Page 85 of Spider Demon's Kiss

“You will come home because father gave you to me and you belong home.”

“Like… your doll?”

My mind spiraled trying to understand everything she was saying. Had she killed all of my lovers out of jealously? Or, was it possession? Did she believed that she owned me? That no one else was allowed to have me?

I stared at Yuki, who stared back unflinching and calm. She believed this. She thought that I belonged to her. And when father gave me away…

“You aren’t possessed by a house spirit. You are Yuki-Anno, the Snow Woman cursed to wonder the cold alone. You kill out of vengeance.”

She stared at me coldly as a chill surrounded us. And then it hit me.

“It was you who whispered in his ear,” I said remembering what the customs officer said about her brother.

She had said that there was someone who put the idea into his head that the Italian girl was into that stuff. It would have had to have been someone who had access to him and who he would trust.

The brother had worked directly with my father. That meant that he was frequently at the compound. And if Yuki told him something, he would at least consider it.

“Why would you tell that man something like that? Couldn’t you see where it would lead?”

Yuki blinked. It was slow and icy. It told me everything.

“You did know. This was your plan. You wanted war. But why?”

Her still demeanor couldn’t mask the feral scream with which she thought it. Unable to contain herself for a second longer, she told me.

“If he can take away something that’s mine, then I can take away something that’s his.”

I fell back into the couch stunned. For so long I had thought I was a monster. No, I was worse than a monster because monsters didn’t kill what they loved.

The worst part was that I could never remember doing any of it. That meant that I could never be trusted. I could never allow myself to love anything, and I couldn’t trust myself if I did.

But now I understood. It was the one person who I thought loved me that I couldn’t trust. I was never really a person to her. I was always just her doll. Her possession. And when her father took it away from her, she plotted to take down his organization as revenge.

“How could you?” I asked allowing the tears to roll down my cheeks. “I thought you loved me.”

She said nothing. Her silence ripped my heart from my chest. I was nothing to anyone. No one had ever cared about me, and no one ever would.

It was then that Dante burst out of the bedroom. Like a bull he charged toward Yuki. Seeing him coming, she attempted to back away but couldn’t avoid his grasp. His large hand encircled her delicate neck and squeezed. I could see the wolf in him fighting to get out.

“Dante!” I yelled.

“What’s this?” he bellowed holding his toothbrush in front of her.

Terror washed across Yuki’s face as her gaze locked on the toothbrush.

“What it is?” he shouted.

“What going on?” I replied panicked.

“There’s something on it.”

“What is it?”

“I don’t know. But she does.”

“I don’t know anything about it,” Yuki protested fighting Dante’s hand around her neck while never taking her eyes off the toothbrush.

“You don’t, huh? Then I guess it’s nothing. Come here,” Dante said pushing her back onto the couch and sliding his hand from her neck to her jaw.

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