“I hate you,” I spit the words at him, hoping they hit him with the intensity of my fist.
“Get in fucking line.”
“He was everything to me. He was my father. My fucking father. You killed the last living member of my family—for revenge? Do you feel better? Does hurting me make your heart red again?” I scream the words across the center console, tears streaming down my face so heavily I can’t see anything. There is a fist-sized hole punched through my chest by the very man I love.
Ignoring my comment, he turns the car on, throws it into reverse, and pulls out of my driveway. We haven’t even talked about what happened to him, to me. Hours ago, I would’ve been glad to know he was alive and wanted to save me, but now—now I want to be the one to put the bullet in his head and bury him six feet under.
Eventually, the car settles into silence, but I refuse to allow that to remain. I refuse to make this easy for him, to be anything but angry and sad. I’m hurt, breaking apart on the inside, and it’s his fault. All his fucking fault.
Wiping away the tears, so I can see the face of the monster, I stare into a pair of warm honey-colored eyes. “When I look at you, I see a small boy out on a mission to bring the world to its knees. To take anyone and everything out—anything undeserving of your attention. But maybe, just fucking maybe, it’s you who’s undeserving of the rest of us. Maybe it’s you who needs to take a look around and realize the world owes you nothing. And killing people like my father gets you nothing. It doesn’t make you feel better. It causes you to lose someone who actually cared for you. Probably the only person in the world stupid enough to fall for you—me.”
I watch as his knuckles grip the steering wheel with strength I’ve never seen before. Is he going to kill me next? Would it even matter? I’m not sure I would care at this point. Maybe I’ll welcome death, it’s not like I have anything else to live for.
“This is the life I’m living, Amara. This is what happens when someone betrays someone. You knew I was on the hunt for someone. You knew if I found him, I would kill him. It just happened to be bad luck that it turned out to be your father.”
My eyes feel as if they are about to roll out of my head as I listen to him. He isn’t even sorry.
“Do you hear yourself?”
“Do you?” he screams back, his face growing red with anger.
“Just let me go. Stop the car and let me out.”
“Fuck, Amara,” he growls. “Just calm down.”
“I will never love you again. You’re less than the dirt beneath my feet,” I whisper, my voice dark and unsettling.
For a moment, I don’t think he heard me, but then a sigh escapes his lips. I direct my attention to the road while I try desperately to compose myself. I would rather drown myself than look weak in the face of someone like him.
“You love me anyway.” I can practically see the smile on his face, and it makes me sick. It makes my insides twist into a hateful rush of anger.
Seething, I refuse to say anything else. I wasn’t even given a chance to say goodbye. My heart aches. How can I move on from this?
Pushing myself further into my seat, I hear Enzo’s phone ring. I wonder who it could be. Had he already called someone to bury my father?
“What?” Enzo growls, his face contorts in anger as he switches his hands on the steering wheel, so he can talk and drive. I can hear the person on the other end yelling.
“I told you I was going out,” Enzo mumbles, focusing on the road. More talking on the other end, and then a loud sigh fills the car. “Yeah, because I already killed him. I have her in the car with me.”
Turning, I narrow my eyes at him. Who else had known about this plan? Were there more people? There are a lot of unanswered questions. I really wish I could’ve asked my dad why he did it. Why he caused this big huge blowout. I wish Enzo would’ve let him talk.
“What the fuck?”
I listen as intently as I can and watch Enzo’s face go as white as a sheet. Whatever is being said on the other end isn’t something I want to hear, I’m sure. I’ve suffered enough heartache for the day. For a lifetime.
More talking on the other end, and my mind keeps reeling. What now? Enzo’s eyes look worried, and from a single look, I know whatever is being said will shake the already unstable ground we’re standing on.