Avenged by Rob Kaufman

Author:Rob Kaufman [Kaufman, Rob]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-06-14T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

Lauren noticed a subtle difference in Michael’s face. A lightness radiated from his eyes, and he sat with a sense of ease, a calm she hadn’t seen before in the months they’d worked together.

“You look a little more comfortable today,” she said. “There’s, I don’t know, a look of relief — in your demeanor as well as your facial expression. Has something happened I should know about?”

With his hands resting on the sofa cushions, Michael shrugged. “I guess after our last session, I thought a lot about stuff and realized some things.”

“Such as…?” she asked.

“Well, I thought a lot about Kyle and things you said…we said. I also hear my parents talking when they don’t know I’m listening. Plus, I looked a lot of stuff up online.”

“And what did you find out?”

“Basically, I should never have listened to Nathan. It was a big mistake.”

“So what made you realize that? Was it something specific your parents said? Something you saw online?”

“Well, my father says that Devlin — that’s what he calls Nathan — is a so- sosee- seseeo…”

“Sociopath?”

“Yeah. Actually, a so-cio-pathic liar. I looked it up online, and it said that a sociopathic liar makes up lies for their own gain. They don’t care about who gets hurt.”

“Did it say anything else?”

“Well, I remember the words compulsive, pathological and a bunch of other shit.”

Lauren wanted to link the words together for him — to fill in the puzzle before she started this particular session. She’d planned on adding another layer to their work today, and, being that it could be more challenging for Michael than usual, she wanted to keep his spirits as high as possible.

“Yes, that’s correct. A sociopathic liar can look you right in the eye and lie to you without showing the usual signs that would give them away. And you’re also right about the fact that they don’t care about collateral damage. They have one goal in mind and will create whatever story they need to in order to achieve that goal. In the case of Nathan, he wanted you to believe that Kyle was responsible for your kidnapping and for what happened to Dylan. Unfortunately, Nathan is the only one who knows the reasons behind his lies, and I doubt anyone will ever find out what those reasons are.”

Michael tilted his head and clenched his fists. “Yeah, and now I feel guilty as hell about the way I treated Kyle.”

“Michael, you didn’t know he was innocent. Over the course of months and months, while you were imprisoned and vulnerable, you were led to believe something that wasn’t true. Why would you blame yourself for something that wasn’t your fault?”

“I probably should have listened to my parents the first time they told me Kyle had nothing to do with what happened to me or Dylan. But I didn’t. I believed Nathan instead. A rotten, no-good liar rather than my own parents.”

Lauren smiled at him kindly. “I’ll repeat what I said: It’s not your fault. Not only were you being told lies by a very convincing liar, but you were also in a vulnerable position.

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