His predatory gaze roams my body, his eyes examining me from head to toe. I’m uncertain what he sees, and I don’t understand his erratic mind. “I’ll break you.”
“No. You’ll try to break me.”
His lips twitch, but the humor doesn’t reach his eyes. They’re still distant and angry. He takes a step closer. I flinch as I hear the clang of his steel-toed boots on the floor. I brace myself for an act of violence perpetrated toward me, but he just walks past.
My reprieve is short-lived because he’s back moments later, standing over me. The glare of the metal from the knife in his hand is the only thing I can focus on. Maybe I should have kept my stupid mouth shut.
He bends over, placing the sharp tip of the blade between the rope. “Hold still. I’d hate to cut you when I don’t mean to.”
I’m a statue. But his words echo non-stop in my head.
Hold still. I’d hate to cut you when I don’t mean to.
Does that mean he wants to cut me at some point? My eyes flutter shut, another desperate attempt to wake up from this fevered dream.
The front door flies open, and the big blond guy walks in with the woman. I can’t help thinking how beautiful she is. Long, dark hair flows around her shoulders, and her olive skin almost glows.
“What the fuck is this, Finn?” she asks, her gaze on me. I can see the pity in her eyes.
“Bella’s daughter,” Finn says coldly.
“Shit,” the blond guy says as he scrubs his face.
The woman tugs at his hand, forcing him to look at her. “Who’s Bella?
“The bitch that fucked him up.”
The woman’s eyes go wide as they move from me to Finn. A flash of panic on her face escalates my sense of fear. I’m not sure what they believe about my mother, but it’s not true. They have the wrong person. My mother wasn’t evil. Sure, she did some shady things, but she wasn’t evil. The way they say her name, it’s like she was the devil himself.
“Bella’s gonna come after her. What’s your plan,” the blond asks.
Finn gazes at me. There’s something behind the depths of his cobalt blue eyes, but the look is gone as quickly as it shows up. “She’s dead. Took care of it tonight.”
“About fuckin’ time.”
The woman bends down, concern on her face. “What are you gonna do with her?”
Finn growls, “Does it matter?”
“It does if she’s innocent.”
“I was innocent, and her mother didn’t care.”
The woman goes to place her hand on Finnigan’s cheek. Just as she’s about to make contact, he steps back, avoiding her touch as if he finds the idea repugnant.
She sighs and smiles sadly. “Finn, there’s a big difference between walking in the shadows and being in the dark. Don’t go to a place you’ll never be able to return from.” She turns to the big blond guy and takes his hand. “Let’s go.”
And with that, I’m left alone with the man who killed my mother.
“Let’s go,” Finn says.
I use the wall to lift myself off the ground. “Where are we going?”
“Enough with the questions. All the fuckin’ questions.” His hand fists my shirt and hauls me to the staircase. “You gonna walk, or am I gonna drag you?”
“I’ll walk.”
He lets go of me and gestures toward the stairs. My knees wobble and my body shakes as I concentrate on putting one foot over the other. This is it, the moment when he rapes me. I always pictured my first time as loving, and now I’m going to be violated.
“Are you going to rape me?” The question escapes my mouth before I can restrain myself.
He says nothing. The only sound is his footsteps following mine. My heart sinks in the silence until he finally says, “No.”
“Glad you have some boundaries,”
“Only monsters take from someone against their will.”
“I just saw you murder multiple people. I’d say that’s taking against their will.”
“They deserved it.”
“My mother did not deserve to be killed.”
Finn laughs, but there’s no humor in it. “She deserved it more than the others.”
His words anger me. How he callously talks about my mother, the woman who loved me, sheltered me, took care of me, kissed me when I was hurt, held me when I was scared. The picture he keeps trying to paint of her is a lie told by a monster, nothing more.
My hand forms a fist. I turn around, glaring at him, and punch him straight in the face. Finn loses his footing and stumbles back. I take that as my opportunity to run, but the moment I hit the bottom of the stairs, he grabs my foot and I fall flat on my face.
“Where you going, Slugger?”
Chapter Four
FINN
She packs a punch for being so sheltered.
“Let go of me.”
I rub my jaw with one hand while the other holds on to her ankle. “Not a fuckin’ chance, Slugger. Not a fuckin’ chance.”