Page 122 of Oliver

It looks suspiciously like the paper I received with Dixie’s note. Was that Dixie’s handwriting or am I wrong? If not hers, then who’s? Oliver? Mr. G’s? Did he write it before he was arrested?

Once again, I have no fucking answers and I shut the drawer with a groan. Will I ever fully understand what happened?

The deep rumble of another voice interrupts my inner monologue and I spin around. Is that Oliver? After carefully setting the bowl back on the table, I tiptoe to the door and peek around the wall.

What?

Fucking Bone stands in the hallway, his tired eyes sunken in his face, and a defeated slump to his shoulders.

Is he here for me? I’m the last link to Dixie. Shit.

“You need to leave,” Mrs. G says and Bone chuffs.

“I ain’t going anywhere.”

It’s on the tip of my tongue to intervene. Mrs. G doesn’t know about Bone. She doesn’t understand…

“I’m serious. Go. This family doesn’t need any more damage, you little shit,” she rasps.

Bone raises tired eyes and says, “Fuck you.”

Oliver

“This girl was beautiful, kind, loving. She had the whole world ahead of her and she disappeared.”

Okay, so we’re starting with the original Charming Charlie. Although I am curious, I have to bite my tongue to keep from urging him along.

He’s just sick enough to stop if I do.

“Her father searched high and low for her, desperate to find his precious Charming Charlie.”

Dad looks over my shoulder, his lips curling into a wistful smile. “She truly was everything. She had a smile that lit up the room. A playfulness that drew you in. She was simply exquisite in every way.”

“Wait, youknewher?” I ask and his eyes snap back to mine.

His brows furrow and he says quietly, “Of course I did. Charlie was someone you could never forget. I loved her from the day I met her, but she had a dark side, my Charlie.”

Loved? What about my fucking mother?

“You see, Charlie was an ugly duckling that became a swan…”

Is he for fucking real? What is this bullshit?

I shift in my chair and his eyes sharpen. “Am I boring you, son?”

“No,” I grit through my teeth. “Please continue.”

His mouth curves into a frown and he says, “This is important. You’ll understand in a minute.”

Nodding, I bite my tongue and he continues, “Charlie was trapped. Stifled. Caged. But she found a way to be free.”

“From what? From her father?”

He smiles his approval. “She escaped. She was free but she had to hide. Her father would never let her go.”

“Why?”

“Because she was his perfect little girl. He taught her everything she knows…”

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