Page 84 of Theirs

“I would never lie about this, Kane,” I say, my eyes welling with tears. Alex stands from his chair and comes over to sit on the floor in front of me, trying to protect me.

“I know Tea,” Kane says. “Eventually they admitted to what they allowed to happen, that they allowed him to get away with it. They didn’t even seem to feel bad about it...”

I dig my nails into my arms, but Mac reaches down to loosen my grip. Not allowing me to harm myself.

“Alex is going to help me find a therapist,” I tell everyone, but keep my eyes on Kane. “He’s trying to find a way to press charges too, he’s already started working on it.”

“Do you need help?” Kane says, directing his attention to the man sitting in front of me. “I can do whatever you need me to do.”

“So far I’ve got things handled,” Alex says. “Not so lucky for the monster that the statute of limitations in Illinois has been removed as of January 2020, so if he’s done this to anyone else, he’s done for. But...”

“It’s not retroactive...” Kane finishes for him, running his hands through his hair and tugging. “Fuck.”

“What does that mean?” I ask the two attorneys in the room.

“You had three years to come forward about the assault,” Alex says. “Since it happened before 2020, your last chance to report was 2017.”

I missed it by a couple of years.

“We’ll find a way around it,” Kane assures me. “Alexander is the best of the best in Chicago, we can find a way around it. Right?”

“I’m trying,” Alex says, and turns to look at Mac. “We might need to get ahold of Gisele’s parents. See what they know.”

“I’ll get you their contact,” Mac says, wrapping an arm over my shoulder.

I sit there and contemplate my plan, while the guys brainstorm what they can do to put that asshole behind bars. I found peace a long time ago with what happened to me, getting justice will mostly be a way to make sure he can’t hurt any other girls like he did me, like he was going to probably do to Gisele. I’m at a good place in my life now.

But there is one thing I can do to cut off those ties to my past, to cut off my ties to my parents. I smile, already pulling my phone up to find the business hours I’m looking for, and the documents I’ll need to make it happen.

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