AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“It is.”
“Good. Yeah, excellent. Okay I should let you go.”
“All right. I’ll call you if I think of anything to help you,” I tell her, my chest aching at the thought that this might be our last conversation. “Take care of yourself, Gwen.”
“You too, Ty.”
“You’re going to land on your feet. I know it.”
“Thanks. I appreciate your confidence in me.”
“I’m right about that. Some lucky organization is going to snap you up really quickly.”
She lets out the least enthusiastic chuckle I’ve ever heard. “I hope so.”
“Okay, take care,” I say, needing to get off the phone before I tell her I might love her.
“You too, Ty,” she says.
I’m about to hang up when I hear her voice again. “Ty? Are you still there?”
“Yeah.”
“Look, I know you’re probably super excited about your big acquisition and I don’t want to put a damper on that, but I just … wanted to tell you I’m worried about you.”
“Why? I’m great. Better than great. About to close a chapter on my life that should’ve been over a long time ago.”
“Are you? I mean, really?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Hmph. Okay. But, can I just tell you one thing first?”
“Sure.”
“Do you know how one of the biggest arguments for the death penalty is that it’ll bring closure and peace to the victim’s family?”
“Jesus, I’m not killing anyone,” I tell her. “I’m buying a sports team.”
“Bear with me because I am going somewhere with this.”
“All right.”
“So, they’ve done studies on how the victim’s families feel before and after their loved one’s killer is put to death, and it turns out that it doesn’t help. Generally speaking, they don’t get closure. They don’t feel better. It just turns more people into killers.”
“Again, I’m not killing anyone.”
“I’m not saying you’re killing anyone. But he hurt you, and Michael, and your mom, so more than anything, you want to hurt him right back.”
“Exactly.”
“But it won’t make you feel better. I’m not trying to talk you out of buying the team, because maybe you’ll really love owning the Destroyers. Maybe that’ll be the most fulfilling thing in your entire life and it’ll light you up for the next fifty years or so. I have no idea,” she says, her words rolling out fast. “But if that’s not the case, don’t do it. You’ve already let this excuse for a human being take up way too much of your precious time and energy. Don’t let him have any more.”
“So you think I should just walk away from the whole thing and let him get away with it all?”
“No, I think you should find him and have one quick conversation with him. Tell him who you’ve become, in case he doesn’t already know. Tell him how awesome Michael turned out to be. Let him see what he’s missing out on and then … let him go.”
“You make it sound so simple.”
