“That Beast was too busy mauling everyone,” my father replies with disdain. “You’re lucky you escaped.”
“Heletme escape,” I bark back. “You don’t understand. I know that man. This was not an easy choice to make for him.”
“What could you possibly know about him or anything else?” He frowns. “You’ve barely even seen the outside world.”
“Because you wouldn’t let me!” I yell. “And all these years I thought it was because you wanted to protect me. From the bullies. From the harshness of the outside world.” I take in a deep breath. “But that wasn’t it, was it? You just wanted to pretend I didn’t exist.”
His nostrils flare, and he briefly looks away, like he can’t even stomach looking at me.
So I scream and raise my hands. “Look at me!”
When he does, there’s only regret in his eyes. He can’t even look at the scars on my hands.
“This is what it’s all about. Me. You wanted to fix me, and you spent all of your money and Lex’s money to get it done. But it didn’t work. And now you blame me.”
“I did everything for you!” he says through gritted teeth. “All my hard work, all the pain, all the suffering.For you!”
His words hurt.
“And you’re not even a little bit grateful,” he growls.
I shake my head, incensed he’d even say that. “I was …” I reply under my breath. “And I tried so hard not to break.” I look up into his eyes that are filled with as much hatred as I feel in my soul right now. “Do you even know what they did to me? Where they locked me up?”
He doesn’t respond so I continue.
“In a tiny cell underneath the house. No bed. No food. No sunlight.”
He swallows. “Thanks to that Beast.”
“You know who else was there with me in that darkness?” I grind my teeth. “ThatBeast.”
My misery has turned into an uncontrollable anger I don’t recognize in myself.
“He brought me back to Lex because he would’ve died if he didn’t. He was as much a prisoner as me,” I say, and I get up from the floor. “But you … you left me in that cell to die. Not once did you attempt to save me.”
He merely grits his teeth, like he can’t even stomach a reply or show me even a semblance of regret.
“All those things you said in that warehouse …” I mutter to myself, but I know he heard.
“I said and did what I had to, to survive. Just like you,” he scoffs, offended.
“You called me a monster,” I say.
My father snorts like he can’t fathom even thinking about it, let alone saying it out loud.
But he did.
He called me a monster because he thinks I’m ugly.
And I won’t forget.
“We both did everything we could to live. You did some awful things too. I heard Lex. He said you told him you’d help him find me.”
My eyes widen, and I quickly march past him.
“Don’t you fucking run away from me now, Aurora,” he barks behind me.
“I’m done with this conversation,” I retort. I grab one of the keys and stuff it into my pocket.