Page 49 of Ink Deep Devotion

Dom’s stare is unwavering, and I’m convinced he’s being truthful.

Cancer! Death! With tears blurring my vision, I lose sight of Dom as he walks towards me. Suddenly, he’s there, a knife in his hand pointed at the pulse point in my neck.

“You think so highly of your father, always trying to please him.” His lips press into a thin line.“You poor thing, you have no idea what a monster he is.”

“Lo…look in the mirror,” I whisper as his cold blade glides across my exposed neck.

“You never used to lose your voice around me. It all happened after The Cleansing. It broke something in you. It’s annoying; you sound like a child. If you don’t have the confidence to speak it once, then don’t say it at all. Maybe I should start with your tongue. You never needed it.”

“N..no. I’ll speak when I want.” I trip on my letters again, but I beam with pride as I watch the annoyance spread over his eyes.

“I tried to give you everything.” He whispers as he grabs my shoulder, pressing the knife into my neck.

This is it. I can sense it. I close my eyes.“I didn’t need everything. I only needed Dash.”

Dom’s hand trembles, a precursor to an impending earthquake that will swallow me.“This would be a mercy.” He allows a thin slip of air to prowl between the knife and my neck.“Do you deserve that, Mila?”

Maybe if I keep him talking, I’ll have a chance.

Or he will just kill me in front of Dash. That would be the worst.

“I never knew you for dramatics.”

“Oh,” He laughs,“think harder, Mila. Of course, I love drama. Why do you think I wanted you to be my ballerina? You danced to all the drama of the past, and you would have danced through our future. As a matter of fact, dance for me here, and maybe I’ll let you live a little longer.” Stepping back, he watches expectantly as if his words were a cue for me to act.

When I deny him, a gleam sparkles in his eyes. He moves, surprising me as he grabs my shoulder. A scream leaves my mouth, shaking the very trees behind us. Nature seems to weep for my misfortune as the wind shifts in my defense. I’m consumed by an agony unlike anything I’ve ever experienced.My muscles tense up protectively, but that only makes the feeling worse. Glancing down, all I see is the hilt of the knife sticking out of my stomach, Dom’s hand wrapped firmly around it.

He stabbed me!It shouldn’t shock me, but the pain of it does.

I’ve become accustomed to enduring pain, concealing it from others, and masking it with a smile so they won’t notice my discomfort.I won’t give you what you want, Dom!I force my lips to pull up in a smile so he can’t have my cries.

But Dom’s smart. He knows how to make me perform for him. With a simple twist of the knife, my knees buckle, hands reach out to grasp something. They find purchase in him: my killer!

That’s when I see it, all my mistakes.

I am a predator, as Dash correctly stated. I, too, am a spider. But I got trapped in my own web.

I spun nets, but instead of prey, I attracted monsters.

Oh, how they clung to my silken walls, craving my embrace, pleading for closeness. Begging me to call them 'friends' when I should have declared them 'foes.'

I thought my skin was thick and callused, as strong as the web surrounding my life. I forgot that everything in my life was a contradiction. Each line I spun was strong, but fragility was woven into every thread, waiting to be extorted.

It was.

Everything needed balance: honesty and corruption, the devil and god, life and death.

This was it. My final breaths were about to be captured in the crumbling webs encasing me, surrounded by the monsters I’d welcomed into my life.

Grasping his shirt, I sink my nails into his skin. I might not beg, but my body is. My fingers lock deeper, begging him to stop.

His biceps bulged, poised to twist and drive the knife deep. He’s gutting me, digging out everything I have kept hidden, all my truths and lies, desires and regrets!

Before he can jerk his knife free, his entire body jerks as if he were nothing but a light switch and he was just flicked off.

Click!His body falls limp as if the weaves of time have cut his thread.

What the hell happened?

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