Page 124 of Dmitri

I remember how terrifying it was after my dad went to prison and my mom left. I stepped into my house and, with the threat of my mother’s anger no longer present, a unique brand of fear grew in me because I didn’t know how to function in my own home when I no longer had to tip-toe around. So, what did I do? I ran to the Scrapyard and moved in there because chaotic violence was my comfort zone.

“Every time we’re together, I keep comparing you two.” She pulls back to look at me. “You’re nothing like him.”

It takes great effort to swallow around my tightening throat. Focusing on the brilliance of Daelyn’s blue-green eyes, I remind myself of what’s important here. It’s not revenge.

“If I say his name,” she whispers. “If I give it up… does that make me a bad person?”

I hold my breath and grow still.

“Does that make me a traitor? A snitch? A disappointment?” Tears well in her bloodshot eyes again. “Does that make me worse than him because he did so much for me and now I’m turning against him?”

“Everything he did wasn’t for you,” I say cautiously. I’ve got one shot to make this clear, and my brain is short-circuiting already because I’m so goddamn angry. “He did it forhimself. There are things going on that you don’t know, Daelyn. Things with Addie.”

The change in her is instant. She shoves away from me like I’ve electrified her. “What?”

“You really don’t know what Addie has to do with this?”

Fury and confusion dance on her face. “Addie hasnothingto do with this, Dmitri. Other than being the string he uses to keep me in line, that girl has nothing to do with anything.”

“She has to do withme.” I swallow hard, feeling the change in the room we’re in. It’s darkening because I’m losing my fucking head. “She’s my half-sister.”

Daelyn stumbles back. “What? No. That’s…” But even as she tries denying the possibility, gripping her head as if she can squeeze the information back out, she realizes I wouldn’t lie about that.

“Remember when I said the worse thing I did was cry in front of my mother?” I make my way closer to her. “Remember, I said she was pregnant? The child wasn’t my father’s. She left soon after my dad went to prison, and I never saw her again. Her name is…was… Anya Petrov. She married a man named Matthew Kenzel, who was the father of her child. They had a little girl. I even have a copy of the paternity test.”

There’s no word to describe the way Daelyn takes thisnews.

The color drains from her face. Her knees buckle, and she slams onto my concrete floor. Her eyes lose focus. Her breaths drag out of her in rasps.

“He knew,” she finally whispers in a low, steady voice. “He fuckingknew.”

I don’t say another word for fear of shattering her. The way she just flipped from a trembling leaf to a crouching tiger is alarming.

Daelyn swipes her hand over her mouth, her eyes darting across the floor as if she’s piecing things I don’t know about together.

“Holy shit,” she whispers. Then she nails me with a deadly gaze and all the fragility in her explodes, leaving cold, iron armor in its wake. “He said he was going to take everything from you like you did him.”

Which means he’s going to take Addie.

“Kaleb Calloway,” she says. “His name is Kaleb Brent Calloway.”

Jesus fucking Christ. “Brent Calloway is the man my father killed and went to prison for.”

Chapter 35

Daelyn

Of all the things that Kaleb’s done, using Addie as the linchpin all along has finally made me snap. I’ll kill him before I let him touch her.

It’s surreal to feel the switch flip inside me. For half my life, I’ve protected that bastard, lined his pockets with money, helped him get power and respect. All he did for me was pretend to care and throw me breadcrumbs of praise or manipulate me into doing the next thing on his agenda. I knew it was happening most of the time, and I never stopped it because I trusted him.

Kaleb might do me dirty, but he’d never completely fuck me over. And if he did, he’d make it up to me somehow, and I’d be right back in his pocket where he said I belonged.

Like a well-trained dog, I’d go right back in my cage.

He bought the house I live in and charges me low rent, so Addie has a stable home in a decent school district. He paid my college tuition so I could get a degree and job that lets me work from home… so I could be close to Addie. He sends Ace over all the time, who’s always bringing us gifts and food. And who does Ace talk most to?Addie. Kaleb’s given me stacks of money to buy her clothes and even helped me pay for her leg when she broke it skiing—a trip he also contributed funds to. Maybe not directly, but with the jobs he sent me on and paid me for.

I’ve been so blind and dumb. Beaten, forced, fucked, and blackmailed over and over by that monster. Fear is no excuse for the way I’ve let him use and abuse me.No more. He’s not using my love for Addie to keep me as his pet ever again.

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