Page 118 of Tristano

“No, honey. He didn’t make it. I’m so sorry.”

My wails from that day are so vivid it’s as if I’m living it today. Tears fill my eyes as I realize what he’s admitting. He killed my grandfather. He’s going to kill me too.

God, why didn’t I text Tris? It didn’t even cross my mind to. He was right about me. I make selfish decisions that are reckless. They put me in situations that could be avoided if I would just trust someone.

I should have trusted him.

If I end up making it out of this, I won’t make this mistake again.

“You killed him,” I whimper.

“I did. It hurt too. I really did love him like a father. Then I had to take you in. How would it look if I let you go into care when everyone knew how close I was to the family. Thankfully, I had Nigel here.”

“You were supposed to be mine,” Nigel spits at me. “He promised that if I took care of you that I could have you as soon as you turned eighteen. You were going to marry me and be my wife to do with whatever I pleased. I was good. I didn’t touch you. Then you had to go and soil yourself.”

“What are you talking about?” I’m genuinely confused.

None of this makes sense. How could I have lived with these men for years and not see them for what they truly are?

“You had to go to that rave and get raped. Chief wouldn’t let me have you after that. Said you would rot my dick off.” He sneers at me.

Nigel always treated me like a brat. Like he hated me. He’s right that he never touched me inappropriately, but he would push me around and make demands of me. Is that the kind of husband he planned to be?

The rave is the made-up lie I gave them when I came back that night. I thought I would hate the man who hurt me forever, but for this one moment, I’m thankful for him. What kind of life would I have had if they had bowled over me until I gave into his request for marriage?

I have no doubt I would have agreed to it. Tris would have never been in my life so I would have never had anything else to hope for.

That terrible night changed my life in more ways than one.

“Why let me become a cop?”

“You wanted to throw yourself into danger, and hell, you were already a whore. I saw a good way to keep an eye on you while solving some other issues I had. Mayor Johnson was the latest. He refused to see things my way, so I took him down using the vice he loved most. Little girls. Do you know how many little girls I delivered him?” Uncle Ben chuckles. “It has to have been hundreds over the years. You were the tool who took him down, but only because I allowed it.”

My heart catches. He fed him girls. These men are vile. Unremorseful. Evil.

How did I not see it before?

“Ricky?” I whisper.

The man I trusted to have my back. Who always seemed to care. Was he in on it too?

He shakes his head. “You think I’d let him in on this? Nah, I had to keep things in-house to a small circle.”

I let out a relieved sigh. Sitting on the very edge of the couch, I reach back and pat Meredith on the thigh. My other hand curls around the cushion.

That’s when I feel it. The knife I’d left there the last time I stayed here. I had shoved it under the cushion as I took a nap. I meant to take it back with me, but Ricky called with an emergency and I forgot.

Thank God.

“Don’t sound so relieved. He’s not going to save you. No one even knows we are here. I decommissioned this safe house months ago. Now no one knows it even exists. I erased it from the system.”

He moves closer as he speaks. I wait until he’s within range before I make my move.

It all happens so fast.

One second, I’m on the couch. The next, I’ve swept Uncle Ben off his feet and somehow ended up on top of him, my hands stabbing him over and over.

I don’t know how long I stab him, but when I look up, I expect to see Nigel ready to kill me.

---