Page 72 of The Destruction You Desire
"Is that the day he was born?" Luca asks, staring over my shoulder at the image of my sister holding a newborn Kayden in her arms and looking absolutely exhausted. No surprise there, she had the longest labor ever. Mom and I were there the whole way with her. It was incredible but long and painful for Libby.
"Yeah. Before everything fell apart. It's nice to know she's not forgotten that she's a mother."
"I'm sure that's not the case. She's just… lost, I guess," he says, sadness for my sister making his voice deeper than usual.
"Yeah, I know."
"What else is in there?"
"Trash mostly."
I pull the notebook out and stare at the words on the front, running my fingertip over the gold print.
Don't let anyone dull your sparkle.
A lump grows in my throat as I stare up at my sister.
She's certainly managed to dull her own sparkle.
"Anything exciting?" Luca asks, dropping back into the chair by Libby's bed as I flick through the pages.
A few loose pieces of paper fall free and scatter across the floor as I look at the pages of what looks to be some sort of diary.
"I think it's—"
"Motherfucker."
Luca's vicious tone forces me to abandon my sister's neat writing to see what's angered him.
Looking over, I find him standing with a photograph between his fingers.
"Wha—oh fuck," I breathe when I step up to him. I immediately understand his reaction because mine is almost as violent.
"I'm going to fucking kill him, P. I swear to fucking God."
I place my hand on Luca's forearm in the hope it'll calm him because he's trembling beside me with his restrained anger.
"He… he went after…." He lifts his hands to his hair and pulls so hard that there's no way it doesn't hurt. "He went after your fucking sister." His chest heaves and his eyes darken until they're bordering on terrifying. "What about any others? There could be other women right now across the country in this state because of him." The photograph in his hold screws up as his fist tightens.
"We don't know that."
His eyes shoot to mine.
"Don't we? Come on, P. Don't be naïve. Libby surely couldn’t have been the only one. I know she's your sister and you love her, but she's nothing special. To him, she was just a young hot blonde who was willing to give him some attention. Add on the daddy issues and he was onto a winner."
My stomach turns over at his words but I can't deny that he's right.
"I know," I whisper.
"We have to figure out a way to expose this, to find other women. To make sure he pays for all this pain he's caused, continues to cause."
I nod, relief flooding me that he's saying out loud all the things I've wanted to do for years. Deep down, I know that Mom knew it was the right thing to do as well, but her priority was Libby, and I can't argue that she wasn't wrong there either. Having all this blow up, be all over the media would have made her worse. She might not have even been here now if that were the case back then, Kayden might not be here now.
I press my hand to my stomach, willing it to stop rolling before I have to run to the bathroom.
Plucking the photo from Luca's fingers, I stare down at the younger version of my sister. She's seventeen, I'd guess, wearing one of her favorite outfits from back then. Her hair is long and in bouncy curls, her eyes twinkling with happiness as she stares at him. I don't recognize where they are. The house isn't ours or the Dunn's. It's probably some hidden address that he used to use for meeting people.
"I think this is her diary," I confess, placing the photo back inside the pages and lowering myself to the chair.
