Love Fades With Bygone Days Chapter 05
On the way home, Alessia and Tomas drove in stony silence.
Leo leaned against the car window, his eyes still red and puffy.
“Mommy, I won’t let anyone bully you,” he said quietly. “If anyone is mean to you, I’ll make them go away. Just like today.”
At the words “just like today,” Tomas’s hands tightened on the steering wheel.
“Today?” he asked, his voice tight. “Leo, did you hit Esme today?”
Leo nodded, a flicker of pride on his face, as if he’d done something heroic.
“I hit her. I threw a cup at her, and I bit her.”
The car screeched to a halt.
Alessia lurched forward, her forehead bumping against the dashboard.
“Tomas, what are you doing?”
He turned to face the back seat, his voice suddenly booming.
“Leo! Who taught you to hit people?”
“Who told you to raise your hands to anyone?”
The shout startled them both.
Leo’s shoulders jumped, and he burst into tears.
“I just didn’t want Mommy to cry anymore,” he sobbed. “I don’t want you and Mommy to fight.”
Alessia, snapping out of her shock, pulled Leo into her arms, stroking his back.
After a moment, she asked in a low voice, “So you hit Auntie Esme first?”
“She only pushed you after that?”
“And the glass on the floor… you broke that?”
Leo looked at his mother’s face and finally nodded.
“Yes.”
Alessia’s hand froze on his back.
She sat in the passenger seat, staring out the window as the city lights blurred past, and said nothing for a long, long time.
But her mind was replaying everything that had just happened.
