Page 95 of The Tattoo Artist

“Heavenly Father, you don’t answer me as of this minute-”

“What are you going to do?” My mother’s eyes widen at my remark, and she took a step closer to me, anger evident on her face. Without warning, she raises her hand and slaps me across the face. I gasp, holding onto my cheeks in shock, while Aunt Coraline immediately stood up from the table.

“Catalina!” Auntie Coraline’s voice was stern and disapproving.

My heart was pounding in my chest, and anger surged within me. “Who does it belong to?” My mother whispers through clenched teeth, her eyes flashing with an unsettling intensity.

“You already know who, don’t you, mother?” I retort, my voice laced with bitterness and betrayal.

“What are you talking about?” My father interjects, looking confused and concerned.

“It belongs to my husband,” I growl back at my mother, watching her eyes widen with surprise.

“Husband? You’re not married, you’re a child!” My father slams his fist onto the table in anger, causing everyone to look in our direction.

“Please, spare me the lies. I know everything,” I said, my voice trembling with emotion but I still managed to let out a laugh of sarcasm. “You manipulated me, took advantage of me!”

Silence fills the room as my words hung in the air, the truth finally laid bare for all to see.

I hated them.

I hated my parents.

Now more than ever!

Maybe if they would have told me earlier, I would’ve remembered. I had been kept in the dark for too long, and now the truth had come to light.

“Did you have sex with him?” My mother asks.

The room fell into a tense silence after my mother’s shocking question. Before I could respond, the anger within me took over, and words spilled out without restraint.

“Yes! I did.” I shoot out, “and I loved it.”

But I hadn’t expected my father’s reaction.

In a moment of blind fury, he lunged forward and threw a punch right at my face. Pain exploded through my nose as I stumble back right in the ground, my hands instinctively covering the bleeding wound. Shock and fear engulfed me as I look up at my enraged father.

He really hit me.

My own father just hit me.

I scramble back, blood pouring out from my nose as the pain suddenly begins to ache.

Before I could comprehend what was happening, Auntie Coraline rushes to my side, shielding me from my parents. Her voice filled with anger and desperation; she screams at my father.

“Lay one more hand on her, Andrew, I dare you!” Auntie Coraline threatens, “I’ll fucking kill you.” She turns to face me; my hands filled with blood as she grazes my face.

“Move! Now Coraline before I punch you too.” Auntie Coraline, however, stood her ground, a fierce determination in her eyes.

“I dare you, Andrew.” She whispers.

“I won’t allow a slut stay in my house!”

“Fuck you and your house, I’m leaving!” I stand up and push past Auntie Coraline and head to the front door. I grab his shirt, wiping the blood from hands and patting down my nose which I believe to think he’s broke.

“And where will you go?” My mother yells at me angrily.

“Did you forget that my husband is a billionaire? And I thought I was the one with the memory loss.” I shoot at them before slamming the door behind me, I wasn’t going to Ares. I said that so they could shut up, the weather continues to rain, and I start to run in any direction.

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