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“Watch your mouth,” he warned, his voice so deep it stopped me in my tracks.
We stared at each other, neither of us willing to give up.
“Or what?” I asked, feeling my blood pumping through my veins at lightning speed. “She’d hate you,” I snapped. “Just like I do!”
I didn’t see it, not until it was too late for me to do anything about it. The back of his hand connected with my face, crushing my nose and splattering against my lip. My body swayed, my legs giving way from the force, but luckily the bed was there to catch me.
Shock took over my entire body as my face thrummed from the impact and my body bounced on the mattress.
“Don’t you ever talk about her like that again,” he growled, standing over me, a shadow of the man I thought I knew.
He said that Dante was a bad person, but right then, the only person who had hatred and violence in them washim.
He’d hit me. He’d actually hit me.
My breath caught in my throat, my body going into fight-or-flight mode as I curled up, keeping my gaze laser focused on him. If he touched me again, I’d be prepared. If his hand lifted, I’d be able to cover my face and my stomach. I’d protect myself from the one man who should have done nothing but protectme.
The air swirled in the room, the tension growing thicker and thicker with each passing second that we stared at each other. I tried to search for the shock of what he’d done in his gaze, but all I found was anger—anger directed solely at me.
“Mr. Peters?” Dad’s body jerked at the sound of Miriam’s voice. It was close, her footsteps sounding on the stairs. “Is everything okay up there?”
Dad schooled his features expertly, and if I was honest, it scared me a little. “Yeah, everything is good.” He cleared his throat, not moving a single muscle. “Bring me the paperwork, Navy is about to sign it.”
I was already shaking my head as the words came out of his mouth, but his threatening step forward had me stilling my motion and keeping my lips glued together.
Miriam’s footsteps got quieter, then came back louder a minute later. As soon as it sounded like she was at the top of the stairs, Dad spun around, exited my room, then came right back. He didn’t say a single word as he threw a wad of papers attached with a paper clip onto my bed, then a pen on top.
“No,” I whispered.
“Sign them. Now.” His nostrils flared, his hands balling into fists. Before today, I wouldn’t have been afraid to stand up to him. I wouldn’t have been scared about what would happen when I refused to do something. But now, I was terrified. I truly had no idea what he was capable of. I had no idea who this man was standing in front of me, but what I did know was that he wasn’t the father who had raised me. He wasn’t the man who had doted on my mother.
Hewas gone, and in his place was someone I didn’t recognize. I was backed into a corner with no way out. I didn’t have any options…not right that second. So I slowly lifted, just enough to pick the pen up and sign where a big X was marked in red. My shaky hands made it difficult to write my name, but I managed it under duress.
Tears pricked at my eyes, but I refused to wipe them away. I refused to let him see what he’d done to me. As I wrote the last letter of my name, wetness dripped onto the edge of the paper. At first, I thought it was a tear, but as I flicked my gaze to it, the redness told me it was blood.
I was bleeding from my face, and he didn’t care a single iota.
“Done,” I whispered, feeling like everything inside me was broken. He’d shattered everything I knew. He’d destroyed it all in only a few moments. I’d never look at him the same. Never talk to him the same. The relationship we’d had was gone. And even though I should have been sad, all I was, was angry.
Angry that he’d done this.
Angry that he picked up the papers and marched out of my room without another word.
Angry that only moments later, Miriam left, and so did my dad, leaving me in the house all on my own.
I still didn’t move though. I stayed half lying, half sitting, staring at the wall as wetness dripped down onto my white T-shirt. I wasn’t sure whether it was tears or blood, and I didn’t really care. I was trapped, not knowing what to do.
He’d made me sign the papers. He’d made me give up the one thing that mattered the most to me.
Hiccuping a sob, I wrapped my arms around my stomach, swaying side to side, trying to comfort myself and the unborn baby growing inside of me.
Frustration mixed in with my anger, sadness finally making its way in there too as I sobbed until I was sure no more tears could come. The sky turned darker, the sun setting soon, and I was still alone.
My stomach rumbled, demanding food, but my throat was too tight to even consider eating. I blinked, staring out of the window that Dante had climbed through days ago.
I thought I’d run out of options, but maybe I hadn’t. Maybe I had the one tool left in my box that Dad wouldn’t be able to stop.
My heart raced as I slowly sat up, not thinking about anything but the possibility that this wasn’t over. My feet hit the floor, and even though the world tilted as I stood, I didn’t let that stop me from walking out of my bedroom, down the stairs, and straight outside, only stopping to grab my keys from by the front door.
