Page 44 of Body Tox

Now he looked confused, searching his bed for something.

“I am sorry I couldn’t be Eira. The perfect daughter you wanted.”

It was a choice now—a choice for him to move on.

If he chose to betray me, his sleep apnea machine sitting on his bedstand was quite flammable. The pistol he hid under his pillow, if used, would kick off like a match. Of course, he wouldn’t make the choice to move on, but I could, by knowing I at least tried.

“Bye, Daddy.” I blew him a kiss, feeling a brief moment of sadness.

I knew what his intentions were before he even did it. I turned around and walked back to the door. The gun was pointed at my back. His shaky hands were visible in the mirror hanging on the door.

His threats made my tears fall more freely.

“You took my Arabella from me!” he shrieked, his voice wavering. “She wouldn’t have died if it weren’t for you!

I kept my hand on the door, my silence the only response I could give.

“You were supposed to die. Not her,” he continued to yell. “I hired those men to killyou.Not her.”

There it was.

The answer I always knew but wasn’t strong enough to accept. The memory of that night flashed through my mind. The laughter and the smashing of a window started one of the worst nights of my life.

“Crash!”

My eyes widened, and the chip bag in my hand froze with the glass-shattering noise from the other room.

I ran into the pantry, closed the door, and slid down by the back wall. I could see through the shuttered blinds, the lightsfrom the kitchen lighting me up in stripes. My breathing was so fast, my heart beating faster than I had ever felt.

I heard male voices that I didn’t recognize.

“Can we just grab the bitch already? I am hungry.” someone said.

“C’mon, man. We got paid a fuck ton, we can’t mess this shit up.”

A gruff laugh sounded from the other side of the pantry door, and I could see three men covered in black walk around the corner into the kitchen, swinging baseball bats.

“Where would the princess be anyway? This place is fucking huge.”

One of the guys opened the fridge, grabbed the milk carton, and drank from the top.

“Beats me. Probably snoozing in her perfect satin sheets.”

They were mocking my family.

I stepped backward, my body knocking against a shelf, and a can of beans fell to the ground.

Oh my god.

There was a silence, and the guys looked at each other.

“Think the princess needed a late-night snack?” one of them whispered, and my heart beat faster.

They were walking toward the pantry. Their bats scraped on the tile ground with an awful sound.

I was going to die.

They were going to paint this cupboard with my brains.

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