Page 143 of Filthy Savage

Julius stares at me—really stares, like he’s trying to find a similarity. But I don’t really see much.

“How old are you?” he asks.

“Twenty-four.”

“Jesus.” He slaps a hand over his forehead.

“You son of a bitch!” she roars, smacking my father on the chest over and over. “I knew you were fucking around back then! I just knew, but you denied it.”

She continues to hit him while he covers himself with his arms.

“She’s lying! I don’t know a Desdemona!”

Fionn laughs, a cold, brutal sound. He takes a step closer to him, right past the threshold, his face nearing my father’s.

“Not only are you a deadbeat, but you’re a fucking liar too.” A vein in his neck bulges out. “You left my wife when she was just two. What kind of man are you?”

Lloyd blinks faster, terror filling his gaze. “I…I made a mistake. I never loved her. I?—”

Soraya cries, and her son comforts her, giving his father a dirty look.

“What the hell do you want, huh?” There’s a tightness in the lines of his forehead, a flush to his skin. “Did you come here to destroy my family? To get back at me?” His disgust for me is so evident in his features, it hurts. “Are you happy now? You got what you came for.”

Tears fill my eyes. “I never destroyed your family,Dad. You did that all on your own.” I shake my head in disgust. “I don’tknow what I expected from you. Maybe an ‘I’m sorry,’ but I can see now you’re nothing more than a pathetic old man who never quite knew how to be a father.”

He releases a short breath of laughter. “Maybe not to you, but I was a damn good father to my boy. Your mother was nothing but a cheap whore who hung on to me for every dime she could, and when I got sick of her—sick of both of you—I stopped playing pretend.”

It takes a few seconds to register what happens next.

Fionn’s blow hits him straight in the nose, blood spilling, shrieks and chaos ensuing as he hits him again and again, forcing himself further into the house.

“Stop!” Soraya hollers, while Fionn shoves Julius off of him easily.

“Don’t do this!” I call out, grabbing him by the shoulder.

As soon as I do, he stops, fist still clasped around Lloyd’s shirt. Tears drip down my cheeks as he gazes at me, brows bending with pain.

“Let’s just go,” I tell him. “There’s nothing for me here. Let’s go home to our daughter.”

At the mention of her, his grip loosens until my father falls to the ground. Fionn hits them each with a grim stare.

“If you breathe a word of this to anyone, and I mean anyone, I will know about it and I’ll come back and kill every one of you.”

Soraya nods, eyes popping wide, fingers trembling as they shiver across her mouth.

Without giving them any more attention, he takes my hand and leads me back to the car. Their door shuts, but just as we’re about to take off, Julius comes running out.

“What the hell does he want?” Fionn mutters, rolling the window down as he appears before it. “What are you doing here?”

“Look.” He shakes his head, exhaling sharply. “What my father said to you isn’t right. I’m sorry.” His attention bounces to Fionn. “No hard feelings about what you did back there. I would’ve wanted answers too if I were you. Hell, I want them myself. None of this is right.”

“No, it isn’t.” I muster a reply.

He pauses, staring between us like he wants to say something else. “Uh, maybe this is stupid, but would you be interested in getting lunch sometime? I don’t know where you live, but maybe you can take my number and we can, I don’t know…” He shrugs. “Get to know each other?”

Hope springs. To have a sibling, to have some family, it means something to me.

I glance at Fionn, and I can tell by his intense expression that he doesn’t want me to say yes. But I want this. I want to get to know my brother. Just because my father is an asshole, that doesn’t mean he is.

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