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He approaches me slowly. “I paid off a portion of your parents’ debt.” He grabs ahold of my painful finger, squeezing it. “Do I have to remind you of all the information I own about your parents’ …hobbies?”
My eyes twitch, but I don’t say a word, despite wanting to spout every swear word in the dictionary.
He towers over with a vindictive look on his face. “I suggest you start obeying. Before I take away more from you than those three fucking boys ever could.”
I swallow away the lump in my throat.
He’s threatening to put my parents in jail.
Or worse.
Have them killed.
Finally, he releases me. “Now go.”
* * *
Present
Her face turnspale as snow, her pupils dilating as they witness the depth of the sadism of her own damn brother.
“He cut off a limb … all because he wanted to make me pay for bullying the girl I was forced to bully or my own family would go to jail.”
She swallows, but her fingers slowly unlatch from my wrist as though she no longer has the strength to hold me down. And even though I hate to admit it, I was growing quite fond of her hand latched around my wrist.
“I did what I had to, and I paid the heaviest price of all,” I say, the pain of that day still so fresh in my mind that it makes my voice crack. “Do you know he still has it?”
“What?” she replies in shock.
“He keeps it in a jar like a wet specimen. A trophy. Me.”
When she tries to move away, I grip her hand with mine, showing the four fingers I have left.
“This is why Ihate. Why you call me evil.” I slowly lower her until her face is mere inches away from mine. “Does it make me evil to love my family to the ends of the earth? To the end of me?”
Her eyes well up with tears, but she swallows them back.
Just like I always do when I know it would be better if I just let them go.
If I just let someone see that part of me … the part I’ve always been told was weak.
Stay strong. You’re a Reed. Reeds don’t cry. Reeds stick together. Reeds fight for what belongs to them.
That’s what my father always used to say.
Until he vanished and disappeared into the belly of the justice system.
I grab a few loose strands of hair and push them behind her ear. I understand now why Kai was so fixated on that ribbon of hers … on this picture-perfect face that hides a beautiful lie.
“If I’m evil for killing and using people, then so are you.”
She frowns. “I don’t kill for—”
“Sport?” My brow rises. “What then? Excitement? To feel powerful?”
“To make sure those fuckers are erased from this goddamn earth,” she retorts, still holding me down. “And I won’t fucking stop, not even if you threaten me.”
“Oh, by all means … kill as many of them as you like. I won’t stop you,” I reply, struck by how pretty she is when she’s angry and on the verge of yet another murder.
