Page 24 of Levi
Gasps fill the room.
“Are you fucking kidding me right now?”Reid starts to shake his head.“That’s just great Dad, I can’t even believe I defended you at the beginning,” Reid yells.“You can officially say that you’ve ruined another one of your children’s lives.”
“Pregnant?”Mom asks.“Saylor is pregnant?”She looks between myself and Dad.
He drops his head to his chest and I know that he knew she was pregnant.
“You knew, didn’t you?She probably told you at the police station and you didn’t care that your grandchild was in danger.Or that something could’ve happened to them,” I accuse.“How could you do something like that you bastard!”
“No, your father would have never left her in that place, had he known she was carrying a baby,” mom speaks up in his defense.“Tell them Daniel, that you’d never do something like that,” she urges Dad, but from the shameful look on his face it tells a different story.“Daniel, no that can’t be!”You can hear the devastation in Mom’s voice as she shrieks and shakes her head.She looks horrified, then strides over a few steps to where he is standing.Mom reaches out and grips his upper arms in both her hands.“How could you do something like that?She’s our family—” She swings her arm out and hits Dad in the shoulder, startling all of us.Never has she lifted a finger in anger towards anyone.She continues to hit him until Reid and Lincoln pull her off as he stands there and takes every slap and punch.
I’m in my own hell thinking about what Saylor went through that day.Being hauled out of here and then having Dad turn his back on her.And our child.
“If you didn’t get her out then who did?Olivia?Everly, or their grandparents?”I look over from face to face to find answers.Wait, where is Everly at?She’s usually attached to Lincoln.
“We don’t know, sir,” Mitch says.“There is no record of her being booked in and there has been no trace of her since.”
“The fuck’s that supposed to mean?No one’s seen her in the last three months?”I counter.How can that be?She couldn’t have vanished into thin air.
“Dean is working on it, sir, but it appears that the camera footage from that day has been deleted.”Mitch tries to explain.There is something holding him back from telling me something else, and from the angst in Mitch’s eyes I know it’s a doozy.
“Just say it, Mitch,” I snap.My patience is no longer intact and if I could move around, I’d break every bone in my dad’s body.
“We were able to finally locate Detective Ford, and he was able to tell us that there was an incident in the jail cell that Saylor was put in,” he pauses, as I’m sure steam is billowing out of my ears.“It seems that three inmates roughed up Saylor and a doctor was called in to examine her.”
“Is she…was the baby hurt?”I stammer.My life would end if something were to ever happen to Saylor or our baby.This was the entire reason I put my stupid plan in place.
“According to the doctor’s report that Dean was able to obtain, she was bruised heavily but the baby was fine and healthy at the time of being examined.”
I let out a sigh of relief, but it does little to cool the flame lit in me.I’ll make each and every one of them pay for this.Starting with…
“We’ll find her, Son.”
“Get the fuck out of here and stay the hell away from me,” I spew to my father.“You let my pregnant wife stay at the police station where she was assaulted and could’ve lost our baby.I’ll never forgive you for that!”I yell.
“Wait, don’t let him leave without telling you the other fuckup he did while you were in a coma,” Lincoln speaks before Dad has a chance to try and defend his actions.He seems to hold his own personal hatred toward our father, and I wonder if it’s about Saylor too.
“Lincoln, not now,” Mom, who has finally calmed down, tries to cut him off but it’s too late.
“What else could there be?”
From the look on Lincoln’s face, I know it has to be bad.And a rock drops in my stomach.
Dad lets out a sorrowful sigh, and I know this can’t be good.
“I-after I left the police station, I filed the paperwork to start the divorce process and also obtained a restraining order,” he tries to whisper the last part but I heard every single word.
“You filed for divorce ofMYmarriage without even consulting me?How the fuck were you able to file without my signature?”My heartrate monitor goes off again and I feel my chest starting to hurt again.“Did Saylor know you did that?What the fuck did I need a restraining order for?She’s barely over five foot and falls over when the wind blows!”
“It was all over the news within minutes after he filed,” Tina growls.
“I signed as your proxy, in the event you were incapacitated.I’m still listed as your power of attorney.I thought I was doing the right thing—”
“Did.Saylor.Know?”
“Yes, I made sure she found out,” he admits in a defeated tone.This will forever change our relationship.Even if I had really and truly wanted out of my marriage, it would have been my decision and mine alone.I’ve never asked my father to fight any of my battles for me, and why he thought this was okay makes me question everything I’ve ever known about him.
The fire in my head ignites further, and my weak arms and legs are shaking out of control, and it feels like I’m starting to convulse.
