Stranger in my Ass-Chapter 265

Olivia’s POV - Twenty years ago

I ran home so fast I thought my lungs would burst.

"MOM! DAD!" I burst through the front door, gasping for air. "Kennedy! They took Kennedy! We have to... you have to..."

My mother appeared from the kitchen, her face going pale. "Olivia? What happened? Where’s your brother?"

The words tumbled out in a rush - Mr. Wellington, the men in suits, the lies, Maxwell’s silence, everything.

My father’s jaw tightened as I spoke. When I finished, he grabbed his jacket.

"Stay here with your mother," he said, his voice harder than I’d ever heard it. "I’ll handle this."

"But Dad..."

"Stay. Here."

I wanted to argue, wanted to go with him, wanted to do something, but the look on his face stopped me cold.

He left.

And then came the waiting.

I couldn’t sit still. Couldn’t eat. Couldn’t do anything except pace back and forth in the living room while my mother tried and failed to comfort me.

Every car that passed outside made me jump, thinking it was Dad coming home with Kennedy.

But the minutes stretched into an hour. Then two.

When Dad finally came home, I knew immediately that something was horribly wrong.

His face had aged ten years. His shoulders sagged like he was carrying the weight of the world. His eyes - God, his eyes looked hollow.

"Honey?" My mother stood up, her voice trembling. "How did it go?"

He looked at her. Then at me.

Then he shook his head slowly.

"Olivia," he said quietly. "Go to your room."

"But..."

"Now." 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

"I want to know what..."

"OLIVIA!" My mother’s sharp tone made me flinch. "Upstairs. Now."

I had never - never in my entire life - been spoken to like that by my mother.

Tears burning in my eyes, I ran upstairs. I made sure to slam my bedroom door extra loud so they’d hear it.

But I didn’t stay in my room.

I opened the door as quietly as I could, then tiptoed back to the top of the stairs where I could hear their voices from the living room below.

"...can’t believe this," my mother was saying, her voice thick with tears. "There has to be another way."

"There isn’t." Dad’s voice cracked. "I tried everything. Everything. But Wellington... he has all the power. All the connections. The police won’t listen to Kennedy’s side of the story. Those bullies have already given statements backing up Wellington’s version. It’s our son’s word against all of theirs, and we both know whose word will be believed."

"So what did he want?" Mom asked, though something in her tone said she already knew.

A long, painful silence.

Then: "The beach house."

My mother’s sharp intake of breath was audible even from where I sat.

"No. Henry, no. That’s..."

"I know what it is!" Dad’s voice rose, then broke. "Don’t you think I know what it is? It’s the only thing my father left me when he died. It’s where we spent every summer. It’s where I proposed to you. It’s where we brought the kids when they were babies. Every memory I have of my father is tied to that place."

He was crying. I could hear it in his voice.

My father was crying.

I had never heard my father cry before.

"Wellington’s been trying to get that property for years," Dad continued, his voice shaking. "Ever since my father refused to sell it to him. He’s been waiting for his chance to take it from me. And now he has it. Give him the beach house, and Kennedy goes free. Keep the beach house, and Kennedy goes to prison for something he didn’t do."

"Then we give him the beach house," Mom said immediately, fiercely. "We give him whatever he wants. Our son is worth more than any property."

"I know that. God, Sarah, I know that." A sound like Dad punching something - maybe the wall. "But it’s not just about the house. It’s about what he’s taking from me. What he’s taking from our family. And he knows it. He’s enjoying it."

The sounds of my father’s sobs drifted up the stairs.

I pressed my hands over my mouth to keep from making any noise as my own tears spilled over.

This was all my fault.

All of it.

If I had never helped that coward Maxwell, if I had just walked past him that day and let those bullies finish what they’d started, none of this would be happening.

Kennedy wouldn’t be in jail. Dad wouldn’t be losing his father’s beach house. Mom wouldn’t be crying.

Our family wouldn’t be falling apart.

And it was all because of one pathetic, weak, cowardly boy who couldn’t even speak two letters when it mattered most.

I went up to my room and crawled into bed, pulled my blanket over my head, and cried until I made myself sick.

*******

Kennedy came home the next evening.

I was sitting on the porch steps when the car pulled up - had been sitting there for hours, waiting - and the moment I saw him get out, I ran.

"Kennedy!"

I crashed into him so hard I almost knocked us both over. My arms wrapped around his waist and I held on like I’d never let go.

"I’m sorry," I sobbed into his shirt. "I’m so sorry. This is all my fault. I should never have brought Maxwell home. I should never have asked you to help. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry..."

"Hey." Kennedy’s arms came around me, and his voice was gentle despite everything. "Liv, stop. This isn’t your fault."

"But it is! If I hadn’t..."

"You helped someone who needed help. That’s who you are. That’s who I taught you to be." He pulled back enough to look down at me, and despite the dark circles under his eyes and the bruise on his jaw where Mr. Wellington had hit him, he managed a small smile. "Don’t apologize for having a good heart."

"But Dad’s beach house..."

Kennedy’s jaw tightened, but he shook his head. "That’s on Wellington. Not you. Never you."

But I could see it in his eyes. The anger. The hurt. The unfairness of it all.

That night, I lay in bed and made a promise to myself.

If I ever saw Maxwell Wellington being beaten up again, I wouldn’t help him.

I’d join in.

And beat him to death.

For the next few days, I avoided the library entirely. Avoided anywhere I might run into that coward.

But it was hard to avoid the playground near our house - that’s where all my friends were.

I was on the swings with Jenny and Lisa when I heard it.

"Olivia!"

My whole body went rigid.

I knew that voice.