When Different Worlds Collide ✔️

Wreckage- Erik's POV

Erik's POV-

"Erik, it has been three days. You have to go back to school. You're less than a few months away from graduating. You can't just dropout over this," my mom's voice spoke firmly.

"Would you rather me end up in prison for murder?" I grumbled.

"I'd rather you learn to control yourself and your temper," she replied with a harsh look.

"You don't understand!" I raised my voice as I spoke frantically. "She's going to marry him! Him! You should have seen the way he treated her... H-he jerked her around, practically threatened her, and acted as if she wasn't even a person. Mom... Sh-she-" my voice broke off in the middle of my sentence. My heartbeat quickened as the bitter anger and sadness filled my chest once again.

"She's doing what she feels like she has to," my mom said softly.

"She's doing it all for me... For all of us. Sh-she's putting herself through hell for me," I almost sobbed out. "H-how can I let this happen? What kind of person would I be if I continued to allow this? And for what?! So, we can live in a nice fucking house? I don't give a shit about this house! I just- I want her. How could she give herself over to them for this?! I want her to be happy and treated the way that she deserves. She doesn't deserve this! She was just beginning to finally understand who she really is... She was finally happy."

"I know..." My mom trailed off quietly. "But honey, I don't think that it was ever your decision," she said rationally. "You even said it yourself before, she said that she was going down. You didn't understand what she meant back then, but I'm pretty sure she did. She didn't want to bring you down with her. She did what she could for the people that she cared about, Erik.

"It's awful, but she knew that she was going to be put into some impossible situation. You know as well as I do that her father is a powerful and important white man; they always get what they want. In this case, he got his daughter to go along with whatever he wanted. If it weren't because of you, he would have figured some other way out instead. Kat isn't doing this for you; she is doing it because she was going to have to either way... She just got him to grant us a boon in the process."

"So that's just it? I'm supposed to sit by and watch the girl I love be coerced and threatened into compliance. That's bullshit," I spat out.

"I don't know what other option there is, son! I've read up on Henry Reynolds... He's no joke. He's worth more money than we can even fathom, and he is more than likely into some shady shit according to Kat's letter. He is a powerful man with powerful people. I don't have a solution for you right now, but I do know that whatever you have in mind is not it either.

"Kat would not want you to end up in jail for murdering her family over her, and you know that. I understand that you're upset and mad, but we must think smarter. We cannot full on fight him. He's smarter, has more resources, and is well respected. We're going to have to think of something else. Right now... We have to just make it through each day."

"And I'm supposed to just watch her with him..."

"You're supposed to love her enough to figure something out that will not hurt either of you," she answered instantly. "She's not willing to sacrifice you to get out of this, so don't you dare disrespect her by trying that for yourself."

"But she's sacrificing herself," I spat out.

"She's buying time and going along with everything because she has to, Erik. She's not sacrificing herself; she's being smart and thinking things through," she chastised.

"How are we supposed to fight someone like him, mom? How are we supposed to come up with a plan to take him down?" I asked shakily after a long pause.