I leveled Rafe with a meaningful look, emerging from the office to go face the shitstorm that I knew would wait for me in the dining room.
My mother glared at me the moment I stepped into the room, her hands touching Odina’s red throat where she would bruise. “Pack your bags. We’re leaving. Now,” she ordered, standing from her seat and shuffling Odina toward the front door.
I didn’t move, staring at my mother with all the resignation I felt. Rafael stepped up behind me, a silent sentry as my father pulled my grandmother from the chair. “I’m not going anywhere,” I said, leaning back into Rafe’s body for support.
While I didn’t regret what he’d done to Odina, I would need the support in the aftermath of what would follow. “Yes, you are. You are my daughter, and I will not leave you with someone who would do that to your sister.”
“You mean what she wished a man would do to me when she drugged me and left me to be raped by her friend?” I asked, watching as Hugo shot to his feet with the tension in the room. He looked at me, nodding once as he silently agreed to take my back with whatever might come from the confession. “I hardly feel any sympathy for her. So forgive me if my husband takes objection to her telling me she hopes I die.”
My father’s chest sagged as he turned a questioning stare to Odina. She didn’t respond to my accusation, clutching her throat with a glare on her face. I had no doubt it hurt to speak, but that wasn’t what kept her quiet in the moments following my outing her. She’d wait until she had our parents alone to spin the story she wanted to tell however it best suited her.
That served me just fine, because if they believed the lies she spewed then they were already lost to me.
I stepped away from Rafe’s grip finally, moving to stand on my own so they could see that I stayed of my own choice and not because he had his hands on me. “I’m calling the police,” my father said finally, shaking his head as if he was disappointed in me.
Not the daughter who would watch me bleed if given the chance.
“You’re free to try,” Rafael said, leaning against the wall with an arrogant smirk on his face. The charming man from earlier in the evening was gone, replaced byEl Diabloin all his glory. “I promise nothing will come of it.”
“You can’t assault a woman without consequences,” my mother said.
“How nice it must be to live to be your age and still have no understanding of how the world works, Mom,” I huffed a disbelieving laugh. “If you truly think the police are the highest authority in this city, then you haven’t been paying attention.”
“What happened to you?” she asked, her voice catching with the emotion that clogged her throat. She dropped her eyes to the tattoo and brand on my arm, her eyes widening. “What did he do to you that you would tolerate being with a man like that?”
“I stopped being perfect and started being me,” I snapped, turning my glare down to where she clutched my sister in her arms. “I realized that my life was shit when I was living it for everyone but myself.”
“Come here,mi reina,” Rafe said softly, his gaze warm as he held out a hand.
“I suggest next time you leave Odina at home,” I said, moving to my husband and leaning into his side. “She has no place in our lives.”