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I RACED TO THE BOTTOM of the driveway, and my stomach dropped when I saw who was standing there.
Tony. Not just Tony, of course—Barry, my mom, and Silver were all there too, and it looked like they were in the middle of some kind of crazy argument.
“Don’t be ridiculous!” Barry exclaimed at him, gesturing toward Silver. “That dog didn’t do anything to you. You’re totally overreacting—”
“That fucking mutt needs to be dealt with,” Tony spat at him. He was holding one arm to his chest, as though he had been bitten, though I couldn’t see any marks on him. Silver was cowering behind Barry, who had put himself protectively between the dog and her attacker.
“You’re the one who hit her,” Barry protested. My mother wasn’t saying anything. It was like she couldn’t speak at all, trembling and clutching on to her crutches for dear life. I dashed over to her side, slipping an arm around her and letting her lean on me.
Getting a closer look at Silver, I could see that she was limping slightly—carrying her back leg as though she had been hurt. Shock and anger coursed through me—had Tony done this? Had he been the one to hurt her like this? I wouldn’t have put it past him...
“What’s going on?” Warren demanded as he caught up with us, standing next to Barry to face off against Tony.
“Your dog bit me,” Tony fired back, flashing him the bite-free arm once more.
“Nothing like that happened,” Barry protested. “This man attacked Silver, and then—”
I knew everyone around me was still talking, but I couldn’t take any of it in. It was as though it was happening to someone else entirely, happening in a different world. I was distantly aware of Tony making a phone call, and I could hear his vicious tones, spitting out commands, something about a deranged dog that needed to be dealt with.
I lifted my gaze to meet his. He was glaring at me, waiting for me to acknowledge him, to show him that he had some control over the situation. Had he been following us back? Had he just been waiting for the right time to make himself known again, show himself to us once more? The thought of it made my stomach curdle. All those happy times I’d shared with Warren, Silver, and my mother over the last couple of days, and he might have been there, watching. Taking it all in. Waiting for his moment to pounce.
“Did you kick my dog?”
Everyone fell silent as I spoke, even though it was only quiet. I couldn’t muster up anything more than that. I just needed an answer, an explanation as to why Silver was limping right now. Nobody else would have dared lay a finger on her, but Tony? Tony was the kind of psycho who might just have taken it that far.
“Speak up, sweetheart,” Tony demanded, taking a step toward me. His face was twisted into a cruel smile, and my heart pounded as I swallowed and forced myself to continue.
“Did you kick my dog?”
I spoke every word clearly this time, making sure he had no excuse to pretend he couldn’t make out what I was saying to him.
He stared back at me for a moment, and it was as though he was seeing me for the very first time. Not the version of me he had managed to keep trapped beneath his thumb for all those years, but this new version of me—this version of me who could stand up for myself, who wasn’t afraid to fight for what I knew was right. I wasn’t going to let him walk into my life, hurt my dog, and just walk out again without paying the price. No, he had put me through enough, and I was stone-cold done with playing by his sick, twisted rules.
I lunged at him before I could stop myself, knocking the phone out of his hand. I wanted to hurt him. I knew it wasn’t going to help, not one little bit, but there was a part of me that didn’t care. Why was it that he had been able to get away with everything he had done to me, to the other women he had hurt? Did he even care?
I tried to land a slap to his face, but he pushed me off roughly. I stumbled away from him, and I could hear voices calling my name, but I didn’t pay attention to them. This wasn’t just about me, this was about all the women I had met the other day, all of them who had been hurt by this man and who had lived in the same terror of him that I had for so many years. I wanted to make him pay for all of it, any way I could, I wanted to make him suffer for what he had done.
I rounded on him again. He was ready for me this time, though, and grabbed me by the collar, yanking me toward him roughly. I glowered at him, not scared, not like I had been when he had attacked me before. I could still remember the terror that had coursed through my system back then, but now, it was different. It was pure, righteous anger, and I wasn’t going to let anything get in the way of it.
“You really think you can talk to me like that?” he asked, pushing his face close to mine.
“You’re an abuser,” I spat at him. “A manipulator. All you do is hurt the people around you. There isn’t a person left in your life who you haven’t used up and spat out...”
He snarled with anger, and he looked to be about to take a swing at me when Warren lunged between us and pulled us apart. He wrapped me in his arms, guiding me away from Tony as quickly as he could, even though I wanted nothing more than to go after him and finish this once and for all.
“Yeah, you need your boyfriend to protect you, don’t you?” Tony mocked.
“Don’t talk to her,” Warren snarled at him.
“You going to do something about it?” Tony asked, and Warren swung his fist at him, landing a punch to his jaw that sent him sprawling to the ground. I wanted to smile at the sight of him like that, but I was too shaken up—I ducked down to Silver, crouching in front of her.
“Hey, girl,” I murmured. “How are you doing?”
She let out a whimper, but before I could tend to her any further, I heard the sound of sirens. I sprang to my feet and peered out on to the road, to see a couple of cop cars along with a large van screeching to a halt outside my mom’s place.
“What are they doing here?” I gasped.
“Tony called them,” Warren muttered, shaking his head. He clasped my hand tightly, squeezing it, and I hung on to him for dear life. Beside me, Mom and Barry were huddled, and Barry had his arm around her, comforting her.
“Is this the call for the dangerous dog?” a man asked as he climbed out of the van.
“Yes, that’s it,” Tony called, as he scrambled back to his feet. “Right there.”
He was stabbing his finger at Silver, who was cowering below me. I threw myself down on top of her, doing everything I could to keep from letting them get to her.
“Don’t you touch her!” I exclaimed as the man drew closer. He stared down at me, his eyes expressionless.
“Step away from the dog, ma’am,” he told me. “You don’t want to get hurt.”
“She’s not going to hurt anyone!” I argued with him. “She’s never even snapped at anyone in her life. Tony’s faking it!”
“We’ll need to take her away for the time being,” the man replied, and he leaned down to get closer to Silver. Silver, as though sensing what was going on, pulled back into me, pressing herself against me. I wrapped my arms around her.
“I’m not going to let them take you anywhere,” I promised her, but I could feel the tears pricking my eyes. I didn’t know how true that was, and it killed me. I wished there was some way to guarantee that I would be able to get them to leave without taking her, but Tony had backed me into a corner once more. He was taking the one thing from me I never thought I would lose, the final twist of the knife to really break me down.
“Officer, this man assaulted me when I tried to remonstrate with them about the dog,” Tony continued. I stared up at him in shock. Did he really think he could get away with this? Did he really think, for a second, that they were going to take his word for this? They would have been crazy to even consider it.
But the police officers rounded on Warren and grabbed him by the arms.
“No!” I shrieked. I jumped to my feet and raced over to him—giving the animal control officer enough time to hook a loop around Silver’s neck and pull her roughly to her feet.
“Please,” I begged nobody in particular. “Please, don’t take them....”
“You can leave him,” Tony added, nodding toward Warren. “If you take the dog.”
I parted my lips in horror. Was he really going to make me choose? Warren stared back at me, teeth gritted, silently telling me that he could handle it—telling me to keep Silver here, at home, where we knew she would be safe.
But I couldn’t let them take him away. I needed him here with me. Who knew what Tony would do if he thought he could access my mom and me without Warren’s protective presence.
“Take the dog,” I whispered, and I hurried over to Silver again, wrapping my arms around her and squeezing her tight. I couldn’t believe I was doing this. I couldn’t believe he was forcing me into this choice. I didn’t know if I was making the right call, but I just knew I couldn’t let them take Warren from me.
The officers let go of Warren, and I watched in horror as Silver was dragged back to the van. My mother was sobbing into Barry’s shoulder as she watched our beloved dog get stolen from us. I could see the way Silver was carrying her back leg slightly, and another surge of anger coursed through me. I had to push it down—I couldn’t give them any more excuse to take me away from here too, and I was sure Tony would jump on the opportunity to get me locked up somewhere Warren couldn’t look out for me.
“You haven’t heard the last of this,” I spat at Tony as he climbed back into his car. He grinned at me, that evil, shark-like smile that didn’t seem to reach his eyes.
“Oh, I’m counting on it,” he replied. And with that, he pulled away, following the police cars and the animal control officers out of the driveway and back on to the road.
“It’s okay,” Warren murmured to me, smoothing his hand up and down my back. “It’s going to be okay.”
I pressed my face into his shoulder, trying to breathe, trying to control myself, but I couldn’t. Because I didn’t see how anything was going to be okay again. I had let my guard down and allowed myself to believe I could be something more than the person Tony’s influence had made me, and now, he was back—and he had taken my dog from me.
My heart shattered as I imagined Silver alone in the back of the car, wondering what was going on, probably so confused and frightened. I didn’t care what it took, I would get her back.
And I would make Tony pay for what he had done here.
