Garibaldi knew he was backsliding, and worse, doing exactly what Lianna expected him to do, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. Or perhaps he cared too much and just wanted to block everything out, even if only for a few hours, until he sobered up again. Maybe the reason didn’t matter. He was weak, he knew it, had always know it, but seeing Lianna again had brought back too many memories, and the coldness in her eyes cut him to the bone.

She’d been such a sweet kid, once upon a time, and he’d loved being her Uncle Mike, but after her dad died… It shouldn’t have happened, it had been Garibaldi’s fault, and he blamed himself as much as Lianna blamed him. But it had been seventeen years, and no matter how much he might wish he could, he couldn’t change the past, undo the mistakes he’d made and give Lianna her father back.

So here he was, crawling back into the bottle the way he’d done so many times before. Lianna was right, he hadn’t changed. He’d destroyed her life back then, so if she needed him to suffer, he’d willingly pay whatever price would satisfy her


The End