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I could work with that.
I suppressed a smile as it made me think of Asher, all that he’d taught me.
“One major problem with that. The man I love is being tortured as we speak.”
“Asher is incredibly resilient.”
I scoffed. “You’re really going to stand here and tell me that you, of all people, believe that he’ll just somehow be right as rain in spite of it? His father was all over you, abusing you for years, and that was rooted in obsession for my mom, somebody he loved in his own twisted way, anyway. Asher has dismantled his organization, he’s challenged him, he’s come at him and threatened his precious kingdom like nobody else before—not even my dad. What the fuck do you think is being inflicted on Asher because of that?”
Before she could get a word out, I stepped right up to her, telling her, “And my dad was tortured by them too. Tell me, did he come out of it unscathed? The way he was with me earlier, keeping me locked up in here, then allowing Asher to be taken knowing full well he’d be tortured, all points to some long-lasting damage being done.”
She released a weighty sigh. “The Infidels have already cost us so much, I don’t want that to continue. You and your father are here together now after so long apart. You shouldn’t be at odds.”
“Then he needs to release the proverbial shackles.”
She winced. “With what’s coming, that’s a tall order, Aurora. Getting him to agree to that compromise of allowing you to reach out to Killian was difficult enough.”
“I’ve handled myself extremely well without him, without his protection. I don’t need this invasive guarding now. If he won’t relinquish control over me and who I love, I’ll break it by force.”
Her eyes widened and it took her a moment to manage a response. “Well, you certainly have his fortitude and intense stubbornness.”
“Intense stubbornness?” my dad’s voice sounded, just before we both looked to see him descending the stairs.
“Lan?” Olivia uttered, clearly as surprised as I was that he’d actually ventured down here.
“You’re asking me to accept you being with the sons of my greatest enemies, Aurora.”
“They aren’t their fathers.”
He scoffed.
“They’re not. They’re fighting against them, for goodness sake, Dad. All they want is to be free of their influence and abuse.”
“So, you’re painting them as victims? Or is it freedom fighters?”
“I’m painting them as being different from the Head Infidels.”
“Asher has traits of his father in him. I’ve seen it, felt it.”
“We all have traits of our parents in us. It doesn’t mean we’re going to become them, it doesn’t mean we’re going to commit the same acts as they have. It’s not a given. The guys aren’t fated or programmed to follow in their footsteps. In fact, as you well know, they’re doing the opposite.”
“They are still beasts, Aurora. And I’ve seen what they’ve made you into since you came into contact with them, since they got their claws into you.”
I frowned. “You’re talking about what I did to those Heretics in that basement?”
He nodded.
“Of course. Asher tapped into that still active surveillance feed so Carson couldn’t. It stands to reason that you could’ve done the same.” I thought for a moment. “When you met with him in person, you breached his network via his cell phone?”
“She’s good,” Olivia commented.
My dad looked stunned for a couple of moments, before he managed to get back on track.
“Yes. That’s what happened. And I saw what those depraved shits had driven you to become.”
“I was like that before I met them, Dad.”
“What?”
