Page 190 of Golden Atonement

Sighing, my wife turned to Jesse. “Tell me you didn’t?”

“I swear, Mom. It wasn’t me this time. I promise!”

“Liar!”

“Uh, Emma?” Ink snickered, getting the angry teen’s attention, pointing to something behind her. We all turned and stared while Snickers, my daughter’s silver pit bull, sat wagging her tail, her face painted in many colors.

“See!” Jesse laughed. “Told ya it wasn’t me!”

Sighing, my wife tried to be the peacemaker. “Emma, after school, I will take you to replace what you need. In the meantime, you can borrow mine.”

“And what? Look like a whore.”

Before I could move, Remi’s hand shot out and slapped Emma across the face.

No one moved.

No one breathed.

With tears running down her face, my wife stood straight and clearly said, “Jesse, go finish getting dressed. Massacre will take you to school.”

“Sure,” Mass muttered, all laughter now gone as he got to his feet. “Come on, kid. We’ll stop and get breakfast too.”

“If you all don’t mind, Max and I need to have a moment alone with Emma,” my wife added, never taking her eyes off the teen, who stood stock still, holding the right side of her face.

As my brothers filed out of my house, I walked over to my wife, standing behind her while she simply said, “Apologize.”

When Emma refused to say the words, I growled, “Now.”

“I will not. It’s the fucking truth and you know it, Dad.”

“What is?” Remi asked too calmly for my tastes.

“That you are a whore. I saw the pictures.”

Moving Remi behind me, I sneered, “What the fuck are you talking about, Emma? What pictures?”

“The ones Angelica Morales showed me. You married a fucking whore!”

“Oh God,” Remi gasped, hiding her face behind her hands.

“Your slut wouldn’t tell me anything, so I asked Angelica. She told me everything!” Emma screamed, tears running down her face. “You married a Russian slut. She spread her legs for any man who wanted her. She’s nothing but a whore and you... you raped my mother!”

Stumbling, I took a step back, as if she slapped me.

I couldn’t speak.

What could I say?

Technically, she was right.

Sitting on the couch next to Remi, neither one of us said a fucking word as Logic leaned forward and said, “Look, guys, I’m just gonna lay this shit out for you. It’s going to get worse before it gets better. Right now, Emma’s mind is all messed up. She doesn’t know what to believe or who to trust, and no one is telling her anything.”

“We just wanted to protect her from all of this,” Remi whispered, sniffling while she wiped her tears away.

“And until a year ago, you two had done an admirable job, but both of you know that life will always find a way. Instead of hearing the truth from you guys, she heard it from someone who was a part of your own trauma. Emma isn’t like you two. For all intents and purposes, she’s normal. She’s never had to fight to survive.”

“She was raised by that fucking cult, Logic,” I sneered.

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