AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You go,” I tell Adelina.
“You sure?”
“I’m sure.” I glance back into the bedroom, where my father is still pounding on the door.
Adelina scales over and climbs down. She makes it look effortless despite the pain she’s in. Must be her years as a dancer.
Once she’s at the bottom, she says, “Ok, Pia. Come down.”
I look back into the bedroom. If I leave now, I’ll always be on the run. That’s assuming that we can take care of ourselves. Dario also might still be alive. And if there’s a chance, I need to save him. He’s saved me on countless occasions. It’s the least I can do for him.
I turn away and head into the bedroom. I hear the twins shouting from below, but I ignore them. With a shaky hand, I open the door and look into my father’s face.
“I’ll go with you,” I tell him.
His smile is full of darkness. “Just like that? After all the ways you managed to escape me, you’d come right back to me?”
“I’m tired of running from you. If you’re going to kill me, just get it over with. But let Dario go. That’s the deal. You can have me if you let Dario go.”
“How do you know he isn’t dead?”
I pause. Then, I say, “Because you’d be gloating if he were.”
“You don’t have any leg to stand on to make a deal with me, little girl.”
“Either way. I have to try.”
He snorts a disgusted sound and grabs my arms, hauling me in close. I wince as he touches my wounded arm. “I can’t wait to kill you like I did your mother, you useless brat.”
“Then what are you waiting for?” My heart is beating so fast that I feel like I might pass out. But I need to stay strong. I can’t keep cowering in front of my father. Dario taught me that love exists. I need to have love for myself.
My father smirks and pulls me down the hallway and back down the stairs into the foyer, where Dario lies on his side, his eyes closed.
“Dario!” I try to run to him, but my father prevents me. “Is he dead?” God, he can’t be dead. He just can’t be.
Then Dario blinks an eye open, and relief floods through me. He’s alive. “Pia?” he groans. He’s covered in blood from the beating the men gave him. My strong, passionate, brave husband. It’s because of me he’s in this position. The flicker of guilt I’ve always had hits me like a storm.
“Grab him,” my father says to his men, nodding at Dario. “He’s coming with us.”
The three men grab Dario and shove him into the car in the foyer.
“Be careful,” I scream.
My father chuckles. “Put your concern away for your husband, daughter. He won't last the night, trust me. Thankfully, you can join him in hell, where you both belong.” He shoves me into the car next to Dario, and I instantly place my hands on Dario’s face, cataloguing his injuries. He grips my waist in return, searching my eyes.
“Are you hurt?” he asks, his voice still that warm tone I love so much, even though it’s strangled from his pain.
“I’ll be fine.” I pause. “Is this it, Dario? Are we really going to die today?”
“I promised you I’d protect you, and I still intend on doing that.”
“I’m not sure you can keep your promise to me.”
His hands tighten on my waist until it hurts. “Don’t give up on me that easily. You know me better than that.”
My father gets into the front seat while one of his men gets in beside him, and the other two join Dario and me in the backseat. “Words of encouragement,” my father taunts. “How lovely.” He starts the car and backs out of the foyer, sending more wood flying into the air.
Then he drives away from the house that has been the only home I’ve truly known. My father’s house was never my home. There was never any love in it—only pain and torture.
