Page 42 of Bad for You

He is the reason Valentina could kill a man with a smile. He is the reason she suffered in ways no child ever should, and I think she has this idea that if she does to him what he did to her, things will be…better.

But there’s no better.

Once he’s gone, the pain she carries will still be there. It will only create a bigger void, and I fear she will forever be lost in the darkness.

But I won’t allow it.

I may not have found Gianna’s weakness, but I know one thing she wants—me.

I see the way she watches me. I know I’m no ugly duckling, not that that even fucking matters. You can be the most beautiful person on the outside, but if you’re ugly on the inside, you’re a fucking impostor. A fake. But I use what I know Gianna likes to hopefully play her at her own game.

When I got my first tattoo of a tree, starting from my shoulder and wrapping its way around my bicep, I saw how she looked at me with lust in her eyes, and I knew I could use that for my gain. So it was then that I decided to become a predator, using what I have to trick people into getting what I want.

And it was so easy.

I usually grab the first thing that’s clean, but it works somehow. The pendant around my neck is the only thing that means something to me.

It was my father’s, and I ripped it from his throat as he lay dying, begging for help. My mother had taken her last breath long ago. Her corpse beside him. And my baby brother, sitting in the corner of the room with a grin, the bloody hammer he used on them still in his hand.

I had no other choice but to burn the house to the ground, concealing what he had done.

But he wasn’t a bad kid. He’d just had enough. I didn’t know what they were doing because I was never home. But when he told me, it was too late.

My father wasn’t his biological dad, and he made sure Lewis knew this each time he beat him until he was black and blue. And my mom, she didn’t do a damn thing about it.

Parents are supposed to protect their kids from the monsters—not be one.

We had no family to stay with, so we were put into the system even though I was promised we wouldn’t be separated.

But again, humanity failed.

Not a day passes when I don’t think about him. I wonder where he is and if he’s safe. And there isn’t a day when I don’t regret failing him.

I couldn’t save the only person who loved me. Not because he had to but because he wanted to.

And that’s why I won’t allow it to happen again.

I will protect Valentina how I couldn’t protect my brother.

We ride the rest of the way in silence, but my mind races.

What is headed Valentina’s way?

Gianna has been training us harder and harder, preparing us for something.

But what?

When we pull up at the house, I open the door before the car has come to a stop and get out.

I need to get away from Gianna before I strangle her.

The easy thing would be to ask Gianna, again, where my brother is. She knows. She says she doesn’t, but we both know she’s lying. And that’s why I don’t trust her.

That’s the reason I’m going to take her down.

She’s right because love is collateral. But for someone to use it against you shows that they don’t give a fuck about love.

For years, I’ve tolerated her shit, but it’s getting harder and harder. And now that I know something is on the horizon for us, I need to step it up.

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