Taken By The Bad Boy

27 I'm sorry, okay?

+Liam's POV+

Tillie has been calming Ria down and talking things through with her. In my whole life I've never seen so much of...of a human being inside of her. She's always been in my eyes, a monster. A murderer. An alcoholic. A druggie. But watching her sit with Tillie and talk to her, makes me see something else when I look at her; a mom. Broken, sure but a mother. A woman. A good person. Even with my father she still had a lot of her dark side showing; always in the shadows, watching and waiting to ruin my life over and over again.

      "Liam I've been meaning to ask you this but...I-I haven't been able to ask but I can't take it anymore, where's Raleigh?" Delilah asks me, tears starting to form in her eyes and I sigh. What am I supposed to tell her? That I have no idea? That I thought she was here?

      "I wish I could tell you." I answer honestly. Delilah gasps and sinks to the floor sobbing.

     "She could still be alive." Devan tries to reason with her.

      "I hate this! We...we tried so hard! So hard to avoid this situation! She wasn't supposed to find us! Even if she did, we were supposed to be ready! Prepared! But we weren't! A-and now my babygirl is out there all along! My husband is god knows where! My son is lord knows where! My brother is trapped in a basement! I'm trapped in a basement!"

      "Shh. He'll find us, I promise. He's never stopped coming after you and that's not going to change now." Scott tells Delilah. Tillie told us to try and avoid using "Ryder" and anything that can make her snap back into her frenzy.

      "Where's Cole? Or Janet? Kevin? Ellie? Eva? Daisy? Rachel? Randy? Or him? What about Eliza? Or Garrett? Emily? Where are they?!"

"Thankfully not with us." Devan reminds her and I nod my head in agreement. They are safe away from here. In fact, I hope none of them show up to "save" us. I hope they forget about us and move on. They don't need to deal with this torture and whatever the hell Ria decides.

"We need a plan." Delilah suddenly says, getting up and looking around.

"A hose, fire extinguisher, crowbar, flame thrower. What else? Hmm. Mattress, pliers, knives and a...gun? Think Delilah." She mutters to herself as she walks around and she looks at us and then looks down at herself. I look down and I realize, I'm a mess. I'm in athletic pants that are covered in dirt and ashes with dried blood on my shoes. My hoodie is covered in filth too. So nasty. As soon as I get out of here, I'm going to the closest shower and removing all of this junk off of me. Of course that shower has to be in better shape than the one in this house.

"Take the gun and shoot the bitch; Liam, Devan and I will provide a distraction." Scott suggests.

     "No. We aren't killing her." I hear someone say and honestly why wouldn't we? Just shoot her so we can all go home and get on with our lives! But when I notice everyone staring at me, I realize that I said it.

     "Why not?" Devan asks and honestly I don't have an answer to that. I just can't. Maybe it's because I can't bear to see her dead on the ground like I did with my father. Even though she deserves all the things Hell has waiting for her.

      "Even though she's a monster, at the end of the day she's still my mother." I tell him.

      "No one said you had to be the one to kill her." Devan tells me, rolling his eyes. What an asshole.

     "If anyone were to kill her, Liam automatically has the right." Delilah says and I'm glad she does because she's right. I've had to suffer with her the most, I was abused, felt like I was worthless and have the only things I've ever wanted be torn from me. Time after time. She made me suffer every single second of my life. I have been scarred physically and mentally because of all the pain and torture she put me through. Because of her, I never knew what a family was, never understood the love of a mother. The skills my father would teach me. I had my whole childhood taken from me.