Drago sighs. “No wonder you’ve ended up here. You’ve never known when to just stop. When to submit.”
Angry tears prick at the corners of my eyes, but I fight them back. “Do you remember when I was a kid?” I ask him. “I was only five, but I remember. You promised me that you’d protect me.”
“And I did.”
“By selling me to the highest bidder?”
“What else was I supposed to do?” he booms. “We had nothing! Kian O’Sullivan made sure of that. We survived by doing what I had to.”
“Kian O’Sullivan wasn’t hunting us,” I point out. “He could have killed you, but he didn’t.”
“Is that what he told you?”
“Yes.”
“He was lying.”
“How do you know?”
“Because he’s a liar.”
It takes one to know one. I think those words, but I can’t bring myself to say them. Even with his features obscured from view, I can’t stand up to him.I’ve never been able to tell Drago certain hard realities. He’s never been good with them, anyway. Denial is his lifeblood.
“He’s a monster, Renata. You know that.”
“Yes…” I say, but my voice feels weak. Even I don’t believe what I’m saying.
“He killed our father. He stole my birthright. He—”
“What if our father deserved to die?” I blurt out.
“What?”
I don’t know where the words have come from, but now that they’re out there, I can’t turn back. “What if Papa deserved to die?” I repeat.
“What are you saying?” Drago asks.
His tone is hushed. It’s the calm before the storm. Any time he’s ever hit me, his voice has gotten really quiet like this in the moments preceding the violence. I know it so well that it’s lost its unpredictability.
“You never told me about all the things Papa was involved in. The drugs. The sex trafficking.”
“It’s not any of your business.”
“He was my father, too.”
“But he was my father first,” Drago growls. “I am his son, his firstborn, his heir.”
“Who cares?” I snap. “What does it even matter? You have nothing to inherit anymore.”
“Because of who?” Drago demands.
I suppress a sigh. “Because of Kian O’Sullivan.”
“Exactly! Exactly. Because of Kian fucking O’Sullivan.”
“You’re not going to stop until you get revenge, are you?”
“I won’t stop until he’s dead.”