Page 61 of Beautiful Trauma
His statement caused me to falter in my act of pushing him away. Furrowing my brows at Kellan, I said, “He knows what happened to me.”
“Yes.”
“All of it?”
Once again, he replied, “Yes.”
“So, what is he going to do? Send Dima with the jet?”
“While your brother suggested coming to get you, your father refused.”
I blinked at him in disbelief. “You’re lying.”
“Mila, I–”
Shaking my head, I replied, “You want to play hero and savior, so you’re lying. My father might hate me, but he wouldn’t abandon me after what Brian did.”
The pity that swelled in Kellan’s eyes caused me to step back. As the realization hit me, my heart shuddered to a stop. “He abandoned me,” I whispered.
When Kellan reached out for me, I slapped his hands away. “Don’t touch me,” I hissed.
“I’m sorry.”
I shoved him. “Don’t you fucking say that to me!”
Staring earnestly at me, Kellan reached out to cup my cheeks. “I’m so fucking sorry, Mila.”
Scratching my nails against his hands, I spat, “I hate you and your whole fucking family!”
“No, you don’t,” he said softly.
“So you’re going to tell me how I feel now?” I demanded.
“Deep down, you don’t hate me. Just like, despite you duping me, I could never, ever hate you.”
Pinching my eyes shut, I cried, “Stop it!”
“No. I can’t let you continue to cut yourself to the bone like this.”
But cutting myself was the only way to get the pain out. All that pain that clogged my mind and twisted my heart. “He abandoned me!” I screamed.
Kellan’s hands went from my cheeks to wrap around me. After he pulled me into his arms, I buried my face in his chest. As I began weeping, Kellan rubbed wide circles over my back. “He abandoned me,” I whispered against the warm skin of his chest.
“Trust me when I say, he isn’t worth your tears, Mila.”
“I know that,” I hiccupped.
Tilting my head, I stared up at him. “I don’t know why I even care. I’ve despised him since I was twelve years old, and he killed my mother right in front of me.”
Kellan sucked in a horrified breath. “Jaysus, Mila.”
“He’s hated me since then, too.”
“Why?”
“I tried to stab him.”
Kellan’s blue eyes popped wide. “You did?”
