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His fist shot into my cheekbone so fast, my head smashed backward against Neri’s bed. The room spun. My ears rang.
“Don’t you dare talk about love, you son of a bitch. You don’t know the meaning of it!”
Sirens cut off outside the house.
Terror hammered through my blood.
When I’d forced Neri to accept her strength, I’d been prepared to die for her.
That wish was about to come true.
“Dad, please. Tell the police you’re mistaken. Don’t let them take him. You can’t let them take him!” Neri begged, choking on tears. “He’ll die if they deport him!”
“That’s bullshit. It’s just another lie. Good fucking riddance.” Jack dragged Neri toward the door. “Let’s go. You’ll need to make a statement.”
“I’m not going anywhere!” she screeched. “Let go of me!”
A loud knock on the front door.
Anna wrung her hands. “They’re here.”
“Go answer the door,” Jack snapped. “I’ll wait here with him.”
Anna held out her hand. “Neri, sweetie, come with me. You don’t have to watch this.”
“Don’t let them in, Mum. They can’t take him away. They’ll kill him!”
“No one is going to kill anyone,” Jack grunted. “Unless it’s me.” He shoved Neri toward Anna. “Go with your mother. Now.”
“Dad. Please don’t do this.”
Anna tried to grab Neri. “Come on—”
The door hammered again. “Police. Open up!”
“Go!” Jack yelled. “Once he’s in custody, then we’ll talk.”
“He didn’t do this!” Neri screamed.
“Go, Nerida. I won’t ask again!” Jack bellowed.
I struggled to stand.
My left kneecap crunched; my ribs screamed.
Pain made me lightheaded, and I couldn’t see straight.
I fell back down.
If I cared more about my own life, I’d fight through the blaze and knock Jack aside. I’d bolt through the house and go.
But...Neri.
I couldn’t leave her with this mess.
I couldn’t abandon her to parents who would never look at her the same way again.
I would rather die and take the blame, knowing I’d take a piece of her soul with me, than run like a fucking coward.
“It’s okay, askim,” I murmured, swallowing another mouthful of blood from the cut on my tongue. “I’ll be okay—”
“No, you won’t. This is all such a giant mistake.” Rushing at her father, she pummelled his chest. “This is all my fault. I’ve been wanting to tell you for months—”
“Months?” Jack grabbed her damaged wrists, making her cry out. “Months?! He’s been forcing himself on you for months?” “
“You’re not listening to me! He never forced me. Not once! I love him, Dad—”
“Fucking hell, I’m gonna kill him. He’s got you so brainwashed, you don’t even know what you’re saying!” Tossing Neri toward Anna, he roared, “Take her, Anna. Tell the police to get in here quick before I rip his motherfucking balls off!”
“Police!” The knocking turned violent. “Open immediately!”
“Go!” Jack roared at his wife.
Anna left Neri on the threshold and tore up the corridor in a whirl of pink.
Everything inside me stilled, went quiet, prepared to die.
So this was how it ended.
This was how I lost her.
“Seni seviyorum, karicigim.” I forced a smile, hoping I didn’t look too beaten, too bloody.
I didn’t want Neri to remember me like this or see me being dragged out the door in handcuffs. “Go, Neri. It’s okay.”
“Fuck that. None of this is okay.”
“Nerida, go find your mother,” Jack roared, rolling up the cuffs of his suit, his knuckles raw and bloody from hitting me. “I’m going to say another goodbye to Aslan.”
Neri froze.
Her lips twisted.
Her eyes dried up.
And I saw the decision before she even acknowledged it herself.
“Neri, don’t—” I coughed.
Too late.
Leaping for her bedside table, she grabbed her mermaid lamp with its heavy scaled base, yanked the cord out of the wall, and struck her father with all her might around the back of his head.
He groaned and dropped like an anchor to the floor.
His eyes closed.
His limbs went loose.
He passed out.
“Shit.” My heart smoked with panic. “Neri, what did you do?”
“Doing what you’ve always done for me.” Landing on her knees beside me, she grabbed my arm and threw it over her shoulders. “Stand up. Right now. Get up, Aslan.”
Male voices sounded by the front door as heavy boots entered the house.
Groaning, I shut down all my pain and locked away all my weaknesses.
Using Neri as much as I dared, I tripped to my feet and rode out the heavy waves of nausea.
“Stand still. Don’t fall.” Letting me go, Neri raced to her dresser and grabbed the chair beneath. Wedging it under the door handle of her room, she bolted to her window. “Come on.”
Lurching forward, my bones didn’t work correctly, but I ignored them. I would walk on shattered legs if it meant I survived and somehow figured out a way to fix all of this.
“I’m not leaving you,” I panted as I landed hard against her windowsill.
“You don’t have a choice.”
“Come with me.”
“I’m going to tell them it wasn’t you.”
“I don’t want you doing something you don’t want to do.”
