Page 82 of Reed

Then he spins me around to face him, with the knife I’d carelessly dropped in his hand, and that same evil gleam in his eyes that I’d become accustomed to growing up under his cruel reign is back in full force, making me swallow the bile rising in my throat.

My father looks like the deranged animal I know him to be, his face red and eyes bulging in anger. The usually carefully composed man to the public has let his guard down, and he’s showing me the man I know and fear. The one who sent me to school sore between my legs so badly, I held my pee in a bid to stop the pain.

He licks his lips like a predator, and I’m his prey, and what I fear the most is the little baby boy I desperately cling to in hope we can survive this. There’s not a doubt in my mind that my father will kill again to get what he wants.

“Where’s the boy?” he bellows, and I flinch at the power of his tone. Jax cries louder, and all I can think is that my father didn’t even use Bryce’s name.

I blink hard, trying to remain in the present. My vision is cloudy and I’m struggling to think straight.

“The fucking boy, Gianna!” he yells, causing my head to throb.

“I-I don’t know,” I whimper as my mind races, hoping and praying Reed has located Bryce and they’re both unharmed and safe.

“Lying little bitch!” My father backhands me, and my head whips to the side, and I’m grateful Jax had slid lower down on my chest.

The pain doesn’t come, not how you’d expect. I don’t know if I’ve become accustomed to it over the years, or if the dull throbbing at the back of my head is taking away the worst of it. I can taste blood in my mouth, and I’m pulled back in time as I close my eyes with dizziness.

“Sir, how did she lose her tooth?” the doctor asks as I stare up at my father and wait for him to respond.

The doctor’s kind eyes flicker back to me, and I jolt.

I don’t like people being too nice, that means they’ll pry, and when they do, my father gets meaner.

“Do you know who I am?” My father’s eyes bore into the doctor’s, and he swallows harshly.

“Yes, sir.”

My father’s chest puffs out, and a sinister smile encompasses his deranged face.

“Gianna!”

My eyes snap open in time to witness him lunge forward. My heart skips a beat as he takes a hold of my hair in a brutal viselike grip and turns me so my back is to his front, giving him the perfect position to hold the knife to my throat. All I can think about is how I hope Reed and our sons survive this.

Our sons.

Because despite Bryce’s DNA, he’s Reed’s son.

He’s a devoted, loving, caring father, and I couldn’t have wished for a better one than him. I just wish I’d gotten to tell him that. To tell him how much I love him.

Approaching footsteps can be heard, and my body locks up in fear, whereas my father’s pulls tight in glee.

Oh God, please don’t be Reed and Bryce.

Please.

CHAPTERFIFTY

GIA

My father shufflesus into the living space where Reed stands before us, and my legs feel like Jell-O as the knife my father holds to my throat digs deeper into my skin.

The man I love looks terrified, and blood flows down the side of his torso. I can’t see where it’s coming from exactly, only that he’s hurt, and an involuntary wail leaves me at the thought of Bryce being hurt too.

“Drop the knife,” my father snipes out, and I tremble against him and close my eyes as his familiar scent wraps around me, taking me back to my childhood.

“You need to please me now, Gianna. Your mother couldn’t step up to the task, so you have to.” My tummy hurts when he talks like that to me, and the way he licks his lips makes me want to run. Run and never return.

My mom was sick. She didn’t choose to leave me, she didn’t have a choice.

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