Page 102 of Marked

“No. I…I’m not sure what you want me to say, Harley.” She drops her hands into her lap. “Today is–”

“Your fault.” I raise my chin. “Dad’s fault, too. But you…you gave me and Quinn to those men.”

“No.” She shakes her head. “That’s not how it happened,” she says with force. Her eyes harden. “I tried. I did. To save you both.”

“You were barely in the room with us, and when you were, you were fine. They never touched you. Only me and Quinn!” I slam my hand on the table. The lies. So many over the years. I’ve had my full of them. There’s no more room in my soul to hold them.

“They kept me in the office. Yes.” She nods, side-eyeing Zack. “Is he doing this? Is he putting these horrible ideas in your head?”

Zack leans against the counter, one foot casually hookedover the other, his arms folded over his chest. He’s just listening. All the room in here is for me. He’s not crowding any of the space.

“No. I remember. I remember screaming for you. I remember Quinn crying for you.” Tears choke me.

“You think those sounds don’t haunt me every day?” Her voice cracks. “They didn’t have me in the same room with you because they had me tied up in the office. They had cameras on you, and they forced me to watch—" A sob breaks through. “They made me watch the terrible things they did and if I refused, they would hurt both of you.”

I shake my head, unsure where to put this information.

“They broke Quinn’s nose,” she blurts. “They were hurting you, and I refused to watch. I shut my eyes and I starting humming really loud so I couldn’t hear you crying. And they went out and punched her so hard in the face, blood squirted out of her nose.” A sob breaks from her chest. It’s filled with agony, pure agony.

She’s not faking this.

“Your husband took out a loan with Jimmy Blackwood.” Zack cuts in when I’m too shaken to speak.

“Yes.” Mom nods. “He did. The medical bills were killing us. They were going to take the house, our car. There was no hope, he knew that. So, he took the money.”

My heart clenches.

“I agreed to be the collateral, knowing I could never make the payments. I figured you and your sister would go live with Aunt Phyllis in California when it was done. You’d be together.” She sniffs. “I was so scared, so unsure of what to do. And I loved him so much. The idea of living without him…of not being able to take care of you two….” She shakes her head, like she can get rid of it all. “You would have been together.”

“Aunt Phyllis? She died, Mom.” I find the flaw in her lie.

She frowns. “Yes, she did. I found out she died theday before they came for me. I begged them to let me find another way.”

The pain balloons in my chest. “You did. Us.”

“No!” She hits the table. “Do you think those people are reasonable? When I begged for another way, they said sure…they barged into the house, they kidnapped all three of us. I had no say, no control after that.”

I close my eyes, letting the horrible images from years ago bombard me.

Mom screaming as three men pushed past her into the living room where Quinn and I were watching music videos.

“They didn’t hurt you though, only us.”

“Just because I didn’t tell you about what they did, doesn’t mean they didn’t do it,” she says coldly.

Zack stands behind me, squeezing my shoulders.

“You knew Agent Laurens was dirty.” I move on. The memories are too strong, too vivid now.

“I did. She met us at the hospital, she did a good job of pretending to care. But when we were home, she came over and explained how things needed to go to keep you safe.”

“Me?”

“In some ways, Harley, I’ve never left that room. When you lost the memories, it was a gift. If you had spoken up, if I had told the truth, they would have gotten to you.”

“Isn’t that what you wanted?” I shout. “You told them to kill me!”

She grabs my hands, holds tight. “No! Don’t you remember? I told them I choose me. I chose me!”

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