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At the venom there now, a shiver wracked her spine.
The monster still resided inside the old man’s frame. He’d once terrified her. Now, Raine refused to show fear. Bill Kendall was the reason she couldn’t trust. Couldn’t communicate. Wouldn’t truly give herself to Liam—or anyone. Since leaving this hellhole, she’d never wanted to heal. Lancing her wounds and leaving them to bleed made it less likely that she’d ever allow anyone to hurt her again. She had let this vile asshole strip her ability to love.
Never again.
“What are you doing here, whore? And who’s he?” He nodded Beck’s way. “I suppose you’re fucking him, too?”
She ignored his question and thrust her chin out. “I’ve got a few things to say to you.”
“Why should I listen? I didn’t want you here then and I don’t want you here now.”
“Believe me, I’m not staying. I just came to say that I hate you and you’d better not ever speak to me again. Oh, and I wanted to give you this.”
Raine doubled up her fist and sent it flying into his jaw with a brutal crunch. Pain exploded through her fingers, zipping up her arm, but she didn’t care. When Bill’s head snapped around and he clutched the side of his face, it was worth the pain.
“You little bitch!” He stormed onto the porch and seized her arm in a cruel grip. “You’re going to pay for that.”
With a vicious yank, he dragged her toward the house. Raine dug in her heels. Bill turned and snarled, raising his fist to her. She fought the urge to cower.
Behind her, Beck dashed onto the porch. “Need help?”
“Fuck off,” Bill sneered.
“I got this,” she told Beck. She needed to face her father alone.
Thankfully, Beck let her.
Forcing the tension from her muscles, Raine waited for the old bastard to assume she’d given up and curled into a sniveling ball. He fell for her ruse, swinging his beefy fist toward her with unabashed triumph. Suddenly, she countered, raising her forearm and blocking his attack. She followed that with a jab to the stomach. He roared, the sound booming with shock and hate.
Raine kneed him in the balls.
Lurching and grunting, he doubled over, clutching his crotch. She seized the opportunity and grabbed his hair, then slammed his head against the doorframe.
He screamed.
Beck laughed. “Yeah, you definitely got this, princess.”
“I’ll thrash you for that.” Bill lifted his head to look at her with a stare so furiously blue, his eyes almost glowed. Blood trickled from a gash between his brows, ran down his face, and gathered between his teeth.
He looked every inch like a demon.
“Don’t you ever touch me again. I was a girl, and you beat me within an inch of my life.”
“Isn’t that what Master Pervert and the mick do to you before you spread your legs for them at that kink club?”
She gasped. Of all the things Raine expected to spew from his lips, the fact that he knew where she’d been and who she’d been with felt like a kick to the stomach. Had her father tracked her down…or had Hammer and Liam come here looking for her?
Either possibility made her sick. She swallowed the nausea down. Later.
“Shut up! I won’t let you desecrate them. They’re real men, which is more than you could ever say.” Raine doubled up her fist again and delivered a quick uppercut to his chin.
“Filthy slut! I’m going to call the cops on you.”
“Go ahead, and I’ll tell them everything you ever did to me, including trying to rape me as a minor. Want that to get out? Should I shout it louder for the neighbors?”
The anger built and swelled inside her like a volcano. The lava in her veins bubbled over, and Raine hit him again, his nose the perfect bull’s-eye. After a sickening crunch, blood spurted.
“Hammer made me attend self-defense classes. If you try to hurt me again, so help me, I’ll kill you, you worthless piece of shit, for all the years of misery you caused me. You drove my mother away, then my brother, my sister…and finally me. You deserve every moment of your wretched solitude. Rot in it!”
Raine clenched her fist again, but a firm hand at her elbow stopped her. She turned to find Beck shaking his head—and his gun pointed in Bill’s face.
“You’ve done your damage. He’s not worth a trip to jail. Let’s go.”
She’d love to stay and inflict more pain. It was exhilarating. Empowering. Emancipating. But Beck was right. She refused to imprison herself in any way because of Bill again.
The adrenaline began to bleed from her veins, leaving her slightly shaky. But she felt more together than she had in years. No, ever.
She nodded. “I’m ready.”
“This isn’t over!” Bill screamed. “Walk away, you fucking cunt, but you haven’t seen the last of me.”
