"Pierce, please I'm trying to study." I let out an aggravated sigh as my eyes flickered upward from the white-colored pages of my textbook. Pierce approached closer to me, sliding the textbook out from my lap and throwing it to the side.
"Take a bre...
REVIEW OF WHAT HAPPENED LAST: Pierce and Aspen broke up after Aspen found out Pierce had known her mom was alive and didn't tell anyone to help her. At Xander and Phoenix's wedding, Aspen is ordered by Cayde to meet him a mile off from the resort in a greenhouse and if she tells anyone, they will hurt Reese. Aspen arrives at the Greenhouse and it is revealed that Cayde AND (Vance) Mr. Gunner are both in on this. Mr. Gunner stabs Aspen numerous times as revenge for what her mother did to him, leaving her in critical condition. Pierce follows Aspen out to the greenhouse once he becomes worried, and gets to her just in time. Vance reveals that Pierce did, in fact, try to get Aspen's mom's help and that Pierce rushed to his dad (Vance/Mr. Gunner) to tell him Ashlynn was alive. Vance threatened Pierce his whole life that if he ever told anyone, he would immediately kill Reese.
They quickly rush to the hospital, Mercury driving. Once they arrive, Aspen is rushed inside and Pierce is forced to face Cayde and Mr. Gunner. Out of anger, Pierce severely hurts Vance and Mr. Gunner. Aspen is saved at the hospital after Pierce donates blood to her. Pierce and the rest of the Gunner family find out Vance has been reported dead, Pierce realizes then that he killed his own father but no one besides him and Aspen know that Pierce is the reason Vance is dead.
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"We don't have to do this," I spoke quietly, sunken into the leather interior passenger seat. I looked over to Pierce, my heart breaking anytime I could see his glossed-covered eyes. I didn't know what to say to make it better because there was nothing I could do to take back what had happened.
Pierce was painfully silent, the only sound that could be heard was of snow rustling with people's footsteps. I glanced out the window, watching as people piled into the cemetery. Forming a group around a casket.
It was the day of the funeral and above everything, it was Christmas Eve. The past couple of days had been rough for everyone but brutal for Pierce. Pierce had shut himself out from everybody, including me. I watched over Reese for two days before she went back to Xander's, Devon was not fit to be taking care of her youngest right now. He was left facing the reality of his father being killed at his own hands. I tried to get through to him to make him not feel guilty, to understand that he did it out of defense for me.
The truth was Pierce's dad, Vance Gunner was a horrible human being. He spent most of his life drinking away his days and shooting up with anything he could get his hands on to get himself high. He was an abuser, to both his wife and his children. Mr. Gunner was a creep, he had no self-respect for anybody but himself and only selfish intentions that would eventually lead to his downfall.
Despite everything, he was still Pierce's dad. No matter what the story is, nine times out of ten there are still good moments with an abuser and that's what the victim holds onto. Pierce was caught holding onto the handful amounts of times when his father was a dad instead of a drunk and an addict. He killed his father and he was having a hard time coming to terms with it. The trial hadn't taken place yet but after I spoke to some lawyers who had been following my case, they had a good chance of riding it off as self-defense.
