Page 211 of Sinful Desires
And I had carried it like it was mine.
I had called it love because I didn’t know any better.
But it wasn’t. It never was.
“You fucking—” He stormed forward, each step louder than the last, teeth clenched, eyes murderous. His right hand balled into a fist at his side, veins bulging beneath his skin.
He was going to hit me.
I reached under the hoodie and slipped two fingers around the cold metal grip.
My breath caught in my chest as I dragged it free, the barrel aimed directly at his chest.
He froze mid-step. Breath caught. Rage still burning, but now buried beneath something else.
Shock.
He was shocked that I was defending myself for once.
I had no intention of pulling the trigger. The gun was leverage.
Nothing more.
A way to show him that I would defend myself if I had to. But I didn’t want to shoot my father.
God, I didn’t.
I loved him too much, despite everything, to see his corpse on the floor in front of me.
I just knew, deep in my bones, that the second I told him I was done, that I wanted a break from all of it, from my career, his expectations, he would lash out.
He always had.
And this time, I refused to be hit.
Kiara screamed behind me, stumbling backward into the corner where our mother stood trembling. High-pitched, broken. Pure fear ripped from her chest.
My mother’s sobs swelled, turning shrill, almost animal, as she grabbed Kiara’s hand. Her pearls clinked against her collarbone as she trembled, hands clamped over her mouth, trying to hold in the sound.
“Scarlett! Put that down!” Kiara’s voice wavered, her fingers white around her phone.
“Dolcezza, stop it! Now!”
“I’m done, Daddy.” My voice didn’t shake this time. “I want out. I’m pausing my career. Everything. I need a real break this time. Not one where I’m exiled, drugged, and locked away. And I don’teverwant to be linked to you again. Not by blood, not by name. Nothing.”
He took a step forward, hands raised.
I shifted, both hands gripping the gun now.
“If you take another step, I’ll shoot.”
He froze for a breath.
Then he laughed.
A slow, venomous sound that filled the room like rot.
“You’re absolutely insane,” he said, eyes gleaming. “That’s why I let Travis leak the videos. So the world could finally see the truth. See how far gone you are. How fucking disturbed you’ve always been. No one will believe a word you say after this. Not your fans. Not a soul. You handed yourself over to some bottom-feeding French thug and called it love? You think anyone’s going to see that and feel sorry for you?”
