He straightened and kicked me again. I curled into a fetal position, trying to protect my stomach as I begged him to stop.
Just stop.
Please just stop.
He was past reasoning with.
The few times I caught his eyes told me that the anger, the frustration of the past few years, had finally caught up to him, and I was just unlucky enough to be caught in the cross fire.
Tears streamed down my face.
I no longer knew where he was hitting me.
I hurt everywhere.
Once he was done, he knelt down where I was lying and pulled my head up by my hair so that I was looking at him. I winced at the sharp pain.
“I can’t wait to get rid of you, you little bitch. I already found you a husband who is willing to take the headache that you are off my hands. Don’t worry. He’ll teach you with a firmer hand than I ever did. Maybe then you’ll learn to behave.”
“Valentino—” My voice cut off when I felt pain in my ribs. “Valentino would never allow that to happen.”
He laughed. “It’s a done deal. And even your precious Valentino can’t protect you now.”
Who the hell did he make the deal with if Valentino couldn’t protect me?I thought.
I never got the answer. Dad pulled his hand back and punched me square in the face.
Everything went black.
By the timeI came to, the night sky was dark.
And I was alone in the living room.
I lifted my head and looked around, but even that took too much effort.
My head hurt.
My face hurt.
Everything hurt.
And Dad had left me lying there… What had I ever done to him? Why did he hate his children so much?
I didn’t know the answer, and a part of me didn’t fucking care anymore.
I was done protecting him and my reputation.
I was done feeling ashamed for his actions. It wasn’t my fault.
I repeated the mantra in my head.
It wasn’t my fault that he hurt me.
I was going to Valentino with this, I decided.
There had been some abuse in the past from Dad, but it had never been this bad before. He was escalating, and I didn’t want to stay here and wait for the day he would kill me.
Slowly but surely, I dragged myself up from the floor.