Page 118 of The Devil's Deal

Looming closer…and closer.

A chill runs up my arms, dread filling the crevice of my mind, taunting me with awful thoughts.

The fact that my father could do this to me should not shock me, yet it does. On some subconscious level, I’m still a girl who wants her daddy’s love.

“So nice to see you again, my darling daughter.” My father’s tone drips in bitterness.

My vision is a little blurry, but I can make out his figure in the shadowy darkness, marching over to where I helplessly sit.

“What the hell are you doing?” I spit out. “What kind of father does this to his child?”

His laugh is cold and conniving, crawling over my skin like a snake readying itself for a bite.

“Ah, I’m your father now, am I?” In the hollowness of the room, he sounds like he’s talking through a speaker. “Was I your father when you betrayed me by giving that scum my location, or at the least the location you assumed I’d be at?”

How the hell did he know it was me? Dom promised he’d never say anything. It had to be Miles.

Regardless of who he pretended to be, I refuse to believe Dom would purposely put me in harm’s way by telling my father something he swore he wouldn’t. The man I slept with truly cared for me. I felt it when he touched me, when his lips worshiped me. It was real.

“Yes, Chiara. I know everything.” He takes a few more steps forward and turns on a light above me, shining brightly over my eyes. I see him better now, his loafers almost touching my feet. “You’re no daughter of mine. You showed your loyalty.”

My brows twist with vile disdain.

He snickers. “I knew you were listening to my conversation when you came by the house. I intended for you to hear every word, wanting to see what you’d do with it once Dom took you like I suspected he would.”

“You don’t deserve my loyalty. You never did.” Balling my fists, I contain the anger wasting away my very heart. “I heard what you said. He recorded you when you told him to kill me, promising to do it yourself if you had to.”

I spit at his shoes. Before I can say another word, his palm connects harshly against my cheek, my skin flaming with searing pain.

“You’re a fucking whore, like your mother was. Betraying me like she did.” He lowers his face to mine, his hand snaking up, his fingers squeezing my neck until I can’t breathe.

My eyes bulge. My chest tightens with agonizing pain, my fingers scraping at nothing but air. “Do you know how much worse it is that you betrayed me tothatfamily?”

He drops his hand and my chest heaves with hurried breaths, clawing for every ounce of air I can draw into my lungs.

“My mother wasn’t…”

Inhale. Exhale. Breathe.

“She wasn’t a whore, you asshole!” I say, my words marred with vitriol.

“Shewasa fucking whore. That’s why I killed her.”

My eyes bulge as violent tremors rock my entire body, tears swelling, collapsing down my face.

“No,” I cry with a shaky voice, squeezing my eyes shut for a moment from the room now spinning, my tone betraying all the confidence I had moments before. “Why? How could you take her from me?”

He pulls a chair and places it before me, sitting down.

“She never told you what she was planning withhim, did she?”

“What the hell are you talking about?” I sniffle.

He laughs, and it’s one of those purely evil ones.

“You may have been sneaking around with the baker’s son, but your mother was all about the baker.”

My head tips to the side, a fluttery, heavy feeling filling the pit of my stomach.

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