The Healing (The Things We Can't Change Book 3) Read Online Free

actually Evie’s fault that Tony hit her. Before I can stop myself, I draw closer to the left side of the house so I can hear better. There’s a window open in the kitchen and I stick my neck out just far enough that I can see the back of Clarissa’s blonde head.
    “They already documented it all at the hospital. The charges are being pressed as they are.” Evie’s voice is more forceful than I’ve ever heard it, at least since Tony’s accident. “You can’t just take it back, Clarissa. And it’s true.”
    “It was a gimmick for attention!” Clarissa is practically shouting, and I have to wonder if she knows there are open windows, because I’m sure she doesn’t want the neighbors to hear this argument—although, they’re all so far away maybe she doesn’t have to be worried. “You’ve never been satisfied with all your father has given you. Tony was a good boy! He wouldn’t do such a thing, and you only told your father it was unwilling because you knew it would make him obsessed with you from then on! I’m tired of your ‘poor me’ act, Evie.”
    “Your ‘good boy’ is being charged with assault and first degree murder,” Evie says coldly. “Clearly he’s not so good as everyone thought.”
    “We live in Dublin!” Clarissa screams. “We belong to a country club and your father was a doctor with a multi-million dollar practice! Rape does not happen to us! So you can take your sorry excuses and use them where somebody might actually give you the pity that you want so badly, do you understand me? Because I refuse to deal with this any longer.”
    I freeze, shocked all the way down to my tingling toes. Rape? I’d seen what Tony had done to her, the way he had beaten her. I’d known things were bad between them, terrible even, but fuck . Rape?
    “I don’t need your pity,” Evie’s voice is calm and chilled, and I shiver despite myself. “I don’t need anything from you.”
    “I’m glad we’re on the same page,” Clarissa sniffs. “If you breathe one word of this to anyone, I’ll disown you. I’ll turn you in to social services. I know what you’re doing to yourself. I’ve seen you, and I know your secret. You’re a wreck, Evie, and I’ll say you’re too much for me to handle. So get a grip and keep your mouth shut, understand?”
    Clarissa wheels around and I hear her heels clack-clacking against the hardwood floor as she leaves the kitchen. There’s a long moment of silence, and then Evie tears out of the house, running down the deck, stumbling and almost falling on the second set of stairs. Then she’s home free, sprinting across the lawn. She’s sobbing and as she pushes her long hair out of her face, our eyes meet, just for the briefest second. Then she’s turned back and disappeared behind the tall trees that now shield the gazebo from view.
    For a long moment, I look after her, wondering if I’m crazy. But Clarissa’s words keep echoing around in my head—Rape doesn’t happen to us! Just like I told Tessa the night of Dr. Parker’s wake; money isn’t and never will be a shield for the ugly, hideous things that happen in life. In fact, arguments could be made that it’s more of an enabler for them, because it gives people more power, the power to hide and conceal, erase and bribe. With a sigh, I begin to trot over to the gazebo.
    Evie is sitting on the old bench, head bowed so her curtain of dark hair shadows her face. Her hair is a tangled mess and when she looks up at me, shoulder heaving and tears streaming down her face, I’m startled by how thin and gaunt she’s become in just a few days. The dark circles under her eyes seem to have doubled and the haunted look in her eyes has deepened. Her face is pale and wan and she looks painfully thin, her big, ratty hair overwhelming her.
    She lifts a hand to wipe her cheeks as our eyes meet. “You heard all that?” she asks, and her voice is crackly and sounds almost rusty, as though she hasn’t done much