ɪᴛ's 2 ᴀᴍ ʜᴇʀᴇ ᴀɴᴅ ʟᴏᴏᴋ ᴡʜᴏ ғɪɴɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴡʀɪᴛɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴀɴᴅ ɪs ᴡʀɪᴛɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ ɴᴇxᴛ ᴏɴᴇ ɴᴏᴡ? ʏᴇᴀʜ ɪғ ʏᴏᴜ sᴀɪᴅ sᴜɴsᴇᴛʙʟᴇssɪɴɢ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴇʀᴇ ᴄᴏʀʀᴇᴄᴛ! ʟᴏᴏᴋ ᴀᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ʙᴇɪɴɢ ᴡɪsᴇʀ ᴛʜᴀᴛ sʜᴇʀʟᴏᴄᴋ ʜᴏʟᴍᴇs!  (ᴋ ʟᴇᴛ ᴍᴇ sᴛᴏᴘ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ғᴜɴ ʀᴇᴀᴅɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ <3)

The power our choices hold, the way they can change our whole life, one mistake and everything flies out of the window.

"Monique" I spoke calmly after what she had told me, I should've been shouting at her cursing but I didn't, the fact that she hadn't mentioned anything about Andrew being aware of my and Elide plan was positive, but after all the things Andrew did she still decided to help him.

I didn't care about the stolen evidence, Elide made me duplicate them and put them in a safe place, I cared about what was going on in that woman head to help Andrew.

"Why are you doing this?" The motherly instinct had its limits, the victims over the guilty, no matter what, that was supposed to be common sense for the majority of people but apparently not for my wife.

My eyes fell on the device I was using to control everything that was happening with Andrew and Elide and I stopped giving attention to Monique seeing what was happening, he was groping her, my jaw glanced and gripped my phone so tightly that It could just break in two pieces if I'd applied any more pressure, Monique explanations weren't relevant anymore, I needed to get Elide out of there before he could hurt her.

I glanced up at the rear-view mirror to see Luke and Rosie looking at me, waiting for instructions. I pointed to the exit of the car and they nodded quickly leaving me alone in the car. Andrew wasn't the only one with friends at the police department and these two were witnessing and hearing everything.

"Are you even listening to me?" The high pitched voice of Monique asked and I took slow controlled breaths before answering, barely able to calm my anger.

"Yes, I am" if this call wasn't being intercepted I would've just hung up the phone but I needed her to speak too, if she was willing to keep defending Andrew she could also end up exactly like him.

"Cheating on me wasn't enough huh? You also have to be a fucking asshole!" she raised her voice, I wasn't surprised that she knew it just that I didn't care, I wasn't a saint I shouldn't have been cheating on my wife, but she wasn't any better in fact she was worse.

"You really think I could stay faithful to someone like you?"I spoke in a low voice, you could still detect my obvious anger, that wasn't just a rhetorical question, I really wondered if she realized how horrible of a person she was to defend an abuser.

"Like me what?" She asked like she was genuinely asking what was wrong with being a person like her.

"Someone that does everything in their power to protect abusers, someone that kept lying for months if not years! Someone so selfish and with no empathy or whatsoever."

"You are talking as if Andrew isn't our son, your son!" She said in a defensive tone and I felt repulsed, she really thought that that would make any difference. He wasn't a child and I wasn't going to treat him like one.

"Sometimes blood doesn't really matter and this time it's the case, you been helping Andrew getting away with abusing Elide, fully aware of what was happing and I'm sure this is not even the frist time that you do it" I looked down at the monitor Elide, Andrew and she were screming at each other and seemed to get dangerously close to each other, from the angulation I couldn't see much but I was sure so fucking sure Andrew hit her.

He didn't stop there he repeatedly did that, I felt my heart sink into my chest, Monique was blabbering something on the other side of the phone but I couldn't care less, she was confessing and it was enough I messaged her position to the police and ended the call.

Andrew wrapped his hands around her neck, she was trying to stop him you could see her trying to fight, if that day Elide died it would've been exclusively my fault, I promised her I would've rescued her, the thought of failing her made me ache in pain and I gripped the wheel and threw the monitor on the back of the car starting driving to my house direction.

I didn't know why the fuck Luke and Rosie weren't stopping him yet but I wasn't going to wait for them, I started the car an

"Please don't die, Elide" I drove at the maximum speed to my house thanking the universe for not meeting traffic and not being stopped, when I was finally there I ran towards the house hoping every second she was fine.

A bunch of police cars were there, including an ambulance. Some of the police officers had sad expressions on their faces, others were indifferent as if they saw things like that happen all the time and they did their best to stop these things.

When I saw Luke and Rosie I ran in their direction. I looked at their faces and for a brief second, I thought the worst happened, that Elide was not alive but the reassuring smile on their faces made me feel better, not completely satisfied but better. I still needed to see her, still needed to make sure she was in fact alright.

"Where is she?" I asked and Rosie pointed at the ambulance just some meters away from us, I thanked her and walked in its direction, and there I saw her she looked lost and scared and I wanted to torture myself because it was partly my fault she had that expression, it shouldn't have gone that far, I needed explanations on why Luke and Rosie didn't intervene sooner but that could wait for that, I the only thing I wanted to make sure was if Elide was actually okay.

She was standing up, her lower lip was stained with blood and she was covering her neck while nodding slowly, while the doctor talked to her.

"Excuse me, " I said trying to sound as respectful as possible, the doctor glanced up at me, she had a wondering expression on her face, she was probably wondering who I was and waiting for me to introduce myself, but as soon as my eyes met Elide's I seemed to forget to do that.

I wanted to smile at her, to take her in my arms and kiss her but I didn't, I just looked at her, at her bruised lip and the new marks that were visible on her soft skin.

"Is she alright?" I asked, forcing myself to look away from her. The doctor nodded and gave me a gentle smile.

"She is fine but we need to take her to do a check-up at the hospital to be completely sure of it" I nodded.

"Elide..." I didn't know what to say to her, the overwhelming feelings I had felt just some moments ago left my body.

"I'm tired Damien, they said they need to take me to the hospital to make some controls, can you just meet me there? We will talk later" I knew she was tired, and the last thing I would do is argue with her.

"Okay then see you later," I said and then leaned down to kiss her forehead, I left the doctors to do their jobs and walked next to Rosie and Luke.

I knew Elide was fine but things could've been really different and I wanted to know why the fuck these two didn't intervene when they clearly had to.

"Damian" Luke gave me a fake smile that I didn't return and Rosie looked at me in the eyes with the same expression I had but it was clear she was intimidated.

"I need to talk to you two can you come with me?" I asked and they both nodded and followed me in a more private place.

"Where is he?"

"On his way to the central" Luke replied," I looked intensely at both of them and I knew I was going to hear something I wasn't going to appreciate.

"I want to know why you two didn't intervene sooner," I asked and they gave me an unsure look, when I glared at them Rosie began to speak.

"Damien, I think your wife wasn't the only one that was helping Andrew, your daughter was too" 

I was so close to making Elide die and end the book I'm not even joking but I really couldn't put myself to be so cruel anyways don't forget to vote hope you are all doing well.