Trust

Chapter 17- The Truth

Emma's POV (1 week later)
Thankfully it's Friday, not that it matters though because I can't go to school anyways. The doctors said that I need to be on bed rest for two weeks, but Lily's parents have been taking care of me.

I'm also really anxious because today is the day that I tell everyone my truth. I need to get this off of my chest so badly, I'm just nervous about how everyone will react.

This makes two times that Stacey has helped save my life so I invited her to come too. Also because I wanted to find out what Claire told her before she got arrested. Once everyone arrived at my house, I was shaking out of nervousness. I needed to tell them the truth, no more hiding.

"Hey guys, so you all know why I called you here. I've been hiding things, and with recent events I think it's time you know the truth." They were all looking at me, sitting in a circle like kids at a story time in the library.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Lily asks, I nod. "I could die any day and you would never know why. It's time you knew why I don't say my exes name. It's because whenever I think about him I go into such a dark place...When I met Kian in freshman year, everything was fine. Him, Kat and a couple others were my closest friends, but then Kian asked me out and things started to change... The first year was great, it was filled with laughs and countless memories. But as the years progressed he started to act different. I noticed he was more stressed and when I asked him why he told me not to worry and tried having sex with me but I told him I wasn't ready because I was a virgin. He was mad but he didn't do anything. That was until his friend Alex's party." I sighed before continuing.

"Kat and Kian were being so secretive the days leading up to the party and I never understood why, now I know. Kat slipped something in my drink so that Kian would be able to take me upstairs and have sex. It was awful, I felt like I was screaming in my head but I couldn't even move to push him off." Tears started to well up in my eyes. "He ended up getting me pregnant and brainwashed me into thinking it was a good idea to have the baby. When I told my parents, they were furious. They didn't like Kian from the start, and they hated him even more now that he got me pregnant. My father kept telling me he was no good but I wouldn't listen, that was my biggest mistake because within months he'd be dead and I was too blind to see it."

I looked at Lily and Stacey who had tears in their eyes, while Ben, Mike, and Sam looked angry. Wait till they hear the rest.

"A couple months went by and my parents were still feuding with Kian so I ran away and moved in with him. Since he had his own place, I moved in with him not even thinking about why he didn't live with his parents. As time went by I realized why him and Kat were so secretive. One day we were all hanging out and a man broke down the door and started asking about his money and when I asked questions I got a gun pointed at me. Kian shot the guy before he could shoot me and Kat didn't even flinch. Meanwhile, I was freaking out, and Kian kept yelling at me, telling me to shut up. He made me and Kat get rid of the body. I was so terrified. She ordered me to put on gloves and we wrapped it up in a bag, and he drove us to the river..." I choked up before I could say anything else.

"When I figured out what he was making us do, I freaked out even more. I said I didn't wanna do it and I wanted to go home but Kat tried to drown me instead to make me learn my lesson. They both told me that I was in this whether I liked it or not, and if I didn't do what they said I would be next." I wiped away my tears and took a deep breath before continuing. Charlotte grabbed my hand, indicating that she was there for me. I took another deep breath and continued.

"Later that night I started asking questions and I found out that Kian got involved in some very bad things and he dragged Kat and I down with him. I figured out why she agreed to help him, it was because just like me, she was blindly in love with him. That led to the two of us having bad blood but that never stopped me from loving Kian. Unfortunately, once Kat stopped coming around I got to see the true Kian and I realized he wasn't as nice as I thought he was, he had an alcohol problem, he abused drugs, and he was involved with some very bad people. I was on the phone talking to my father about it and I decided that I didn't want to keep the baby and raise it in a place like this. Once he heard that I wanted to give it up for adoption, Kian was furious. He beat me to a point where I almost lost the baby, and when my father found out he was infuriated. He wanted Kian dead,and frankly I don't blame him anymore."

"They got into a huge fight and it almost got physical. It took a week before I was actually able to come home and my mother took me back to our house because my father had gone missing and she wanted me safe at home. I started to freak out and I called Kian, when he didn't answer I called Kat. They were MIA for almost a month until one day Kian showed up at my door with blood on his hands and bruises on his face. He was all frantic and made me go with him, he must have known that my mom was at work and my siblings were at school because it was perfect timing. I asked him multiple times where we were going but I received no answer. That was until we arrived at an abandoned warehouse, I knew nothing but trouble lied ahead." A tear fell down my face as the memory hit me.

"He kept mumbling "I did this for us" and I panicked. I didn't know what he did or how, but I was petrified. As we walked into the warehouse, we reached a tiny room and that's when I saw what he was talking about. There was my father, lying on the floor, cold, beaten, and unconscious. I immediately ran over to him, screaming what did you do over and over to Kian but he wouldn't answer, he just smirked. Once my father woke up, Kat came back with food. She looked scared when she saw me but I was even more scared. Kian took out a knife and told me to stab my father, I refused to do it so then Kian took out his gun and put it against my stomach. He threatened to kill the baby but I didn't care, all I cared about was my father. My father told me to do it because he didn't want Kian to kill the baby but I still refused. That was until Kian took the safety off the gun and put his finger on the trigger, I unfortunately gave in and slashed my father a couple times across the arms. It was horrible." By now, tears were streaming down my face like Niagara Falls.

Stay strong Emma.

"I had to pretend like nothing happened for another week and I was starting to go crazy. I would have anxiety attacks, I would rip out pieces of my hair, and I would shut out my family because my mother knew that something was wrong and no matter how much I wanted to tell her to call the police I couldn't. Because if I did, we would all be dead by morning. Once Kian picked me up again, my mother called the cops. By doing so, she didn't realize that she would be killing my father. Kat wasn't there that day, that's when I knew something was wrong, but I knew what I had to do. I was going to find some way to get rid of Kian, what I didn't realize though was that I was going into labor. I remember being in a lot of pain but not knowing why, and when I told Kian he just kept mumbling the same thing over and over again."

"What was he saying?" Mike asks, I sigh. "He kept saying I did what I had to do. And at first I didn't realize what he meant, but once we got to the warehouse I realized that he had stabbed my father so many times that there was barley any life left in him. He wanted me to finish him off, so he handed me a gun, I pretended to go along with it but turned around and shot Kian instead. As a response, he shot my father in the head execution style. Kian lost so much blood that he passed out so I ran over to my dad to at least try to stop some of the bleeding but it was no use, my father was already dead."

"Wait I'm confused, then how did you get arrested?" Lily asks. I chuckle, wiping my tears away. "I had so much blood on me from trying to stop the bleeding that I didn't even realize that I was bleeding myself. I found out that my mother had tracked my phone and called the police because she knew something was wrong. When the cops realized I was in labor, they drove me to the hospital immediately and luckily the baby was healthy. But given the circumstances I was forced to give him up for adoption and I was soon arrested. Kat thought that by testifying against Kian she would help me and her testimony got me out of jail. But as you can see, her apologies were all fake because I found out that my assumptions about Kian and Kat were right, they were having an affair this whole time because Kian only got with me because of a bet he made. And now with Kian arrested, Kat took over whatever business he was doing. So now since she's in charge, and she hates my guts, she can send anyone after me at any time. That's why you all needed to know the truth, because if I die then you'll know."

"You're not going to die, we'll make sure of it." Mike said confidently, everyone nodded in agreement. I looked at them in shock. "So you aren't mad at me?"

"Emma, if I would have known that your story was this serious I wouldn't have even badgered you about it. I'm so sorry you had to go through all of that." Lily gave me a hug, I smiled at her support. "Yeah. We've all done some pretty bad things, as you saw from the list. We are in no place to judge. But one thing is for sure, we will not let anyone hurt you no matter what happens." Sam said, holding my hand, my smile turned wider.

I looked around at these people whom I have befriended and I couldn't help but feel content. I know that if things go bad, then they will have my back and that comforts me. It's something that I haven't been able to feel in awhile.