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"Stop it!" I demanded

"I hate you!" she screamed, her face red and botchy, the veins in her neck actually standing out where she was so angry and tense She actually spat inritted my teeth

"I hate you too," I admitted, it actually felt quite nice to say those words to her I’d never said that out loud in ht it since I was about seven years old, but I had never spoken the words I was a little shocked atI had put into those words as they left htly as she looked at me, then her hands dropped down to her sides, all traces of eone, her face was hard as stone "Then leave We’re nothing to each other, I don’t need your help," she said quietly

"I won’t let people hurt you You’re stillfor her to telldown to the floor as she played with her fingers on her broken hand "It’s nothing," she said, shaking her head

I sighed and sat down on the ar myself to look around the room and see if there were any photos of Sophie around that I could take with , then you won’ther know that I wasn’t leaving here until she told uy’s name that did that to her It was pretty obvious by the clothes that she earing – or hardly wearing – that she was back on the ganalled that she thought I was a punter cory again and shouting like I was expecting, she did soht I would see her do She sat down on the sofa opposite ulped at the sight of it, I’d never seen her cry before She didn’t ever show any eed up or drunk to actually ‘feel’ anything, so this was a first for me I didn’t knohat to do, I knew I should co, tell her it’s ok But I couldn’t find any co in front ofto uy hurt her because he thought he ‘owned’ her

"Just spit it out, Sharon!" I de myself to call her mom, I needed to stay detached

She sniffed and wiped at her face, her eyes notmine "I…… I don’t have a pi her head, wincing slightly

She didn’t look like she was lying to me, her eyes actually looked scared, terrified even "So who did this?" I asked, waving my hand at her face and then her arm

"I… I …borrowed so up with the repay into another round of sobs

Oh shit, this orse than I thought "Please tellthe answer to that before I even asked, what type of bank would take payment in the form of violence? No respectable bank

She shook her head and I feltinvolved in this at all I et my hands on I probably had just over a thousand bucks in the bank, I got paid weekly, if I worked extra hours I could probably get three cars done for next week instead of two If I didn’t eat properly or go out for a couple of weeks, then I could probably scrape about eighteen hundred bucks together, maybe a littleto know the answer

She sniffed and I noticed how her body flinched as she said his name "Tony Grier"

Oh shit! I needed to leave I really didn’t want to get involved in this situation I needed to get the hell out of this house and pretend that I never even had a mother, that I just arrived with the stork and didn’t have any parents Tony Grier was the worst person in the world you could owe h the roof, if you so much as missed one payment then payment was taken in the form of broken bones His reputation around here was feared, much like Brett’s was, but Brett was s and ‘protection’ Whereas Tony wasshe owned, chew her up and spit her out, before selling her to the highest bidder and then doing the same with everyleft to take

I ironically thought about how much simpler this would be if she just had a new pi her around, I could sort that so easily, but this, this was different Did I really owe her thisfor the answer

"Two thousand," she replied, her tone had changed now, it was softer, ht she needed to be nice to hty and noantedby the tone of her voice

I nodded, htly because it was a fairly achievable target "I can get it for you within teeks"