Page 39 of Love & Vendettas

I knew that she was right when she said it, but still, I held out hope. Not my sister. Not right under my nose.

“How long has this been going on, Riley?” I ask.

She looks away out onto the waterfall at the rear of our backyard.

“Riley.”

She sighs. “It’s been an on-again and off-again thing since the third year we were together, but it was nothing more than a slap here and there.”

“Nothing more than? Our mama and daddy didn’t slap us. What the fuck gives him the right to do that to you? How did you accept that shit from him, Riley? You never saw that in our household growing up.”

“He apologized, and it would only happen after something really crazy. Maybe he was stressed, or lost his job, or things like that.”

“No excuses,” I fume.

My sister looks at me, and she removes her sunglasses and sets them on the table. Grabbing a tissue, she dabs at her eyes, and fury rises in me again as I see the swelling and discolorations from the bruises on her face.

She doesn’t look as bad as she did that first day, but it’s bad enough.

Riley widens her eyes and then looks at me in astonishment. “Bayleigh!”

“What?” I ask, alarmed at the fear I hear in her voice.

“You don’t think . . . you don’t think that Zaire did anything to him, do you?”

“Anything like what? Un-alived him? I hope to God he did,” I seethe.

She bursts into another round of tears again, and I feel like it’s a lost cause. If that bastard shows up again, I suspect she’ll run right back to him.

“Don’t say that, Bayleigh,” she cries.

“Why? He deserves that, at least. That muthafucka deserved to be burned alive!”

“Bayleigh!”

The plea in her voice tears at me. Not because I don’t think that Kenny deserves it. That’s the least he deserves. It’s because I don’t want to hurt my sister any more than she already is hurting.

“Riley,” I say, pushing off my lounge chair and squeezing onto the one that she’s sitting on. I wrap my arms around my little sister.

Riley’s shoulders shake as she buries her face against my chest, crying her heart out.

“I don’t mean to hurt you, Riley. I’m sorry if my words did that. I just can’t believe that he’s been taking you through this bullshit all these years. That’s not what I would have wanted foryou. Neither would Mama, Daddy, Quinton, or Chase. You’re the baby. We’ve spent our lives protecting you.”

“I know,” she cries.

“You deserve nothing but the best, honey. You’re so compassionate and thoughtful when it comes to others. You give of yourself and your time unselfishly. You love hard, and you’re beautiful and intelligent. You deserve nothing but the best, honey.”

“It’s not always bad times, though, Bayleigh.”

Gripping her chin firmly, I tilt her head up to look at me.

“Any time he puts his hands on you, it nullifies any good times that you could have had,” I say.

“I know,” she replies softly.

“Do you? Because I don’t think that you do.”

Riley lowers her eyes again, and an idea comes to mind.

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