Luc understood that feeling well.
"In retrospect, I shouldn't have been surprised by Joshua's behavior. All the signs were there."
"My God, you shouldn't have had to know the signs at that age. You told your parents, right?"
Her body wilted then, as if she had no more fight. "I told my mother."
Biting back the urge to prompt her, Luc waited while she closed her eyes, gathered her courage.
"She didn't believe me."
"What the hell? Certainly she could see . . . There was evidence."
Alyssa shook her head. "I was stupid. I panicked and cleaned up. Today, I'd have marched myself down to the hospital and demanded a rape kit and prosecuted the son of a bitch. But at fifteen, all I could think about was 'getting caught.'
"The day after it happened, Joshua was vile to me at school, told everyone he'd nailed me. He called me his convenient pussy and said he was going to get more that night. I was terrified."
