Page 67 of Ellie 1

Anger filled me, tired of hearing that. “I never fucking touched her. I’ve never struck a woman in mylifeand I would—she has to stop saying that shit!”

“I didn’t say youphysicallyabused her. She didn’t either.” He hit me with the heel of his hand on my forehead. “You emotionally abused that woman, Tommy! You did.” He let out a slow breath and stood, moving away from me as if worried he might hit me again. “Fucking with her car and then laughing at her that she didn’t catch on?

“I saw the texts. You were mocking her that she was dense, and—I don’t know why she stayed that long with you even if causal. You don’t even sound like youlike herthe way you talked to her. She was clear that you’d constantly put her down even if you did it with kisses. You broke her down so her self-esteem might be shit enough to want a loser like you.”

Anger filled me and I pushed to my feet.

But the rage in his eyes made me hesitate. “If you can tell meone personon your side about any of this, I will apologize.” Hesnorted. “You can’t. You are wrong in all of this, Tommy. This—you had a lot of promise, boy, but you have become a loser. People are laughing all over ASH and Atlanta at you. It stops.”

“Fine, I’ll leave her alone and accept we’re done,” I mumbled, my brain racing even as I used magic to heal myself.

“Oh no, we’re beyond that,” Uncle Justin chuckled darkly. “And you apparently cannot control yourself. You’ve become your narcissist father and everyone else is always to blame. It’s alwayseveryone else’sfault. You’re a loser now just like him.”

I opened my mouth to defend myself but then slowly closed it. I blinked at him.

He studied me a moment. “What did you just realize? Your aura flashed fear and now you’ve gone pale.”

“I don’t…”

“I suggest you tell me because I’m still deciding what to do with you, Thomas Fitz,” he warned.

“I was going to blame her,” I whispered. “That if she hadn’t let everything get so bad and instead helped me, none of this would have happened.”

“So it’s her fault because she didn’t clean up your mess, not yours for making one?” Uncle Justin snorted. “Who does that sound like, Tommy? Who have you heard that fromexactlywhen talking about your mother even?”

My father.

I swallowed loudly as my hands started to shake and my whole body felt cold. My father always blamed Mother for everything. Making things a big deal when they weren’t. Getting emotional over trivial things.

Not helping him when he got himself in trouble with gambling.

Every. Damn. Thing. It was always Mother’s fault.

“You might have become a successful trauma surgeon instead of a two-bit hack who sold bullshit to humans beforethe wars, but you’re still a narcissist loser like him who abuses women, Tommy. And I’m not going to let you ruin the coven I’ve built into something just like your father ruined the coven our family used to lead. I won’t.”

“What does that mean for me?” I whispered, not meaning to say it out loud.

“It means you better start thinking really hard about what you’re willing to do to save what you can of the life you have,” he said firmly. “Because I’m considering jail. You can’t be a doctor then. Kicking you out of the coven is certainly on the table. All of it. So come up with something better, but a real penance, or we go my route.”

“I don’t—”

“And you have until the morning,” he continued. “We’re meeting with the head of your department.” He nodded when my eyes went wide. “I want to hear it directly from Dr. Carpenter as your supervisor and see how bad this all really is. I’ll make my decision then.”

I was fucked. I was so fucked it wasn’t even funny. Alan hated me now because he adored Ellie. Alan was my hero, and the fact I’d always been loyal to him and he’d picked Ellie was… That was a lot of my anger.

I left my uncle’s estate and drove around for a while. A couple of hours at least.

And what did I realize after driving around that long?

I had no one I could call.

No one who would help me.

No one who would listen to me.

No one who would talk it out with me and give advice.

I had… No one.

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