Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 56680 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 283(@200wpm)___ 227(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56680 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 283(@200wpm)___ 227(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
My breath feels somehow bigger in my chest like each one is going to choke me, cut off my circulation, mess me up. I focus on my footsteps, on keeping my balance. Can I do this, really?
When I reach the clearing, Dante turns and approaches me. He’s wearing cargo pants and a thick lumberjack-style shirt. For a moment, I just want to paint him like this: rugged and handsome. I forget about the spiky ball of tension in me.
“Mia…” He touches my hand, looking down at me with that same seriousness from last night.
“I know what this is,” I tell him. “But what happened? How?”
“Last night, after…” He leans down and brushes his lips against mine. I kiss him harder, making it a real kiss. He moans when I grab onto his side, then pushes me away, like he can’t take it. “After,” he goes on, smirking. “A trap I set for your dad paid off. I lured him out here, and now I’ve got him, Mia, for you. The choice is yours. Do you want to do it, or shall I?” He looks at me so solidly. “You can leave. Turn, walk away. You don’t have to be part of it.”
Suddenly, tears are in my eyes, trying to slide down my cheeks. I rub at them. “When I moved away, I said I would be stronger. I meant it. I’m not going to run. I’m not going to…” I grind my teeth and clench my fists. “What he did, Dante. There’s no forgiving that.”
“You’re right.”
“Take me to him,” I snap, my hands shaking. “I can do this. I have to.”
Dante sighs, wrapping my hand in his and leading me to the metal shed-type structure. He leads me around to a door and then kicks it open. Dad is sitting at a small table, his hands tied behind his back, a rag stuffed into his mouth.
Dad mumbles something.
“Take the rag out,” I say.
Dante walks over, glaring down at Dad. I can see how badly he wants to tear him apart. “Where’s Leo?” Dad snaps, looking at Dante. It’s like I’m not even here. I thought he was talking to me. I almost laugh. I’m invisible to him. I never mattered. The stuff he did had nothing to do with me.
It was always about him, just like everything in his life.
“Leo signed off on this,” Dante growls. “All you’ve ever given him are problems.”
“Where’s Ritchie?” Dad whispers, staring up at Dante like he’s meeting his maker.
“He’s floating into the ocean,” Dante snarls.
I gasp, turning to him. He looks at me with that same hard, unforgiving look.
“It wasn’t just what he did to you, Mia. He was a bad, bad man.”
“A bad man,” Dad says, shaking his head. “Because some little whores had to act like whores?”
His tone makes me so sick I almost yell. “How am I doing this?”
Dante takes out a gun, looking down at it for a moment. When Dad laughs as if to say, Are you serious? I gesture at Dante. He puts the gun into my hand with a sigh. “I can do this, Mia. You don’t have to.”
When I turn to Dad, even with the gun in my hand, he’s got a mocking look on his face. It’s like he’s going to start talking down to me the way he always does as if I’m stupid and not worth any real effort.
“Mia,” he says, then winces when I raise the gun, aiming it at him.
“Mia,” he says again, his voice tight, slowly raising his hands. “Think about this now. Think about us. I’m your dad.” His voice gets emotional, just like when he used to play on my feelings. “I love you.”
“No,” I snap, walking right up to the table and leaning across it. “You’ve never loved anybody. Just yourself.”
Dante stands at my side. I can feel the violence radiating from him, the need to do this for me.
“You can’t do this, Mia. You’d never hurt me. You’d never hurt Daddy.”
“You never loved me, Tony,” I tell him, my voice getting cold.
None of them had to handle it themselves: Scarlet, Ruby, or Lexi. Their men wouldn’t let them, but Dante and I aren’t like that. We’re a team. We wade through the darkness. Together.
“You abused me.”
“Nuh-no,” Dad snaps.
“Admit it. One fucking time. You touched me. You abused me.”
“I… sometimes—”
“What?” I growl.
“Wrestling got a little too enthusiastic.”
Bang. The recoil flies up my arm. My wrist feels like it’s going to snap. The sound of the bullet bounces around my skull. Suddenly, I know what Dante means. We’re both so messed up. As Dad slumps forward, a smile touches my lips. He deserved it.
But soon, as I stare down at him, ears ringing, a horror creeps into the feeling. I turn to Dante, shuddering. He gently takes the gun from my hand.