Page 126 of Oliver

Bone gurgles beside me and I close my eyes. He’s dying but what can I possibly do? She’s going to shoot me in the head. Shit. She’s going to, anyway.

Resolved, I inch toward Bone, and she slams the butt of the gun against my temple.

“Fuck,” I whimper, dropping to the floor. With my heated cheeks pressed to the cool tile, I consider my end.

I’m going to die avenging my sister when in all reality, she did things that are unforgivable. She didn’t deserve my rage and now I’m being punished for it.

What a joke.

“Mom?”

We both turn when Oliver appears in the doorway. He looks so fucking good, I raise my hand as Mrs. G says, “Ollie?”

Oliver eyes the gun with a furrowed brow before saying softly, “Mom, what are you doing? This isn’t you.”

She glances at the gun and says, “She has to do it. Don’t you see? It’s her duty.”

My heart thumps at her lost expression and the way Oliver works his mouth before bowing his head.

He may insist he doesn’t love his mother but there’s no way this isn’t tearing him up inside.

“Mom,” he says softly. “Give me the gun.”

“No,” she hisses. “No! Don’t speak to me that way! You don’t get to judge me. You said until death do us part. You said you would love me forever! And you fucked her!” She waves the gun at me, and I duck, meeting Bone’s glazed eyes.

He’s going to die. There’s no time to save him and with a sob, I wrap my fingers around his as blood spits from his lips.

“Stop,” Oliver says, and we all pause as he seems to come to a decision and points at her. “Stop, Charlie. This isn’t what I want you to do.”

My stomach drops to my toes at the command, spoken in a tone I’ve never heard before.

It works though because Mrs. G’s eyes roll and she whimpers, “I’m sorry, Daddy. I’ll do better. I’ll be better. Don’t put me back in there.”

Jesus. My heart cracks open and fuck me if it doesn’t bleed for this tortured woman.

Oliver steps toward her and she steps back. It all happens so quickly that I don’t think anyone could have stopped it when she raises the gun, shoves it in her mouth and pulls the trigger.

Oliver

My ears are ringing. Someone cries out. Fuck, I think the damn phone blares in the background as my mother collapses to the floor.

Penny whimpers and crawls toward me as I stand there dumbly. When she stands and touches my arm, I look at her face and recoil. My mother's blood paints her skin in macabre swirls.

The same woman who killed countless women and groomed Penny’s own sister into becoming a monster.

You're so smart, Ollie. You'll do great things, my son.Exactly what great things was she hoping I would achieve? Did she groom me in her image? While I ignored the fucking writing on the wall?

My skin burns and I flinch away when Penny reaches for me again. Glancing at her fingers, covered in Bone's blood, I shudder and say, "Go."

"Ol—"

“Go!” I bark and her eyes fill with tears. Finally, she staggers away and I drop beside Bone. I don't have time to worry about this shit. Later, when I can fucking breathe.

After checking Bone's pulse and confirming he's gone, I bow my head. I was too late to save him but at least Penny is alive. At least I did one fucking thing right in this messed up situation.

When I turn to my mother, I pause and stare at her limp form. In death, she seems so small and innocent but much like our entire twisted fucking lives, that's a fucking lie.

"Why?" I groan, grabbing her hand, and stroking the soft skin. Tears burn my eyes and all the while, hate seethes in my heart for where she led me.

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