Page 58 of Damned By His Angel

“You’re alive.” His voice is hoarse and riddled with pain.

“You’re the second person who has said that to me in a month. Contrary to what you think, dick, I’m not that easy to kill.” My dad grumbles behind me but I ignore him as I step forward, leaving a couple of feet of space between me and my tormentor. Looking at him now, I feel like a fool for ever living in fear of this piece of shit. “Want to know a secret?” I don’t give him a chance to answer. “I wholeheartedly believed that if I didn’t escape you the night that I did that you would kill me.” The entirety of my family growls and begins spewing threats behind me.

“I should have done it when I had the chance,” he spits. I shrug and nod.

“Yeah, it would have saved you a lot of pain but we can’t live with should of, could of, would of now, can we?” I don’t wait for him to answer as I shrug off my jacket and toss it to Cronos. It surprises me to see London, Artemis, Royal, Sin, Kacey, Erika, Chaos, Cass, Dad, Mom, and all my aunts and uncles here. It means a lot having them here, they’re showing me they have my back no matter what and we protect our own. “As a doctor, I know which places to cut to inflict the most amount of pain and damage without killing you.”

Colson sneers at me. “Do your worst, bitch.” Cronos steps forward but I hold him back with a hand to his chest.

“Oh, you silly, I’m not going to hurt you.” His brow dips in confusion. “Luka, bring her in.” Everyone makes room for Luka as he drags Kim in. At the sight of his sister, Colson begins to fight and starts spewing useless threats that fall on deaf ears. Chaos and Royal help Luka string Kim up by her hands in front of Colson but far enough away. I slap her face to wake her up. She begins thrashing and darting her gaze around the room until she sees her brother—her face pales.

“Colson,” she breathes out.

“I’m here,” he replies, earning an eye roll from me.

“Once upon a time I would have rebelled against my family for doing this to another human but given what you two tried to take from me, I will enjoy this so much.”

“Don’t fucking touch her! Do it to me—” I spin around and shush Colson.

“I recall begging you to not take my daughter from me and did you listen?” He clamps his mouth closed.

“I don’t believe he did, I think he shot you and then ran like a little bitch with our daughter,” Cronos snarls.

“My daughter!” he screams. My anger takes control. I snatch a blade from the table beside Kim and plunge it into her thigh. She throws her head back and screams.

“You fucking bitch?—”

“She isn’t your daughter!” I scream. “She is nothing of yours, do you hear me? She will never know your face, never know your name or who the fuck you are. You are going to learn tonight why no one crosses my family.”

“Kill me, not her!” Colson pleads.

“I’m not going to kill you… tonight. You are going to witness my wrath—tonight you are the victim and I’m the big bad bully. All those times I begged you to stop hitting me and you didn’t listen, remember that while you watch me make your sister my bitch and if you’re a good boy, I might just let her say goodbye to you before I slit her throat.” Colson’s pleas fall on deaf ears as I block everything out. I get tunnel vision as I picture all the ways I am going to make Kim wish she never tried to take my baby from me. Nothing else matters to me as I pull my earphones from my pocket and place them in my ears, then press play on my playlist. I close my eyes and bob my head to the beat for a second as I shake my arms out, this is a ritual I do before every shift and that is how I am treating this. I get in my zone and blank my mind, I close off all my emotions and feel nothing but sweet numbness.

“Angel?” I shake my head and frown at Cronos, he holds one of my ear phones in his hands.

“What? I’m about to start,” I grit out, his brows form a deep groove on his face.

“Baby, you have been at this for hours.” I jolt and turn to Kim, my eyes widen at the sight. The skin on her cheek is gone, her ears have been removed along with her nose. Fingers and toes litter the ground beneath her, slice wounds line her abdomen but the sight that holds my attention is her intestines wrapped around her neck.

“I did that?” I breathe out in… horror.

“Come on, you’re done and you’ll never be coming back here again.” I drop the scalpel to the floor and allow him to grab my hand.

“Why? Why Amelia?” Colson screams. I flinch at the sound of his voice, I had forgotten all about him. I slowly turn to face him, and the haze from earlier starts to return and my need to inflict pain on him starts to drag me under until Cronos speaks.

“Stay with me, angel,” he whispers.

Colson’s eyes are bloodshot from shedding tears. “Because you tried to break me, you tried to use me to hurt those I love but the final push was you calling my daughter a mistake and a cunt.” Nos’s grip on my hand tightens as his own anger rides him. “Had you not tried to hurt my beautiful little girl, I would never have taken the person you clearly love most in the world from you. I hope you rot in fucking hell.”

“See you when you get there, bitch!” he spits back.

“I run hell, motherfucker, I’ll find you when I get there,” Cronos grits out. I let him lead me out of there, ignoring all the wide eyed stares my family throws my way. Years ago I had my ribs tattooed with a saying, n ελευθερ?α ε?ναι δικ? μου it’s Greek for Freedom is mine to take. I just took that shit back tonight and it feels fucking amazing to finally be truly free. “I believe I have a debt to pay, angel,” he says as we cross Uncle Bishop’s back lawn.

“What debt?”

“I owe you a ride on my face and I plan to pay up as soon as I get your sexy ass in the shower.”

Fuck, playing on the dark side just might be more fun.