“Sister,” Simon sneered the word like it was a bad one. “Ms. Perfect, always has everything together, the boss of the world, too good to be human, sister.”
If she hadn't already known her brother hated her with a passion, then the utter disdain in his voice would have made that fact crystal clear.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
“Yet here I am,” Simon snapped.
Searching his gaze, Teresa tried to find any remnant of the little boy she’d once loved. Before their father’s death, Simon had been a bit of a troublemaker, but he hadn't been evil. That all changed in the car accident that took their father’s life. Anaccident that Simon had also been involved in because he’d been in the car.
Counselling hadn't helped, and over the years, Simon just got worse and worse.
“I need money.”
“You need to leave,” Teresa corrected. There was no way in hell she was giving her brother money that he’d spend on drugs.
“Always were a little goody two-shoes, weren't you?” Taking a threatening step forward, the hand he still had on her elbow tightened to the point it would likely leave behind bruises, yanked her closer. “Let me make this clearer, sister. I'm not asking. I'm here for money.”
If Micah hadn't been there, Teresa wasn't sure how she would have reacted to her brother’s unexpected visit. But knowing Micah was just feet away, that he would notice what was happening at any second, emboldened her.
Meeting her brother’s gaze head-on, she stood straight and tall, ignoring the pain throbbing in her stomach. “I never tried to be perfect, Simon. All I wanted was to be a decent human being, something you obviously don’t care about at all.”
Simon growled, rage pouring off him, and he drew back his fist to give her a strike Teresa would happily take because for the first time in twelve years she had stood up to the person responsible for her assault.
May5th
12:03 P.M.
“Touch her and die,”Micah snarled as he snapped out a hand and caught Simon Dash’s fist before it could slam into Teresa’s face.
All he’d done was take his eyes off her for a matter of seconds, and she’d been accosted by her despicable brother.
Honestly, he’d love to kill Simon for what he’d done to his sister. Snap the man’s neck like it was the twig it was. End his life so Teresa could be free of the fear that her brother might pop back up and hurt her all over again.
Killing Simon slowly would also be fun. He’d learned a lot in his years as a SEAL, and he knew how to keep someone alive while inflicting unfathomable pain. Simon deserved a whole lot worse than that for what he’d done.
If there had been any justice at all, he’d be serving a life sentence, since Teresa was certainly serving one.
Rape victims always did.
That didn't mean she wasn't living her life like the champion that she was, but it meant those scars were always a part of her, they would remain with her until the day she died. He had not a single doubt that her brother’s death would bring her a level of peace she wouldn't readily admit to out loud for fear it would make her sound like a bad person.
But how could it?
Brother or not, Simon had done something unspeakably evil to her, and she was entitled to hate him for it.
Just like she was still entitled to love the little brother she’d once known before he decided to turn down a dark path.
“Who’s going to kill me? You?” Simon asked with a smug smirk.
There were still parts of the twelve-year-old boy Micah had first met visible in the man standing before him, similarities that had told him who the man Teresa was talking to was without anyone having to tell him. Simon had changed, though, and notjust in the normal way a person aged. Not just in the tattoos, either, several of which he could see were gang-related.
It was the man’s eyes.
They were cold and hard. Heartless.
Without speaking a word, Micah merely tightened his grip on the other man’s arm. Smiling as he squeezed, and Simon’s face went redder and redder until he felt the bones crack, and Teresa’s brother cried out in pain.
A broken bone wasn't much in comparison to what Teresa had suffered, but it was something. A small offering to her that he hoped might show her how desperately sorry he was for the part he’d played in hurting her.
