Page 30 of Vicious Little Princess

“You’re… you’re sure?”

Nico lifted his chin at Milo, who took the cue and stepped up to my father and pressed his fingers to his throat. He looked out at me. “He’s dead, Sunshine.”

“It’s… it’s really over?”

It didn’t compute.

A world without my awful father in it? I’d never imagined it possible.

I couldn’t believe it.

And it was because of them, the two friends I’d had by my side since high school.

“Thank you,” I breathed, as I tried to wrap my head around it all.

Milo came to me and wrapped me up tight. “He’ll never hurt you again. No one ever fucking will.”

Nico was there then, stroking my hair. “This stays between the three of us.”

“It dies with us,” Milo said vehemently.

“Absolutely,” Nico confirmed. “We’ve got you, J. Always.”

“Always,” Milo echoed.

8

~Julian~

I was startled awake, my head snapping to the side, my cheek stinging.

“Finally,” a disgruntled voice spoke.

I blinked, trying to clear my vision.

My head was swimming.

I felt… light. And groggy too.

It was a real struggle to wake up properly, to even focus.

I was so fucking tired.

And my body was aching, especially my ribs.

I looked down, seeing a bloodied and bruised display all over them.

My shins were also scraped up pretty badly.

I went to move to get a look at my arms, only to find that I couldn’t move them.

I jolted in panic as I took in the sight of my arms pulled high above my head by cuffs fed into chains that were screwed into the ceiling. In my panic, I looked down to see that my ankles were also cuffed to the floor, my legs spread wide.

Hell, I was spread-eagled hanging in the middle of some room, dark red walls surrounding me, a concrete floor beneath my feet.

And I was stark naked.

No. No. No.

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