Page 198 of Come Back to Me

“You were so damn cagey,” he growls before Lindsay can reply.

“Had to be,” is Mrs. Abelman’s flat retort. “None of the answers I had, you’d have wanted to hear. Nor would you have been able to do anything about it.”

“They dragged her out of the car,” Callan rasps, his eyes wide. “I remember that.”

Colt gritted his teeth. “She was sobbing and they said she was being aggressive. They had her in cuffs before we had a chance to process her arrest.”

“How did we forget this?”

“Trauma,” I mumble, hating to hear Cody’s pain. “Seeing your mom be treated that way…”

If they’d buried this as deep as it seemed they had, then small wonder Cody wanted to go into the police force after he retired. Hell,small wonderhe’d wanted to do something like defend people from tyranny!

“I’d never heard Callan cry so hard before.” Cody rubs his temple. “I remember that much.”

“What happened, Mum?” Callan whispers.

“Clyde bailed me out. Thanked hischumsfor saving his boys from me. Telling them that I was a danger to them. That I was an alcoholic.” She stares blankly at the table. “He nearly killed me that time. Beat me so badly that I couldn’t walk for days.

“Before he left me in that hotel room, h-he told me he’d be back when I wasn’t such a mess and that if I tried to leave again, he’d put me in psych hold and would do everything he could to get me locked away permanently.”

“She had one of the cleaners call me. The woman… It was so kind. She risked everything for your mother.” Mrs. Abelman takes over when Lindsay’s shoulders heave. “But we realizedthat the tide had changed. Clay hadn’t been that much of a deterrent, but… you should have seen her, boys. He beat her black and blue. She’d…” She braces herself. “You don’t need to know the state he left her in, but to say that man is a monster is inadequately describing him.”

“Ida took photos.” Lindsay squeezes Mrs. Abelman’s hand. “I-I sent them to the lawyer I hired back when we got married. He advised me on the prenup I had to sign. I told him that if he didn’t hear from me in the next seventy-two hours, I was dead and to send them to the cops.

“Clyde finally came back and I told him what I’d done. That I’d kill myself and make it seem like he did it if he didn’t let me go.

“I must have looked like a crazy person. More bruises and cuts and scrapes than clear skin.

“I-I found out later that he’d shattered my wrist, broken three ribs, and given me a concussion, but I knew I needed to survive. The baby, well…” She closes her eyes. “I told him that I’d walk away if he granted me a divorce, kept Ida on staff, and didn’t stop me from contacting you boys.”

“Why did he listen?” I whisper, jumping when everyone stares at me. “What? It’s true! He’s a nutcase. That might have tripped his trigger as much as anything else could have.”

“I didn’t know, but the lawyer I originally used… he became a politician. Ida found his details in my Rolodex and sent the pictures to his firm’s address. He still used it as his base of operations.”

“That was incredibly lucky,” Zee chimes in.

“It was. I’d insisted on paying for my own lawyer when the prenup was mentioned. I couldn’t afford much, so I went for this small-time firm with one attorney who worked above this storefront.” Her lips twisted. “He bought the storefront andturned it into his base. Itwasluck. It’s because of who he became that I survived at all.

“Even knowing Ida was here, it was so hard leaving you, but better that I was a hundred miles away than dead. If you ever needed me, in a pinch, Ida would have made sure I was there. We worked together to keep you as safe as you could be under that monster’s roof.”

“So, when you ask us if Clyde was capable of killing his older brother…” Mrs. Abelman’s gaze turns mutinous. “The answer is yes.”

Cody

We made a deal, Tee and I.

After helping her with Milord, I was supposed to head to her bedroom, but I don’t have the energy to make it farther than the den, where I take up my usual spot on the couch.

A part of me hopes she’ll play for me, but another part wants to be alone.

Until, of course, she takes that decision away from me.

I don’t know when I fell asleep, but I know that when I wake up, I have a mouthful of her hair lodged in my throat.

Still, it’s nice.

Not being alone.

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