The Cure To My Pain ✔️

42. The plan

A sob breaks out of me and I hold the picture close to my heart.

Ash sighs and makes me look up at him, holding my chin."Lee you were ten. You cannot blame yourself for feeling what you felt. You were told that your parents sold you. You felt exactly what a ten year old would feel. I'm not letting you sit here and blame her and say that what she felt was a mistake. Please don't let your brave, strong past self down. Your parents would not want you to blame yourself, you know that."

I breathe in slowly and swallow the lump in my throat. I wipe all my tears and nod at him,"You are right. What I need to think about is the future. I can't let Declan take something died for. I won't let him. I cannot  I-I."

"Babe we need to think this through, we need to think about what would be the consequences."

I shake my head at him,"No Ash. My parents gave their life for that. And it's not- it's not money, it's their sacrifice, their dignity, their legacy, their goodness. I can't let that fall into such dirty, filthy hands."

He nods at me and holds my hand,"I know. I understand. But we should know that if we do this, we have to take the whole thing down. And we need-".

"Percy", I whisper. He narrows his eyes at me and scoffs."As absurd as that sounds. We need him Ash. He is the only person who knows the truth and is on our side."

He chuckles humourlessly,"Is he?"

I rub his knuckles and try to catch his eyes,"I saw it in him. He regrets what he did. He is our only insight on that."

He stands up and starts pacing,"Are you fucking shitting me? You want the person who did this to you, stand next to you and take down someone who he was with before. I know he was lied to too, I know his past is fucked up too but that doesn't mean he had a free pass to hurt you!"

"And you think I don't know that!" I get up from my position and stand in front of him,"You think I forgive him for that. I could never forgive him never. I know what he feels, I know what he's been through beacuse I have been through that too. He hurt me, their wasn't anyone to tell him he did wrong. No one to guide him. And I'm justifying his actions beacuse it could never be justified only understood. When he realised the wrong he had the choice to turn back but he decided not to. That's his biggest mistake and I know that, he knows that too."

I walk closer to him and hold his cheeks,"I know what he is feeling. He needs a chance to do something right, inspite of knowing that won't undo his wrong. He needs it, and he should be given that. Just like I got mine. Please."

He stares at me and then closes his eyes. He takes a few breaths and open them again. He puts his arms around my waist and pulls me against his chest. We stand there just breathing in the silence and embracing the truth.

He pulls back and rests his forehead against me."I just don't want to see you hurt. I've seen enough. I'll ask him to come tommorow and go from there?"

I smile and give him a kiss,"Yeah. I love you."

He picks me up making me squeal and lays me down on the bed. He pulls the comforter on me and bends down to kiss my forehead.

"Well now you need to rest. If you need anything, at any time just knock on my door. And if I don't wake up, do not hesitate to bang as loud as you can".

I grin at him and whisper,"Yeah I'll keep that in mind. Good night."

********

"Are you sure we should do this?" Ash asks with a unsure face.

"We are already doing it Ash." I take his hand and smile. "Everything would be fine."