Close Your Eyes: Book Two

Chapter Twenty

The uber rolls to a stop out front of the house an hour later and I'm not even slightly surprised to see all of cars still here.

I take a deep breath and walk up the driveway.

I open the front door, step inside the house, and shut the door behind me.

"Where's Liam?" Amelia sighs.

"Who?" I ask innocently.

"Liam." Andrew glares at me.

"Liam? Oh, well he's on a plane."

"A plane?" Amelia repeats.

"Yeah, a plane," I snap at her.

"We were trying to talk to him." Liam's father says. "We just wanted to talk to him."

"You wanted to talk to him?" I ask. "That's ironic, considering every time he wanted to talk to any of you, y'all weren't there."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Andrew demands. "He thinks he doesn't have a family!"

"That's where you're wrong!" I raise my voice slightly. "Liam knows he has a family, but it's not you, or you, or you, it's me!" I point to myself. "Amelia, you're a fucking horrible parent. Every time that boy wanted anything all you could do was pay attention to your new husband and your new daughter and he was just...just an errand runner to you! Faking a family emergency to get him to go grocery shopping? He could have lost his job!" I turn to Andrew. "And you? You're the worst human being I have ever had the displeasure of meeting, and I've been beaten almost half to death before! You put your filthy fucking hands on him! Put him against the wall by his neck! Hit him! You hurt him, you filthy waste of space!" I turn to his birth father. "And you." I shake my head. "The only thing I have to thank you for is getting her pregnant-" I gesture wildly to Amelia. "You left him. You left, and then had the audacity to call him when he reached high school to ask for money! You left, you got a new wife and a new kid and you, also forgot about his existence! And I finally, finally got him happy again, and the three peas out of hell come stomping back into his life and fuck with him again!" I get right in there faces. "You will be lucky if he ever contacts you! Stay the hell away from him and let him be happy! It's the least you can do!"

The entire house is silent, so I take the opportunity to open the front door and just point towards the street.

"Get the hell out," I hiss. "Now."

"I never meant to hurt him." Amelia says softly.

"If that were true, you wouldn't have let Andrew put his hands on him." I say. "You know it, I know it, God knows it, even the damn devil knows it."

Andrew looks at me with pure hatred, and I recognize that look.

Damien looked at me like that.

"Let's go." Liam's birth father says.

He walks out with his wife and new daughter, and then Andrew heads for the door and stops right in front of me.

"I wish you died."

He doesn't need to say when.

I know when.

He wishes I died when I was with Damien and Sabrina.

"I'm sure you do." I reply.

Andrew marches out of the house, and then Amelia stops next to me.

"Take care of him," she whispers quietly enough to Andrew can't hear.

"Call the police on Andrew." I say. "Sneak out when he's sleeping. You don't have to keep dealing with this."

"Girls! Let's go!" Andrew snarls.

She holds my gaze for a moment longer and then walks out with Lindsay right behind her.

I slam the door shut behind them and turn on my parents.

"Why?" I ask, exhausted. "Why did you let them in the house? Why would you do that?"

"We thought it might be good for him to face the demons of his past." Mom says.

"The demons of his past?" I repeat. "Are you fucking kidding me?"

"Savannah, be nice," Dad sighs.

"My demons haunt me all the time. I woke up crying last night, because my demons still haunt me. What are you doing to do? Call Damien and Sabrina when they get out of jail and let them come talk to me so I can 'face the demons of my past?'"

"That is not nearly the same thing," Dad shakes his head.

"It is to Liam." Noah says. "It's the same thing to Liam. He went through shit too. Why would you subject him to that?"

"We didn't mean to hurt him," Mom says.

"You didn't mean to, but you did." I shake my head. "And I think you'll understand when I tell you I'm not coming back here again."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm packing boxes," I say. "I'm packing boxes, getting our stuff shipped to California, and then I'll pick it up with Liam when it arrives."

"So you're moving out?" Dad asks. "Full time? What about summers? It's another three thousand dollars to stay over the summer. And where are you going to put everything? Think logically, Savannah."

"I'll figure it out," I tell him. "I figured out how to escape a house I was held captive in for six years. I can figure out how to escape this one, too."

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Sorry this chapter is short but Savannah's backbone keeps growing throughout the years of her escape and I'm so proud of our girl you guys

~Sam