"I was safe the entire time, wasn't I?" Katie slowly asks, "I'm not trying to be cocky or anything, I'm just asking."
Lane rolls his eyes as if it should already be obvious, looking back out onto the damp woods in annoyance. "What do you...
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The group is gathered in Lane's office. Rebel clings to Katie's arm as Lane unleashes his anger on the people responsible for his fury. Lola's body falls to the floor, her screams loud. Rebel slinks back in fear. Guilt pegs at Katie's chest. If t wasn't for her, Lola and Rebel wouldn't be in the mess their in.
Lane sharply turns and locks his eyes on Rebel like a target. He marches his way over to her but Katie stands in front of the African-American girl. Lane gives Katie a sharp look.
"If you hurt her, you'll have to hurt me!" Katie's voice sounds child like and naïve.
Lane gives her a look. "They need to be taught a lesson."
The blonde shakes her head. "I can take it-hurt me instead!"
"You think you can handle a beating?" Lane says with a smug scoff, "You've never had it hard in your life!"
"That isn't true!" Katie begins to cry as her voice raises for the first time, "You don't know me like you think you do!"
Lane grabs her face with his hands, squeezing. "Watch your tone with me. You're on the edge of getting a bullet in that pretty little head of yours."
"My father left the wealth and security of his family to marry my mom, who came from nothing and was nothing. We ate three times a week because my parents could barely afford to keep food on the table." Katie's calm but sudden words make Lane freeze, shocking him. "When I was twelve, my parents and I was in a terrible car accident that involved a landslide from a mountain. I spent the rest of that miserable year taking care of my sick grandparents before they passed away...my uncle, Gail, began to groom me so I could go to college and be out of his hair..."
Katie pauses for a moment, tears filling her eyes, "but when I didn't make it into all the best colleges, he punished me. He would starve me, took away my friends, fired all of the maids and cooks so I'd be his only servant, made me study harder-kept reminding me that I would end up like my parents!"
As Katie speaks, he only physical change in Lane's appearance is his eyes. The iciness in the crime lord's blue eyes melt into water. They stare at the blonde as she speaks, his face stoney. His hands continue to grasp her harder.
"You think I didn't have it hard? For those seven long years, Gail never once let me forget how much he hated me and that I was the reason why my dad failed in life and that I should have died with my parents because that's my legacy!" Katie's voice breaks and her face scrunches up as she lets all of her pain and emotions go, "And I wish I had went with them! Just so I'd never have to remember all the hell Uncle Gail put me through just because he was mean and cruel!"
Lane feels as the blonde's body goes limp, he immediately lets her go. Katie suddenly falls to her knees, shocking everyone in the room, including Lane. Rebel puts a over her mouth as she too begins to cry. She weeps against the crime lord's pant leg, her soft cries heart breaking.
The crime lord doesn't move as he stares straight at the wall behind his desk, seemingly unmoved by the confession Katie had told. And Lane would never admit it but blonde's words had tugged on his heart strings, his heart aching in his chest. An apology is at the tip of his tongue but he does not move his lips nor his eyes to dare look at the weeping girl at his feet.
Instead, Lane turns and walks out without another word. Katie looks up as she cries watching him go. Rebel and Max goes to the blonde, helping her to her feet.
Katie buries her head into Rebel's thin shoulder, sobbing.
He's just like Gail. Katie thinks, her head shaking as her face turns red from the pain in her chest. He doesn't care about me...just himself.
Hey readers! For a moment there I began to tear up and I was like 😭💔 Tell me your thoughts please! What do you think will happen next? Do you think Lane did the right thing in leaving? Do you think Katie will ever be the same after what Lane did? How will I fix them out of this mess?????
