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"Even if she were," I mutter. "She's better off without you."
He falls to his knees before me. "I need to hurt someone."
"Then hurt yourself," I spit out. "You're the one who deserves it the most."
After our conversation, I leave Father sprawled on the floor and make my way to my former bedroom to collect some belongings I left behind. I feel strange being back in my room, alien. I never belonged here in the first place.
I pause in the doorframe of Lily Anna's closet. All her things are there, pristine, unworn in years, and a constant pain for Father, whose sick obsession just doesn't end. Her things are only making it worse.
I walk into the closet, fingers gliding along the rails upon rails of pretty things. I wonder whether my plan is wrong. Then I think about all the things I went through because of Father, everything he put me through. And I know he deserves this.
I start pulling things off the racks. I make a huge pile on the floor. Everything goes on there - her school diplomas, her rosettes from riding competitions, her drawings when she was a kid, all her clothes, all her possessions.
I stare at the pile before me with emotionless eyes for a minute. Then, I start pouring the bleach on it.
The color leaks first, and I watch in fascination as it runs from the clothes. The paper starts melting. It's a rainbow mess on the ground. Her scent disappears. She disappears.
I stare at the mess I've made, unsure whether I should hate myself. My fingertips wrap around the one thing I saved, safely enclosed in my pearl clutch.
"Goodbye, Lily Anna," I mutter before leaving the room. I walk out of the house, my only companion the sound of my own footsteps. Outside, I'm surprised to find Dex waiting for me, leaning against the car.
"Came to watch the world burn, did you?" I grin at him.
"You could say that." He pats the car hood and I join him on it. We lean back, staring at the starry sky. "Are you sorry you did that?"
I shake my head, meeting his gaze.
"Are you?" He shakes his head too. We stare at one another in silence until it becomes too much. I look away first, looking back at the house. "How long until he finds it?"
"Let's wait and see."
We lie on the hood of the car and watch the night pass. Somewhere during the hour that passes, Dex's hand finds mine, and I don't pull back. My heart hammers in my chest, each beat a repetition of his name - Dexter, Dexter, I'm yours, Dexter.
I don't say it though, keeping my feelings close so he can't use them to hurt me.
"Look," he finally says, motioning to the house. "There's a light on in your room."
I follow his gaze to the house, and sure enough, the light is on. Someone screams - Father. Masculine, wounded and truly devastated, the sound cuts through me like a knife.
Shame threatens to swallow me up. What I did was petty, awful. Regret washes over me, but my stubborn side refuses to let it stay.
He got what he had coming. His sick obsession needed to end. I was just helping him.
Dex helps me off the car, opens the door for me and spends a second staring at me as we listen to Father's screaming.
"I'm going to fuck you tonight," he tells me firmly.
"Okay," I shrug, pretending I don't care even though I'm dying for him to touch me already.
"You're a different person than you were when you got here, Pandora."
"Different as in... better?"
He doesn't answer, grinning as he closes the door. He gets in on the driver's side and we drive home slowly, in silence. When we park, he waits a moment before getting out.
"I don't know if it's better or worse," he admits, and I realize he's been thinking about the question since it slipped from my lips. "But you're definitely one of us now."
"What do you mean?"
