Page 226 of Mayhem and Minnie

“What do you mean?”

She appears deep in thought for a moment before she says, “I need to speak to your mother.”

“What? What do you think my mother is going to do, Minnie? That idiot needs to be held accountable for what he’s done and Cara needs a restraining order against him,” I tell her.

She shakes her head.

“Did you see how he reacted when I spilled the champagne on him?” she asks absentmindedly.

“I don’t see what that has to do with?—”

“It burned him. It burned his skin,” she adds.

“What?”

“We need to find your mother. I need to know something.”

She takes my hand and leads me back to the party.

Scanning the area, she spots my mother and Giles.

“There. Come.”

“What’s this about?” I keep asking, but she doesn’t answer.

“Oh, there you are, dear,” my mother says with a smile as we reach her.

“How long has Julien been with Cara?” Minnie asks directly.

My mother blinks and raises her brows in question.

“Let me think… Six months? Around that time. But why are you curious about that? You can ask him yourself.”

“And how long has he been abusing her for?”

“Minnie,” I hiss.

Mother’s eyes widen in shock. “W-what?”

“How long has he been abusing her for?” she repeats.

“I don’t… That is… What?” Mother stammers, her expression filled with shock.

Minnie then turns to Giles. “Do you know?”

Giles presses his lips together and sighs.

“I met Julien four months ago at an event. Things were strenuous between him and Cara, but I didn’t see any evidence of abuse.”

Minnie nods slowly.

“Abuse? But how could you even think of that? My Julien would never,” my mother exclaims.

“Cara’s arm is full of bruises, Mother. It’s bad,” I add with a sigh. “We just came across Julien being rough with Cara upstairs too. Her neck was red.”

“No. Maybe they had an argument or something. You can’t think Julien would do that. Not after what happened with your father…”

“I would have thought so too, but that girl is traumatized, Mother. Surely you noticed,” I add.

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