Page 81 of My Retribution Too

Tyler, not paying attention, said, “She went psycho on the schmuck.” Then froze once he realized what he said.

Phoebe straightened her spine, giving Tyler the evil eye. I caught on and leaned into her.

“What happened?”

She shook her head. “Nothing.” She repeated, but everyone in this room knew she was lying.

Tyler, now smiling, stated, “Oh no, you’re not getting out of this. You gave up my secrets. Tell them yours.”

“Oh, this has to be good. Come, girl, share. What happened?” Ayana prodded, smiling at her friend.

Phoebe, seeing she had no choice but to talk, breathed out a heavy sigh. “Okay, I’ll tell you, but you can’t make a big deal out of it.” She looked at all the guys and Ayana before looking at me. “Promise me.”

“I don’t make promises I can’t keep.” I warned.

“Yeah, exactly, which is why I need you to promise. You want to know, I’ll tell you. Just be cool and let me tell the entire story.”

I looked confused, not understanding what she was getting at. I may have gone over the deep end in certain situations pertaining to her, but I’ve never completely lost my shit in front of her. How could she… I glanced over at my sister and hmphed. Now, I knew where she was coming from.

Ayana gave me an innocent look, but I knew she was the culprit.

“Fine,” I admitted, reluctantly. “I’ll keep my shit in check.”

Phoebe rubbed her hands together then said, keeping her eyes on Ayana. “I’m going to need something to help me tell this story.

Ayana jumped up. “I got you, sis.”

Not two minutes later, Ayana placed a whiskey glass in front of Phoebe. From the smell of the amber liquid, I knew it was tequila, Añejo, to be exact.

Phoebe took a tentative sip, smiled, and took more of the smooth, sweet liquid down.

“Okay, so we got the call that Sophia was ready to leave her boyfriend. I had met her at a shelter one day. She expressed the need for help, but her boyfriend knew people. She needed to disappear without a trace. The counselors at the shelter offered her the help they could provide, but it wasn’t enough. That’s when I approached her and told her I could help. We went to the local Denny’s, and I told her about the process. She said she would think about it and at first, I didn’t believe her.”

“You get a lot of women like that,” Ayana offered. “Sometimes they’re just not ready to be saved.”

Phoebe nodded. “You’re right. Which was why I had been shocked when Sophie called and said that she was ready.”

“What changed her mind?” Sol asked.

“Her boyfriend beat her for something stupid. I can’t remember. But he put her in the hospital. When she got out and came home, her little boy, who was five, seemed off. He started peeing in the bed and wouldn’t go near his stepfather. He’d freak if Sophia left the house. That’s when she realized, while she was gone, her boyfriend had done something to her son. She had no physical proof, but she just knew.”

“Motherfucker,” mumbled Derek, saying what all of us were thinking.

“She didn’t report this son of a bitch?” Homer asked, his fists balled on the table, his rage falling off him in waves, mixing with all the rage in the room.

Tyler offered, “She tried once, and she got beat for it. Plus, it went nowhere. Her fucking ex made a couple of phone calls, and they made the order disappear. That’s why she felt her only course of action was to flee with her kids.”

“So, the kids weren’t his?” I asked.

“Only the youngest belongs to him. A baby girl. The rest were from a previous marriage. Her husband had died in a car crash. Her boyfriend was his best friend.” Phoebe informed us.

“Slimy asshole. He probably told her he would take care of her for his best friend,” Lester chimed in.

“You got it,” Phoebe confirmed, then went on, “Anyway, he was sweet to her in the beginning. But things quickly turned when he lost his job. You know the story.”

We all did know the story. Seen it in our world many times as well as the victims that didn’t have the courage, or were down right afraid to get help or get out.

“So, what happened when you made it to her house?” I asked, hurrying the story along. My team and I were getting antsy. If she didn’t get on with the story, one or all of us would be making a trip to this asshole’s house to teach him how to treat women.

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