I shrugged to mask unwanted sympathy and said, “A new life.”
“How can I escape his one?” Her frightened eyes shifted toward the house, and I felt my jaw harden. She was terrified of the man who victimized her instead of protected her. Maybe my anger was because when I looked at her, I didn’t see the abused wife and mother of two, but the scared, innocent I did everything I could to hurt.
“I’ll handle him.”
“I—I don’t want you to kill him,” she pleaded. I felt my lip curl with disgust at the thought of her protecting him.
“Does he hit your girls, too?” She blinked away tears and looked away. “Lie to me and this won’t end in your favor. Has. He. Hit. Them?”
She finally nodded once. It was so quick that if I blinked, I would have missed it. She then released a sound similar to that of a wonder animal. “H—he doesn’t beat them like he beats me, but he can be so rough with Maddie. She’s only four and doesn’t understand sometimes—”
She stopped short at the colorful words that escaped me into the night air. She shrunk back completely, allowing me to catch my reflection of rage in the car window behind her.
Her youngest was only four?
Fuck. Ken.
She was Ken’s age.
Fuck…
He was going to die whether she liked it or not.
“You and your kids are out of here tonight.”
*
John had invested a large portion of his capital into a housing development for leasing. Keenan oversees it while I chose to remain detached from anything that had belonged to John. My name was listed as fifty percent beneficiary, but I never kidded myself into believing I was entitled to any of it. If Lake hadn’t unknowingly pushed me into a corner, I would have never made use of it.
“So what do you like to do for fun?”
I suppressed a groan, ignored the tiny voice, and continued to install the security system. I didn’t like this shit. Turns out, Laurie’s older daughter was ten and not as impartial to boys as I would have assumed. She had been following me around for two days with wide eyes and a girlish blush.
She was the one hitting on me, yet I felt like the pedophile.
“Go away.”
“Why? I’m pretty, aren’t I?” She batted her eyelashes and I felt sick to my stomach.
“I’m not answering that.”
“It’s okay. You don’t have to. Ryan Holder already told me I was ugly when he cut my hair last week. It’s why my mom had to cut bangs.”
When I finally stopped working to look at her, I caught her peeking up at her bangs and huff.
Fuck.
“Hey.” What was I doing? She was already walking away with her shoulders slumped. My mind drew a blank, but it didn’t matter because she stopped and turned to face me with a dejected look.
“Yes, Keiran?”
You’re not supposed to care.
Walk away.
“Run that by me again?” I demanded against my better judgment.
She looked confused until I impatiently gestured toward her bangs. “There’s this boy…” She frowned and eyed me as if wondering if she should trust me. I gritted my teeth and attempted to find patience. “He’s mean and always pushing me around.”
“Why?”
She shrugged her little shoulders and stared down at her feet. “I don’t know.”
“You know,” I insisted. She answered with a rough shake of her head. “Are you lying?”
“No,” she whispered. Her eyes remained downcast and it took her too long to respond, and by the time she did, I had my answer.
“Cassandra.” I had only called her by Cassie as her mom and sister did, but I’d heard her mother use her full name when she meant business so I figured it would work for me. When her chin finally left her chest and her wide eyes stared back at me, I knew I had succeeded.
“He said he hates me—” She hesitated again as a tear escaped and hung onto her bottom lash. “B—because my dad hits his mom.”
Fuck.
The son of a bitch wasn’t just an alcoholic, abusive husband. He was an alcoholic, abusive, and cheating husband. I stared down into the wide brown eyes of this innocent girl and couldn’t accept that her father wasn’t dead.
“Does your mom know?”
She nodded, and if possible, her shoulders slumped even more. “I told her but she made me promise not to talk about it anymore.”
“Why?” I asked more forcefully than necessary when dealing with a ten-year-old.
“Because she didn’t want my dad to find out. She’s scared of him, Keiran. He yells and hits her and he’s so mean to Maddie.”
“Has he ever hurt you or Maddie?”
“Sometimes he grabs and shakes Maddie when she cries too much.”
I managed to keep my voice level despite the rage rising safely beneath the surface. “And you?”
“No. I don’t talk to him when he drinks.”
Smart kid. “Tell me about the kid who cut your hair.”