The Truth (Mommy's House 2)

Part Six

"I didn't know that she almost killed me," Cole said quietly to me in the office, while Liv was tending to Bella in another room.

I stared at the desk, my eyes closed. "Bella's very traumatized by it."

Cole was quiet, and I could tell his mind was racing. He reached up and ran his hands through his hair.

"She should have just done it," he said. I almost didn't hear him, but I'm glad that I did.

I leaned back in my seat and stared at him, though he was clearly avoiding eye contact with me.

"What do you mean, Cole?" I asked finally.

He shook his head, a few more strands of hair falling onto his forehead. "I don't know."

I stood up and reached over to shut the half-opened door. He watched me, his eyes holding an unreadable emotion as he started chuckling uncomfortably.

"I don't - we don't need to talk about this," he said nervously.

I couldn't see past the pain in his expression. The emotional barrier he put up could almost be physically seen through his hesitant gaze.

"Okay, we don't have to," I said, moving to sit next to him.

He watched me carefully. "Then why are you-"

"Cole," I said softly, suddenly feeling as if I should address the videos to him. "We're trying to find out what happened in this house. We need to know as much as we possibly can."

"I know," he responded.

"We saw some videos-" the second I said it, his demeanor shifted. His eyes widened a little bit as he stared at his lap. "-the videos, they... they displayed some... alarming content."

My mind ran through the way the woman was all over him, the distanced look in his stare, and her comment about separating him from the others every once in a while.

Cole swallowed, tight, pain-filled laughter escaping his lips. "I-I know."

I licked my lips, not knowing how to ask him this. "Did... did the woman in those videos-"

"Don't hurt yourself trying to find out how to talk to me about this. I know what you're going to ask," Cole said, rolling his eyes. He was in so much pain. "And... it's fine, all right? I'm fine."

"Cole, listen to me. I care about your health-"

"Do you?" he asked. He didn't seem angry or doubtful in any way - it seemed like a genuine question.

I recoiled. "Yes, of course I do."

"Why?" he furrowed his eyebrows. "I really don't think you would if you didn't need answers from me."

"What- of course I would. Cole, just relax for a second. You don't need to be defensive around me, trust me," I said gently, and he closed his eyes before looking up at the clock on the office wall.

I licked my lips and shook my head.

"You remind me of my son," I told him, my voice shaking. I couldn't believe that I was telling him my thoughts, but I couldn't seem to contain them. "All I can see when I look at you is my son."

"Okay," Cole said, confused.

"And thinking about my son, a teenage boy like you, going through something like this... makes me bring that man and woman back to life just to kill them myself. But I can't do that, so I need to make sure we are on the same page. We can make sure what happened to you doesn't happen to anyone else," my voice couldn't stop trembling despite how hard I tried to steady it. My heart was pounding rapidly against my ribcage.