Page 99 of Silent Betrayal

“Mom was furious, that’s why she attacked you,” Simon adds.

“No,” Helen says, shaking her head. “I attacked her because she’s possessed.” Simon rolls his eyes, clearly not buying into the whole demon thing, either. “I figured I’d either kill you, or damage you enough that nobody would want you anymore.”

I want to smile at that, knowing it didn’t stop my guys from loving me.

“And it worked,” she continues. “Simon is finally ready to do what we should have done fifteen years ago.” She looks to the girl still crying on the ground by Simon’s feet. “You see, after killing this poor girl here andall the others over the past few years, you decided you couldn’t live with yourself and chose to end it with a bullet to your head.”

She laughs as Simon picks up where she leaves off. “You see, dear sister, I don’t even exist. There’s no record of my birth, so with you gone, I can assume a new identity and carry on in a new town. Before you go, though, I think I should get one last memory with you, to last me through the years.” He takes a step towards me.

“You can’t rape her, Simon. That would show on the autopsy,” my mother adds calmly while keeping the gun aimed at me.

“I don’t need to rape her to get my pleasure. It’s never stopped me before,” he growls at Helen before turning back to me, his expression relaxing a little as he looks me up and down, taking another step forward. I swallow and step back from him, fear coursing through me. The way they talk about rape so casually, has me remembering that there is no reasoning with these two, they’re insane.

When he touched me last time, I told myself I could handle it. But this time, it feels wrong to let it happen. I can’t let him do anything like that to me again.

Atlas’s words flash through my mind.

Whatever happens, you will not give up. You will fight as hard as you can to stay alive, safe, and come back to us. You will NOT give up.

Simon takes another step towards me, playing with the knife between his fingers. I hold my ground and look him in the eyes as he tells me, “get on your knees, pet.”

I take a deep breath, narrow my eyes and shake my head.

The look of surprise on both their faces at me defiance is priceless. I’ve never stood up to them like this before.

He recovers quicker than Helen, and a smile slowly spreads across his face. “Oh, pet, you grew a backbone while you’ve been away. How interesting. It’ll just make this much more fun.” He runs the point of the knife up my chest, neck, and face, not pressing hard enough to cut, but enough to imply the threat if I move.

Now I remember why I stopped struggling against him all those years ago. He loves the fight. My defiance just makes him more eager.

He leans in to lick my throat, and I try to push him away while stepping back. He chuckles. “There’s that little fighter. Oh, how I’ve missed you. You might have been daddy’s little girl, but now you’remylittle pet.”

“You know why I took all those girls? They were supposed to be substitutes for you. I tried to find someone to satisfy my need. But none of them were as pure and perfect as you.”

“You’re sick!” I whisper, horrified.

His eyes widen in shock. “You can talk? Since when?” he asks in confusion. I shrug my shoulders, not sure he’s really looking for an answer.

“You told him, didn’t you?” His confusion starts to turn to anger as he points his knife at me. “I killed Brad for you and that’s how you repay me? It wasn’t supposed to be like this! All of this is your own fucking fault! You should have just stayed silent!”

I have no idea what he’s talking about, but fear outweighs confusion as he turns to look at the sobbing girl on the ground. I don’t recognize her, but she looks to be around sixteen with long brown hair. I can’t let another innocent girl die, but how can I save her when I can’t even save myself?

Just distract them, your guys are coming.

With that thought in mind, I watch as Simon holds an empty palm out to Helen. “Gun.”

“What? You can’t shoot the girl, we agreed to use the knife, so we can keep the gun,” she argues.

“Mother. Give me the gun. Now,” he says, turning his angry gaze to her. Whatever she sees there must scare her, because she swallows nervously and places the gun in his hand.

He turns to me with what looks like remorse in his eyes as he raises the gun and points it at my chest, making me step back, fear flowing through my veins.

“I’m sorry it has to end this way, but you’ve run out of your usefulness,” he says regretfully. Then, in one swift motion, he turns the gun to Helen and shoots her in the chest. She looks at him with shock before dropping to the forest floor, her body unmoving.

The gunshot rings out through the forest and I freeze, unable to believe what he just did. Realizing he’s distracted, staring at our mother’s dead body, I look at the young girl, who looks up at me with fear in her eyes. I mouth the wordrun, and as soon as she starts to stand, I run towards Simon, throwing myself at him, to knock him down and distract him.

Of course, he’s six foot and muscular and I weigh nothing, so all I seem to do is surprise him as he turns to me with a frown and pushes me away. But when my eyes move back to where the girl was, relief fills me to see there’s no sight of her.

Simon sees where I’m looking and sighs in agitation. “Well, that’s a loose end I’ll have to take care of, so thanks for that.”

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