Page 121 of Broken Butterfly
“Yes.”
“You let your psycho brother touch my sister and didn’t do anything about it?”
Fallon doesn’t answer me. My body again tries to propel forward as my anger churns higher and higher. Ryder holds on to me, not allowing me to leave his side.
“Did you know he was abusing her? All the bruises and burn marks on her body were from him? Answer me, Fallon! Did you know?” I scream.
“No! No, but I knew what he was capable of, so I should have realized what he could do to her.”
I tilt my head back into Ryder’s chest and howl at the ceiling, my whole body releasing the turbulent energy of my internal anguish.
“You allowed that monster to hurt my sister. Where is Peter, Fallon? So help me God, if you are hiding him or shielding him, I will kill you myself. Where is he?”
As if being hit over the head with a club, Fallon slides down the wall to fall heavily on the floor, his hands clenched on both sides of his head, his knees raised, and his body folding into itself in an upright fetal position. “He’s dead! Peter can’t hurt you anymore! He’s dead, Elizabeth. I killed him!”
I turn around and collapse into Ryder, racking sobs convulsing from my chest.He’s dead. The monster is dead. Fallon killed him. Fallon killed his own brother. For me.The silence that pervades the hallway is thick, the only sounds penetrating through the stillness are my hiccupping cries and Fallon’s ragged breathing. Ryder murmurs something in my ear, but I can’t hear him because Fallon’s hushed explanation holds me hostage.
“I was here that morning. Patricia and my father were in Europe. I was here when Peter came in, soaked in blood, still holding the knife. His car was still here so he must have run the entire distance from your house to here. Jesus Christ, there was so much blood. He was covered in it. The smell of it. I’ll never forget the smell. For a second, I thought he was going to kill me, like he tried to before. He told me what he did. He cried, Elizabeth. He fucking cried. He said he killed our light; he destroyed our sunshine. I didn’t know what the hell he was talking about. And then he told me everything. He told me what he had done. He begged for forgiveness. He pleaded with me to help him. To save him.”
Fallon presses his hands together as if in prayer. “He dropped the knife. The one he just confessed that he used to kill your family. The one he used on you. I stared at it on the floor as Peter rambled out every horrific fucking detail of what he did. He kept repeating over and over that you wouldn’t see him. That he asked you to see him. To notice him. He said he didn’t mean to hurt you, but you kept fighting him. He said Hailey had to die because she wasn’t you. He only wanted you. He had to have you. He would never give you up. I don’t remember how I came to hold the knife in my hand. I never remember picking it up off the floor. All I remember is the distorted smile on his face when he impaled himself with it, and him thanking me.” Fallon shudders and wails out, “He thanked me for it! I was holding the knife that killed my brother and he thanked me for it. What kind of monster am I?”
Peter used Fallon to kill himself?How many times is Fallon going to have to shoulder the weight of his family’s crimes?
Trevor walks around me and Ryder and goes to Fallon, easing himself down to the floor in front of his sibling. He cups his hand around the back of Fallon’s neck and looks at me. “Fallon called me. I had only recently learned that we were brothers. That my father was his father. My mom was gone, and I had no one. He asked for my help and I didn’t hesitate. I came right over. Fallon was holding Peter in his arms. The look on Fallon’s face when I walked in.” Trevor swallows thickly, shaking his head.
“Fallon told me what Peter did. What happened after.” Trevor implores me with his blue gaze, so much like Fallon’s, wanting me to see the truth of that night. “I couldn’t allow Fallon to be arrested for something that wasn’t his fault. Peter used Fallon as a means to an end. It was my decision to hide the body. I bundled Peter in one of the rugs from the great room. I carried his body out back to the lake on the property. I helped cover up his death. I got Fallon to erase the security camera footage. We were lucky in the fact that the staff had been given time off while Patricia and Phillip were out of town, so nobody was here at the house.”
“So you see, Elizabeth, it’s not just Fallon and Peter that have blood on our hands. And I’m sorry. So very sorry for my part in all of this and everything you’ve gone through because of it. I didn’t know who you were at that time. My mom was gone, and I had a brother who asked for my help, so I did. I couldn’t lose anyone else.”
More than a year has passed. Why has no one asked questions? Isn’t anyone curious as to the sudden disappearance of Peter?Then I remember what Fallon told me in Barcelona. Peter was lost a long time ago. He would disappear for extended periods of time, months or longer, while on drug-induced benders. His mental illness made him unpredictable and unstable. Peter was a sociopath. He was constantly in and out of rehab. His family had everyone thinking Peter was just one of the hired help. The only person who would have noticed his absence would be the mother who abused him his entire life, and I doubt very highly that she would have reported him missing. What a fucked-up family. How did Fallon survive this place?
I’m able to find my voice, but it’s gruff and raw from crying. “I don’t understand something, Trevor. If you helped Fallon and held onto this secret with him, then why have you and Fallon always been at each other’s throats? Why act like you hate each other? Why didn’t Fallon want you anywhere near me?”
Trevor helps Fallon stand up. He braces an arm around his waist in support until Fallon is able to steady himself. Fallon rolls his shoulders back and stares at me unapologetically. “I didn’t trust Trevor not to tell you. I also didn’t want any of the evil from that night to ever touch you again. All I ever wanted to do was to protect you from the darkness. Keep it away from you. But in the end, I failed you in every way.”
I walk over to Fallon and face the man who slayed my nightmare. I didn’t know what I would say until the words tumble out of my mouth. “Thank you.”
Fallon didn’t kill Peter; he only held the knife that Peter used to kill himself. What happened with Peter was not Fallon’s fault.
“Thank you, Fallon,” I tell him again. His face morphs from expressionless to utter shock and disbelief. I’m pretty sure that Ryder and Trevor have similar expressions on their faces.
“What?”
“Thank you, Fallon.”
“Elizabeth, no.”
I smack his face. Hard. Once. Twice. Three times. He stands there and takes it. Tears leak from his eyes and a violent red blooms on his cheek where I hit him. I may be grateful that Peter is dead, but Fallon knew what his brother was capable of and he didn’t protect Hailey.Neither did I. I saw her bruises. I saw the marks on her body. I didn’t fight hard enough for her. I never pushed her to explain. Hailey was always there for me, and when she needed me the most, I was nowhere to be found. Fallon failed my sister. He failed my family. But so did I.
There must be something terribly wrong with me for me to be feeling the way I am right now. I should feel upset, anger, maybe even horror or revulsion. I do and I don’t. I’m livid and heartbroken about what happened to my sister and to my parents because of a psychotic madman’s obsession. However, I also feel a sense of peace. Calm. The monster who took everything from me, including my memories and my unborn child, is dead.
“I can’t deal with you right now,” I tell Fallon, turning away.
I need time to process this. I need to get out of here. I can’t be in here any longer.
Fallon’s hand reaches out to me, and it about tears me apart when I hear his broken plea. “Kitten…Elizabeth, please. I’m sorry. Please forgive me.”
To deal with all of the emotions that are overwhelming me, I actually laugh; the sound of it strange to my ears. “Fallon, what happened to Peter is not your fault. He killed himself. I’m glad he’s dead.”
