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Jace took a beat and then said, “It all changed about a month before I turned seventeen I caie She’d spilled some paint on the couch I pulled him off her and he turned on me I don’t knohat made that time so different, but it was I could see it in his eyes He began beating the shit out of randrand us for dinner that night Anyway, I didn’t even know they were there I guess that they were screa at him to stop, but he wouldn’t His hands were on my throat I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t see because of the blood pouring into my eyes from where he’d split my head open I started to lose consciousness and I kneas going to die My grandrab him to pull him off me, but he pushed her away She fell and hit her arony because the fall had broken her wrist”

I could feel Jace treers over his where they were resting on my chest

“I lost it I don’t kno, but I found the strength to fight back I ed to reach the fire poker and I hit hio He was on his hands and knees, yelling at , Maggie was in her arms, her lip bloodied and her face covered in bruises My aunt was just screas All that and he still kept saying he was going to kill me… us”

Jace’s voice began to crack I pulled his fingers up to ainst them “It’s okay, Jace You’re safe now,” I reminded him

He sucked in several deep breaths When he’d cal hiain Even after he stoppedhirand Even when I fell to er, I still kept hitting him When the cops showed up and took the poker fro my arms like I still had it I only stopped when they put me in cuffs”

“You were arrested?” I asked, completely sickened by what he’d been forced to endure… and do

“No charges were pressed It was a clear case of self-defense Maggie and I went to live with ain”

Thank God for small favors

“All three of us – , but it wasn’t like any of us could unsee that night”

“You really think your grandmother and sister were afraid of you after that?” I asked

“Not all the time But if I lost my temper or raised my voice, I could see it in their eyes Just this brief flash and then it was gone But I knew in that ht I couldn’t blaht it possible that I could do so”

“You had no choice,” I said “He would have killed you”

“Yes, he would have,” Jace agreed