Page 210 of True Blue

Dawn blinks, looking around as if this is one big joke, before she starts laughing.

“This… is absurd.”

“Based on documented injuries and an official complaint filed, it is not,” Officer Dash says.

Dawn’s laughter dies off, as she looks back and forth between the officers. Then she looks right at me, beseeching.

“Theodore, tell them!”

Last night, on the ride back to the hotel, I called Dunk and told him what happened.

Nana used to say that things just work out sometimes. That if it’s meant to be, it will be. And while last night didn’t go as planned, it was probably the best thing that could have happened.

“Do not go to the hotel,” Dunk said when I finished explaining. His voice was severe enough to cut right through my shock. “Go directly to the police station, Theodore. You have visible injuries. You need to report this.”

“But it’s just a couple of scratches,” I said, and even to my own ears, the protest sounded weak.

Old habits die hard, I guess. Not defending my mother, there’s no defense left in her for my body, but minimizing my own pain because I’ve been conditioned to. Dr. Meyer would be proud of me for recognizing it, at least.

My mother never put her hands on me; she never had to, but this was the first time she ever directly harmed me physically.

“And if that bottle had been a few inches closer, it could have hit your head,” Dunk growled, then softened. “Theodore, your mother assaulted you. You need to report her.”

I glanced at the rideshare driver and cleared my throat.

“Can you take me to the nearest police station instead?”

“Yeah,” the man said, flipping on his turn signal. “I was hoping you’d ask. There are napkins in the console. Try not to bleed all over my seats, cool?”

“I did tell them,” I say to my mother. “After you threw a wine bottle at me and cut my face open. I told them everything.”

Dawn blanches and she tries to wiggle out of the officer’s grip.

She realizes that there isn’t a lie she can spew to get her out of this. She can’t charm her way out. She can’t cry her way out. She can’t smile, buy, or scheme her way out. She’s in over her head, and I see the exact moment she realizes it.

Her eyes dart from me, to Indie, to Dunk, to the officers, to the conference room doors where Dr. Vale, Dr. Halloran, and Dr. Minkus watch the scene with varying shades of shock.

“This is her fault!” Dawn snarls, twisting toward Indie. “That whore took my son away from me!”

Indie flinches, and I place my body between them even more, shielding Indie from my mother completely.

“You don’t ever speak to Indie ever again,” I snarl quietly. “And you’re less than dead to me—you don’t exist anymore.”

Dawn’s face twists into something ugly. Officer Dash reaches for her arm.

“Turn around, Mrs. Williams.”

She jerks away and in the struggle, ends up elbowing Officer Jones in his face.

Everything changes in that instant. Officer Dash grabs her other arm—hard enough to make my mother shriek.

“You just assaulted an officer,” Officer Dash says sharply. “Stop resisting.”

“You little cunt! You did this!” she screams, her voice echoing down the hallway. “She took him from me! How could you do this to me, Theo? How could you let her take you from me?”

I wrap my arm around Indie, and she burrows into my chest, shaking. Not an act, she’s shaking, and I know why. Because this is the first time she’s seen my mother as she is—cruel and ugly and monstrous.

I guess I always suspected that she was a monster buried beneath the polished veneer and it was that fear that kept me obedient all this time.