AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Because the man who stepped outwasmy father.
He couldn’t be anybody but.
Thethudof his door closing was followed by the crunch of footsteps. My pulse was hammering, the sound deafening inside my ears. The cold night air blurred my sight. I blinked, fixed on that dark shape that headed toward us, then in a blink, his face cleared.
“Dad…Dad!”I lunged, tearing from the guard's hold.
He let out a snarl behind me, but it was too late.
“Let her go,” The Principal ordered.
I tore across the driveway and leaped.
Strong arms caught me with a grunt. Dad was there, staggering under my weight. “Ryth,” he croaked, squeezing me until I could hardly breathe.
But I didn’t care. I didn’t care at all, just buried my head into his neck and wept. “I thought they killed you. I thought you were—”
“I’m right here.” He gripped me tighter, his big hands driving my face against his chest. “I’m right here, honey.”
The last time I’d seen him, he'd been beaten and bruised…and terrified.
Now I knew why.
“Are you okay, my little lioness?”
I just nodded, my voice breaking. “I am now.”
Behind us, the crunch of boots sounded. I stiffened, pulling away and looked into my father’s eyes. He grew colder, harder as he fixed his focus on those men. I hated them now even more than I'd hated them before.
They stole and ruined and degraded all for some sick desire of their own.
“Mr. Castlemaine,” The Principal's blunt tone shattered the fleeting fear, joy, and worry.
I straightened and slowly pulled back. In front of me, my father became someone else, a man I’d never seen before. His lips twitched, baring his teeth as he set his sights on the monsters.
But he didn’t stop at The Principal, and scanned the others beside him. There was a look of disappointment, then that curl of his lips tightened. “Hale's not here, I take it?”
“No,” The Principal answered.
“We had an agreement.”
Agreement?
“There seems to be a problem with his fiancee,” The Principal’s voice was filled with contempt. “Apparently she’s been kidnapped from an island off Africa.”
“Fiancee?” My father sounded surprised. “Then I pray it’s a quick and painless death for her. It’ll be better than living with a monster.”
In my head, I saw Hale as he'd sat in that restaurant, surrounded by disgusting old white men who loved nothing more than to use women like me. He was a monster…a monster with money—a monster they all feared.
“Still.” The Principal’s voice was caustic. “We had a deal.”
I turned then, meeting the bastard’s stare as he looked at me.They had a deal…what deal?
My father reached back and gently broke my hold, pulling my hands around. “You remember what we said, honey. No matter what, that’s what you promised.”
“No matter what, Dad?”
But he didn’t answer, just gave a nod. The guard at Caleb’s back shoved him forward and he stumbled toward us.
