Page 36 of Avenging Devil: Part 1

“What do you think?”

“On my part, I liked him, Niran. I didn’t expect him to do that. I do wonder if it’s all been blown out of proportion.”

Well, she’s no damn help. “Mom, I’m asking if he’s likely to come after her. I want to be prepared. Or if she comes back, will he be waiting for her?”

Again she replies, “Not according to Grover.”

I’m not so sure. Abusers are often bullies who don’t like their marks to get away. One thing’s for certain, when she does go back to Michigan, I’ll be going along with her, and having a few words with Hester myself. Knowing my brothers, I wouldn’t be surprised if one or more of them wanted to tag along. Maybe even finish the job Grover’s buddies had started.

After waking Cyn and stopping off to get us both some breakfast, I make my way to the compound. Casting a sideways glance at the woman beside me, I notice she’s acting like a kid, bouncing on the seat in excitement. Not for the first time, I wonder what type of life she had before she made a disastrous start on her own. Loving, no doubt, but from my memory of Grover, probably restrictive, making her easy pickings for a guy like Hester.

“What was it like at home?” I ask, as we pull up at a red light.

She looks at me quickly, her browed furrowed. “Okay, I guess.”

“Your dad let you have boyfriends?” I hazard a guess he did not, and that Hester was the first man she’d met.

She snorts. “I’m his precious daughter, what do you think?” Her mouth forms a pout. “Claud and Caro were given more freedom than I.” I grin. Our parents insisted on calling all their kids by their full names. Cyn’s obviously used to shortening them. My smile fades as I realise I barely know the seventeen-year-old Claudia, or Caroline, at just fifteen. My dad had been traditional, wanting me to have a name reflecting my heritage, which I’ve worn proudly. Grover, though, had wanted his all-American kids to fit in.

“Why were you treated differently?” I wonder aloud.

“Because I’m ‘difficult.’” She snorts as she puts the word in air quotes, while I wonder if our parents know better than I, and what I might have gotten myself into.

“Like how?” The light changes to green, and I pull forward.

A shrug, then, “Claud’s got a car, mine was taken away.”

“Why?” I prompt when she offers no explanation.

Another rise and fall of her shoulders. “I stayed out beyond my curfew more than once.”

Yeah, that’s something Grover wouldn’t have appreciated. I remember that myself. Being in by ten pm had been restrictive to me as a teen. I have some sympathy for her.

“How did you meet Hester?”

She huffs in air, puffs out her cheeks, then explains, “I joined a gym. I was going for dance lessons, but Dad thought I wanted to get fit. He encouraged it.”

“How many classes did you actually attend?” I indicate left, then make the turn.

“Loads of them.”

But my sideways glance catches her wide grin. “And they were?”

“Weightlifting.” She snorts again. “And some MMA.”

“Watching Hester,” I surmise, not needing the dip and raise of her chin to confirm it.

“Dad used to drop me at the gym, and Hester and I would take off for a few hours. We fell in love, he asked me to move in, end of story.”

End of story?Seems like she’s left out one hell of a lot, including the reception she’d gotten from our mom and her dad. “And Mom and Grover just accepted that?”

“I was nineteen, Niran,” she states, as though there’s nothing more to add. “And Mom approved of him. I mean really approved. She was on my side against Dad.”

Really?Their relationship must have changed over the years. I park that to ponder on later. “How long were you together?”

She stares at her fingers, wiggling one after the other as though adding them up. “Ten months?” Why she poses it as a question, I can’t fathom. It’s she who’s got the information, not me. She then adds to qualify, “We were living together for eight weeks.”

It can’t hurt to casually drop my next question in. “How often did he raise his hand to you?”

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