I just can't and I feel like a failure for not following my instincts when I knew I should have.

When the water went cold, I took Candace out of the bath and put her to bed.

No words were spoken. It was like she was set on autopilot.Going through the motions until she fell asleep.Then she must have slept for an hour before she jumped out of the bed and ran to the bathroom where she spent another hour throwing up.

As I watch over her I think it's time to tell her the truth.

My truth.

Everything. From start to finish.Beginning, middle, end. I can’t change the past but I can change the wicked lies.

I think we both know that the worst kind of lies are the ones you allow a person to believe.The truths they come to believe based on your actions that fool them.

No more of it.

When morning dawns, I'm ready to talk and I have everything prepared.

She wakes up with the sun and as she sits up her eyes land on me over by the window.

Embarrassment fills her pretty face along with dread and she looks like she doesn't know what to say to me first.

“Morning,” I say, sitting forward.

“Hi.” A blush sweeps down her neck.

“How are you feeling, Angel?”

“Terrible.”

I move over to her and sit on the edge of the bed.

We stare at each other, and the silence that fills the space between us is deafening.

"I guess now you know the truth about me," she says, looking down at her fingers.

"I wish you'd told me what was happening before."

"I couldn't." She looks back at me.

"Tell me, everything Angel." I want to know the rest.Last night was just the tip of the shit.

She hugs her knees to her chest and focuses on me.It's the first time I feel like she's ready to talk about everything.

"Things were bad with us when I was thirteen," she begins."My father got into trouble and owed a lot of money.He took a job Uncle Lucas found him.He didn't know that the whole thing was a plan to get him away from my mother because my uncle was in love with her.Or that my uncle was a twisted son of a bitch.He turned her into a prostitute, telling her shit that she'd help my father pay off his debts.It wasn't so. I first saw Tobias with my mother.It's worse than what I'm saying to you, though.I walked in on things no child should see.Then when Uncle Lucas knew I knew what was going on, he came for me.He abused me for two years and stopped the week my parents died."

Jesus Christ. I feel like killing something or shooting up the fucking place.