Page 110 of Blades of Obsession

He starts stuffing things into the bags. Looking at him, I can’t shake the nagging question gnawing in my mind. “Wanna tell me why John wants you dead?”

He doesn’t look at me as he answers. “Told him I’d tell you the truth. Typical, he goes straight to putting a hit out on me.”

“The truth about what?”

Just as he’s about to throw an old worn shirt into the bag, he pauses. “I saw how upset you were with your mother. Don’t be upset with her, she left because of me.”

And? That’s no excuse to leave a fucking three-year-old to fend for himself, and a six-year-old who eventually grew up and killed himself over his childhood trauma.

“Okay, what does this have to do with you telling me the truth about something?”

He hesitates. “Well, John is your mother’s ex-husband. She did try to come back for ya’ll three years after she left, after she got herself established, but John convinced her they had enough babies running around. That Eli and Jacob were already too much to add another two. So, really, it’s John’s fault you don’t have a good relationship with your mother. Years later, I asked him why he did that. He told mea motherless son is a warrior. He did it on purpose, to breed you and your brother that way until he could come collect you.”

Three years ago, I asked myself the question why.Why me?Turns out the answer is more complicated than I ever would’ve imagined.

I blow out a breath, trying to process the information, my mind spinning in a hundred different directions.

“After the boys grew up, John didn’t need your mother anymore. He tried to leave her, trade her in for a younger model, but she wasn’t going for that. So he got her admitted into a mental hospital against her will. They stuck her with so many medicines and syringes and shock this or trauma that, I don’t think she’s ever been the same since,” he says, stuffing the last of his clothes into the bag. “So just… try to give her some grace. The boys were all she had left, and now they’re both gone.”

This changes everything, and I have to put my plan into motion sooner than I thought.

•••

I glance over at my dad in the front passenger seat, his head lolling against the window. He’s tipsy, bursting into occasional, off-key singing that makes me wince. In the backseat, there’s Amelia and Rowan. Rowan was originally in the front driving, but around the four hour mark, he got tired, so we switched.

For the past ten minutes, he’s been mumbling things to Amelia, making her laugh. Like he’s a damn comedian or something. At first, it was just kind of annoying, but now, it’s starting to feel like a match has been struck, letting the anger inside me spark to life. I can feel the heat rising from my chest to my face as I watch them.

I pull out my phone and send her a quick text.

Me: What’s so funny?

She glances at the notification, and out of the rearview mirror, I see her smile fade. She doesn’t reply, just slips her phone back onto her lap and looks out the window.

But then minutes later, she’s back laughing at whatever the idiot said.

I shouldn’t have brought him. But if I wanted to convince John I was killing my dad, I had to treat it like any other mission, which meant bringing someone along for backup.

So, I brought the first person I could find at John’s house, which happened to be Rowan. The little fucker always likes messing with me, always trying to get under my skin every time I come to John’s house. But I know I can trust him not to spill the secret of our real plan tonight, and that’s what matters most.

She laughs again, and I swear they’re getting closer together on the seat. I know he’s doing it on purpose. I don’t want anyone to make her laugh but me, and maybe Frankie, but definitely not him. When she doesn’t stop giggling, I open an app on my phone, pull up the control center, and press a button.

“Oh my God!” Her sudden yelp fills the air. The car goes silent except for my dad’s off-key humming, then Amelia clears her throat. “Sorry, I thought I saw a deer.”

I smirk at her through the mirror, and she glares at me back. Every time she tries to look angry, she just ends up looking cuter. Her face is flushed, eyes widened in surprise as she mouthsstopbut it only makes my smirk grow wider.

When she took a quick shower at John’s, I swapped out her panties for vibrating ones, meant to rub against her clit. I intended for a few playful buzzes to make the long ride more interesting, but now I can use them to torture her.

The rest of the ride, I press the button a few more times—thanks to Rowan’s dumbass. She still doesn’t learn, or maybe she likes the vibrations.

He places his hand on her fucking thigh.

I could kill him right now.

My grip tightens on the steering wheel as I grind my teeth. The control goes all the way up, and I tap the button as fast as it will go. She doubles over like she has a stomachache, but the smirk on Rowan’s face tells me he knows exactly what’s happening.

Finally, after restraining myself from pummeling his face in, we reach the location. It’s about a mile away from the border. As soon as we pull up, I spot the black SUV parked right where the two guys said they’d be. I step out of the car and open my dad’s door when I see he hasn’t made an attempt to get out.

“A-are you sure this—”

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