Temptation

Chapter 71

"It is weird how Shawn decided to commit suicide."

What a way to get right to the point, Xemina. He froze for a second. He raised his head and turned to me.

"Do you really want to open this conversation?" He calmly spoke.

"Yeah, I do. Because I might have eaten a lot of punches, but my brain is not scrambled enough to not understand something happened."

"This whole situation is weird. I have been awake and talking for a while now, but not once has someone come in this room to ask me a statement." I continued. "I appreciate your family coming here to see me, but your father, your brother, and you in the same room are more dangerous than a fucking nuclear bomb."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"Will you tell me about what is going on? Because I am furious right now. I feel violated and like a joke. I don't want to believe he killed himself. That would mean, once again, he got away with abusing me. And I'm hoping it's not the case."

"I don't think this is the right time to talk about that. I wanted you to heal before I bring up this conversation."

"Well, I want to know. What did you do, Julian?"

He leaned his head backward and deeply breathed.

"Listen, I don't think it's the moment to talk about this, Xemina."

"Fuck that! I want to know! He is not dead, isn't he? He is probably somewhere else, please tell me-."

"No, he is not! He is dead! I killed him!"

Kabooyah! That was the sound of my heart exploding. My mind was a void. I didn't know how to react to this news. I fought my tears as I stared at him speechless. It was so obvious, yet shocking.

"Why?" I managed to stutter.

"Because that's what he deserved."

I huffed. I closed my eyes and relaxed my body. Frankly, I was relieved. Murder was wrong, but when people fuck you up, it becomes reasonable. The justice system was nothing more than merchandise. In a few years, he would have been out and kept hunting me. My world was better off without someone like him.

"Did he suffer?"

"Every last second of his life."

An eye for an eye. The only regret I had was I wasn't present to see it and feel the satisfaction of him begging for his life. For once, revenge made me feel good.

"Xemina?" He sat next to me and grabbed my hand. "You're not mad?" He stared at me confusingly.

"I'm exhausted, Julian." I wept. "Look at me. I never did anything to anyone and looked at me. Just he was obsessed with me. I was angry because I didn't let him abuse me anymore. I'm tired of it. I just want all of them gone. Dead. Every single one that hurt me. I want to kill them all."

He traversed to my bed and took me in his arms. I bawled my eyes out on his shoulder.

"Let it out. Do it, baby."

I buried my sore face in his neck and screamed my heart out; I hit him until my arms became weak. The tears stung my cheeks as if spiky wires were crawling down my cheeks. Two nurses rushed to check on me. Julian explained to them I was okay. I stopped crying and decided to lay down. I had enough of sitting down. I couldn't tolerate the pain anymore.

Later in the day, Julian fed me Caldo De Res — a Mexican beef soup. It was hearty and satisfying to eat. I won't stop thanking God he knew how to cook. I received a visit from Chris. I could see Julian trying one nice, but his rudeness was in the background. He just couldn't help himself not to be jealous. At least, he was kind enough not to cause any scene or remarks. Frenchie also came by; he brought me flowers and cookies. I also received a letter from Trinity's board. All it was was an apology and get-well wishes. I tore the paper. I blamed them fifty percent for what happened to me. Maybe I wouldn't be in a hospital bed if they weren't greedy. No word from Mark. I stopped existing for him a long time ago.