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“You don’t think I should kill him?”
I grimace. “Well, I didn't say that,” I hedge. “I vote death for anyone who ever hurts even a single hair on your head. But it isn’t my opinion that matters here and I’ve never known you to struggle with dealing a killing blow. If you’re hesitating, it’s not about death, it’s about him. He must be worth at least the consideration.”
She buries her face in my chest and wraps her arms around my waist, but not before I see the smile spreading across her features.
Chapter Three Scar
The stares haven’t gottenany easier. I wind my arms around my waist as I make my way to class. My wounds, now scars, still ache with the phantom pain of my memories, as if they haven’t healed in the slightest. Each stare and whisper feels like another cut against my delicate skin as they intensify with each step I take down the hall.
A feeling burns the side of my face. I tense as I turn to catch an ice-blue gaze locked on me. Fear flashes through me before a heavy sense of dejection. The moment of fear forgotten as I take in Charles’ tall and slender form as he turns away from me the second our eyes meet. Turning his back on me.
Again.
I’ve never felt so utterly lost and alone.
Those blue eyes have haunted me for years in my dreams. I’ve woken up screaming as they chase me even into my waking moments. The first one to draw blood from me that night. The first one to violate me and take satisfaction in every ounce of my pain. The very one who admitted just how long he had been craving my flesh under his. His control asserted over me.
Maybe somewhere in the back of my mind I always knew who it was. Knew I had lost Charles even before I had actually lost him. How could I not? How have I never put the pieces together to realize it was Charles’ father? The man that I was never comfortable around despite growing up around him.
The only thing left to do is decide how to proceed. Is Ryder right? How can I be sure? How much has Charles changed in the last eight years? Once upon a time he was my best friend, my closest ally. His betrayal is partially what made it so easy to keep everyone at a distance when I left. He never laid a finger on me, but he didn’t stop his friends from trying.
The first time, Kade saved me as Charles watched.
The second time, I just barely saved myself, Charles was nowhere to be seen. I barely made it to Luca’s after getting away from them. Barely survived. Yet again. It was the moment I knew I had to leave everything behind.
The shattered pieces I left behind are finally coming together. Giving me a clear picture of my past, but muddling the waters of what I thought I knew. Of what I thought came next.
I could kill Charles for recognizing me. Cut off one more tie to the girl who I used to be. Who remembers me as Charlotte. From a past version of myself that I no longer know. No longer have any desire to know. Not the way he sees me.
But why kill him when I can use him?
He may very well be the key to my revenge plans. Give me access to everything I need. His father. All the knowledge I need to carry out my plans may reside behind his closed eyes, clueless to the real reason why I attended that gala tonight.
He can’t possibly imagine the hell I plan on bringing to his doorstep. How badly I crave his father’s blood on my hands, his life at my mercy. He had the power to help me all those years ago and chose not to, the difference is now I can make him. If I choose to.
Ryder presses his lips to the top of my head. “Get some sleep. You might have a clearer answer after talking to him.”
I nod, rubbing my nose against him. He’s right. How can I know what the right call is when I really have no idea who I’m dealing with? Charles may have grown up to be as twisted and corrupt as his father. I won’t deny the piece of me hoping that isn’t true, but I won’t verbalize it either.
“You’re just hoping I’ll wake up bloodthirsty and decide to kill him.”
His body rumbles with his laughter, shaking me and making me smile wider.
“Absofuckinglutely. And I’m hoping you let me do it too.”
Oh how the tables have turned. It wasn’t even that long ago that I was comforting Ryder through forgiveness and offering to kill his dad for him. I’d be lying if I said I ever thought we would really get to this point.
“Sleep, Scar. I got you. It’s going to be okay.”
I know he does. They all do. And I know it will be.
Despite the odds, I drift off to sleep.
* * *
My eyes feel heavierwith every flutter of my lashes. I can barely keep them open as pain ratchets through my body. I squeeze them shut in response to one of them yanking my head off the floor by fisting my dirty blonde hair and pulling me towards him.
Fear like nothing I’ve ever known courses through my body. Something wet and hot slides up the side of my cheek, tracing a pathway to my ear. He’s licking up my blood and tears, drinking in my pain, relishing in my demise. My fear is a wild animal locked inside my body, thrashing and fighting to get out to run away. But we’re trapped. Unable to move.
