Healing hearts

Chapter five

Xander pov

"It has been a few weeks since I saw Cassie and I wanted to see her and talk to her. I'm sure she must be hating me right now, but I hate myself more. I didn't know what to do. I was scared to approach her, but I needed to explain myself to her.

I wondered what she was doing since then, if she was okay or not. I had my investigator get me details of her life, and I got it all in a file."

My mother came into the kitchen and asked, "Are you okay, son?

"I'm fine," I said, trying to sound casual.

"No, you're not," she said. "Ever since the night you claimed you saw Cassie again, you've been so deep in thought. What are you thinking about?"

I was about to answer when there was an angry knock on the door. My mother went to answer it, and I was confused about who would dare knock like that. A face came into view, and it was a face that gave me nightmares. It was my former tormentor.

I was about to ask him what he wanted when he landed a hard punch on my face. My mother screamed. I fought back, but he had the upper hand, just like before. He beat me to a pulp. My mother kept begging him to stop, but he kept beating me until an older man pulled him off of me.

"Stop it, son!" the older man said. "You'll kill him!"

My face was throbbing all over, and I could feel myself bleeding from multiple places.

"Who the hell are you people," my mother shouted, "and how dare you come into our home and hurt my son? You will pay for this, and I will call the cops!"

"Go ahead and call the cops," Brian said. "And see who ends up in jail: either me or your pathetic excuse for a son.

"What do you mean?" my mother asked, still helping me up.

"Your bastard raped my sister," he said.

My mother looked at me, shocked, and then at Brian. "How dare you lay such accusations!" she said. "My son would never do such a despicable thing!"

"Why don't you ask him?" Brian shouted, pointing at me. "And I dare you to deny it."

"Enough, son," the older man said. "Let's go, and we'll see you in court, Mr. Smith. I will make sure you rot in jail. No one hurts my princess and gets away with it!"

The older man led Brian out of the room, and he was still glaring at me as he left.

"What are they talking about, son?" my mother asked. "Tell me you can't ever do such a thing they're accusing you of."

I looked at her, and tears were pouring from my eyes.

"They're not lying, Mom," I confessed. "The night I saw Cassie, I... I forced myself on her."

My mother's expression changed from shock to horror. She slapped me hard across the face. I started crying.

"How could you do such a thing?" she said. "Do you realize you could end up in jail for goodness sake? And what would happen to me? How could you do that to a girl with such a pure soul?"

"Mom, listen to me," I pleaded. "I didn't mean for it to happen. It was an accident, I swear. Mom, please listen to me."

But my mother looked at me with disappointment in her eyes. "I know I did not give birth to a monster," she said. Was taken aback. I wanted to explain, but she looked so disappointed in me. I hated myself. I went to my room and punched the wall in frustration. I hated myself so much.