ANGELOS POV.

The entire drive home, I was livid.

Even when I walked inside, I was livid.

I immediately went to the cabinet, grabbing a glass and pouring whatever was strongest before downing the entire thing.

Eventually, Adaline told me who had told and shown her everything.

    My head was clear enough to notice that Mercury wasn't out and moving around.

I thought she said she wanted to bake today?

   "Mercury?" I looked around the apartment.

That's not usually like her to not bake when she said she was going to.

I, of course, grew worried when there was no answer.

   Oh god.

Please not now, now is not the time for her to go missing.

"Mercury?"

Nothing.

"Mercury I swear to god if you're not-," I busted through her bedroom door.

I stood there frozen.

"Please don't yell." Her voice shook as she attempted to make herself smaller in the corner.

I watched as she wrapped her arms around herself.

   "Angelo I can't breathe. I can't do this anymore."

   Tears traveled down her eyes as she gasped for air.

    "I-I can still smell him. I can f-feel him. I-I'm imagining her the moment she met Nick. I can't-," she couldn't finish her sentence. 

    I stood there for another moment.

Shit.

"Mercury," I slowly approached her, trying not to overwhelm her anymore than she already was. "You don't need to worry about-,"

"No. No. Stop. He's still here."

"No, I promise you he's-,"

"Then why am I still afraid of him?!" She laughed. "Please help me. I don't want him here anymore."

"Mercury, he's dead. I was the one that killed him. No one else, I did it. I made sure it was done."

Hopefully that doesn't make the situation worse.

She shook her head. "Angelo, he's still here."

Finally, the pieces matched themselves together.

He was still the scars she had to look at on her body.

She hasn't been able to have a full nights sleep because of him.

Every time she saw her mother, she saw him.

That's why she wanted them to stay at our house. She wanted to know where they were so no one could've taken her, just like he did.

She was still dealing with what he had done, and not only did she hide it from everyone else, but she hid it from herself.

Fucker was stuck in her head.

And I didn't know how to get him out.

I tried to take my phone out of my pocket silently.

   I basically sat down next to her and forced her into my chest until she stopped shaking.

She kept repeating 'I'm sorry' and 'please don't be mad.'

She cried herself to sleep in this position, so I was now stuck on the floor.

   For the hour I had been sitting here, I thought about two things.

What she was feeling and what she was needing.

  
   I didn't know what to do.

So, I did what I always did as a last resort.

I called my mother.

"Hey, have you seen your fathers-,"

"I need help."

She was silent for a second. "What's wrong?"

   "It's Mercury."

I managed to move just enough so I could slide out from underneath her.

   "What about her?"

"God, where do I start?" I whispered before putting the phone between my ear and my shoulder.

   "She came home with her tongue pierced?" She gasped.

   "What?" I picked Mercury up, moving her to the bed before covering her in a large blanket.

   "I'm assuming that's what happened. You're father called me and said the exact same thing when I was out of town and my son came home with a golden ring in his tongue so he could 'see what our reactions were.'"

I rolled my eyes. "I apologized. And no, that's not what she did."

    "Oh. Well good. What happened?"

I took a deep breath. "I came home to her rocking back and forward on the floor, crying her eyes out, shaking and hyperventilating. She kept saying that Warren was still here and that she could still feel him. She also said something about imagining her mother leaving her and- Mom I don't know what to do. She said that she doesn't want him here anymore and I don't know how to get those memories away from her."

Shit. I might start hyperventilating.

"Mom?"

Nothing.

Did she even hear what I just-

"Angelo, I'm going to tell you something and you're not going to like it because you love her more than life itself, just like any good parent."

What the fuck?

"What are you- she better not be fucking dying. If you're about to tell me she's dying I swear to god I'll-,"

   "No one knows what she saw or felt while he had her. No one really knew the level of obsession he had towards her. She's almost died multiple times in such a small period. That's- that's not only damaging to someone's psyche but that's torture to have gone through that."

I already knew the answer before I even asked the question.

"What are you saying?"

I always enjoyed running.

It was a nice energy release. I loved to do it after school and practice when I was younger, but the habit followed me into adulthood.

  So the more stressed I was, the more I ran.

And so, while Mercury was still sleeping, I ran.

I didn't know where I was going until I actually got there.

   I didn't even knock on the door this time, I just kicked it in.

   "What the hell is wrong with you?!" Adaline yelled.

   "Where's your wallet?" I ignored her.

"My wall- What are you doing here? I thought this was over with!"

  I thought so too.

"It's about to be." I rummaged through her suitcase, finding her purse in the process.

  "Are you an angry drunk now or something? Stop going through my-,"

   "I'm not drunk." I took out everything I needed.

Her wallet, her passport, and her birth certificate.

Opening up the wallet, I grabbed every card she had with her name and information on it.

   "Jesus, is this some form of getting back to me? Stealing my credit cards?" She followed me out of her bedroom.

   "No, I'm not as childish as you."

I ended up grabbing a metal trash bin, dumping it out before walking over to the snack bar, putting as many small bottles of alcohol as I could in it.

  "Care to explain what you're doing then?"

"Right now I'm wishing you would stop talking." I walked back into the bedroom.

   "This is it isn't it? You've finally lost it." She said as I began to pour each bottle of alcohol into the bin.

  "Adaline shut-,"

"No, you can't just keep doing this forever! Nick was right, you treat people as if they were your animals in a cage!"

   "You don't know what you're-,"

"This is what I was talking about earlier! Our daughter-,"

I felt something in me completely snap.

"Our daughter? You mean my daughter."

"Look, I know what I did isn't justified but I still love her more than-,"

   "She's not yours to love anymore."

"She is still-,"

"Enough! She's not yours! You don't have anything to do with her, and you never fucking will!"

   "Stop! I'm trying to fix-,"

"You aren't trying to fix anything! All you've done is make things worse for her for the past fifteen years and I'm done fucking letting you!"

    "That's not true! She will always be my-,"

"My daughters life was ruined by you. Every fucking Psychologist I have talked to over the past four hours have said that because of the past few years, my daughter could have severe Anxiety and PTSD for the rest of her life!" I finally snapped, yelling at the top of my lungs.

   As soon as mother even brought up the possibility, I called every over-qualified shrink I could get my hands on.

  They all said the same thing.

That she was showing signs of severe anxiety and post traumatic stress because of the abusive relationship she both witnessed and experienced.

Of course, a psychologist would have to see her first to confirm and diagnose anything, but every one of them seemed confident in the answers they had given.

   "What?" Tears filled her eyes.

"Mercury's mentally exhausted, and I'm mentally fucking drained." I began to break each plastic card. "And since I have found myself incapable of killing you, you're going to disappear."

Her passport and birth certificate were next.

"Stop. Angelo what are you-," I ripped the pieces of paper and put them in the alcohol soaked bin, along with the broken up cards.

   "I'm making sure you're gone." I grabbed a lighter from my pocket, lighting it before tossing it in.

Large flames immediately grew.

"Oh god. Oh my god Angelo!"

Anything that proved who she was was now ruined. 

She had nothing to prove that she was Adaline Dubois.

"Change your name, go to Germany, I don't care." I grabbed the bin.

     "You will not come near her. You will not ruin her life over and over again. You don't fucking exist."