Page 107 of Picture Perfect

"Let go!" I manage to wrench my phone free, but my grip is unsteady, my movements erratic with adrenaline.

"Who are you gonna call, huh? Those boys? You think they can save you from me?" William mocks me, his laughter harsh and cold.

I don't reply, focusing all my will on the screen, trying to swipe it open, to find some way out of this. But my phone slips from my grasp, clattering on the hardwood floor.

His weight settles on my lower back, and I can feel his breath against the shell of my ear, thick with malice. "No one's here to protect you, Adelaide?"

"Get off me!" I say, my voice strained under his mass. But it's as if he doesn't hear, his fingers crudely tugging at the fabric of my pants. His grasp is clumsy, fueled by a dark intent that chills my blood even in the struggle.

"Father, stop!" I plead, my fight mingling with a rising terror. My hands scrabble at the floor, seeking something, anything to gain leverage. I grab hold of my phone again, navigating to what I need.

"Shut up," he hisses, yanking with more force. The sound of fabric straining is sickeningly loud in the silent hallway. There's a brief moment where I think I might break free, but then my phone—my fleeting chance at salvation—is slapped from my hand. It careens away, skidding down the hallway with a mocking dance, leaving me bereft and exposed.

"Please... don't do this." Tears blur my vision, but I refuse to let them fall. I won't give him the satisfaction.

"Got to make sure you're not lying to me." His words cut through the air, and I feel a sharp intrusion as he forces his way past the barrier of my clothes. Pain flares, white-hot and blinding, an invasion more personal than any before.

"Stop it! You're hurting me!" I cry out, the words ripped from a throat tight with fear. His violation feels like a brand, marking me in ways that transcend the physical torment.

"Quiet," William commands, his voice a low growl as he continues his ruthless search for a truth only he believes in. "Just making sure you're still pure for me."

"Please... Father..." I try to push back against the invasion, against the suffocating weight of his body and the darkness he brings with it. But with every movement, he only presses in deeper, a twisted assertion of control over my being.

"Found what I was looking for," he finally murmurs, an ugly note of satisfaction in his tone. But it's a hollow victory; in seeking to claim my honesty, he's only further stripped away the remnants of trust and safety I clung to so desperately.

I'm scrambling, trying to get away, but William's grip is like iron. He flips me onto my back with ease, his face twisted in a grimace that speaks of satisfaction and something darker. My arms flail, trying to push him off, but he's a mountain compared to my willow frame.

"Stop fighting, Adelaide," he growls as he straddles my chest, his weight crushing the air from my lungs. "You know you can't win. You owe me this. I took you in, fed you clothed you. The least you can do is this."

"Get off me!" I manage to choke out, my voice barely above a whisper. His hand finds my hair, yanking my head back as he frees himself from his trousers. My eyes widen in terror, the green in them surely eclipsed by the sheer fear. No, not this. Please, not this.

"Open up, sweetheart," he sneers, bringing himself closer to my face. I turn my head, trying to avoid him, but his grip on my hair is unyielding. And then, it's happening—he's forcing himself into my mouth, the act so violent and degrading tears spring unbidden to my eyes.

And, yet I'm silently thankful. This I can manage. This I've survived. But, he's more unhinged than he's ever been.

I can't breathe. Panic surges through me, stealing the fight right out of my bones. William isn't even pretending to care, his movements brutal and punishing. I want to scream, to bite, to do anything to make him stop, but there's no room for air or defiance. Only the cold, hard truth that I am powerless under his weight, his force.

"Good girl," he grunts, the words slicing through me as I struggle beneath him. I keep trying to push him away, but my hands might as well be batting at stone. The world is narrowing down to this one horrific moment, where I am nothing but an object for his twisted desire.

The bile rises, burning my throat. I gag, once, twice, a futile attempt to expel the intrusion that's choking me. But William doesn't relent, his grip a vice in my hair. My stomach churns, a violent protest that can't be contained—then it happens. I vomit, the acrid stench filling my nostrils as it splatters over him and me.

"Disgusting," he spits, yet there's a twisted delight in his eyes that chills me to the core. He shoves harder, the vile act fueled by my body's rebellion. Tears mix with the mess on my face, and I am drowning in humiliation and despair.

Finally his thrusts start to slow, though they're no less violent. I gasp for breath as he pulls himself free.

"Clean this up," he commands coldly when he finally steps back, zipping up his trousers with a sneer. I lay there, broken, covered in my shame. He towers above me, the monster of this house, my personal hell. "Or you'll wish you had never been born."

His footsteps fade down the hall, leaving me alone with the remnants of his cruelty. Consequences—always looming, always a threat that keeps me caged in this nightmare. Slowly, I push myself up, every movement an agony of spirit. I know I have no choice but to obey, to erase the traces of his violation. But inside, the flicker of defiance still burns—a silent promise that one day, somehow, this will end.

And it better fucking be soon. Or I might add murder to my list of sins.

Chapter forty-eight

Chess

Iquicken my pace as I catch sight of Addy's blonde hair swaying with each step she takes down the hallway. It's a beacon, that hair—like spun gold—and it never fails to snag my attention, even in a sea of students. But there's something off today, her usual poise replaced by a droop in her shoulders.

Hell, there's been something off about her for days. She didn't even bother to wait for me outside her class. I'm pretty sure she slipped out early just to get away from me.

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