Page 90 of Reaper & Ruin
“Do you think she’ll let us go, or kill us?” I asked after a long pause.
Atlas’s jaw tightened, his gaze hardening. “She’ll do what benefits her most. Always has. I think she’ll let us go, but she’s going to drag it out just to be infuriating and piss me off.”
“And if helping us doesn’t benefit her? Would she kill us then?”
His hand curled into a fist. “Honestly? I don’t know. She’s clearly pissed that she wasn’t part of my escape. But I don’t know what she thinks. I’ve been away from her long enough that I can’t… I can’t read her like I used to.”
I nodded, a spark of determination igniting in my chest as I shut my eyes and remembered the first time I should have murdered my father.
The study reeked of cigar smoke and bourbon, the scent heavy enough to choke me as I stood there, fists clenched at my sides. The fire crackled in the hearth, casting flickering shadows over the room’s grotesque decorations—mounted deer heads with glassy eyes, and a fur rug stretched out like a predator lounging at my feet.
Giorgio sat behind his massive oak desk, swirling the glass in his hand, his golden ring catching the firelight with every movement. That ring. I hated that ring.
“Explain yourself,” he said, his voice cold and sharp as the edge of a blade.
I opened my mouth; the words burning to come out, but he was already moving.
The glass slammed onto the desk as he rose, his towering frame casting a long shadow across the room.
His words came slowly. “Do you think you’re untouchable because you’re my son?”
“I didn’t—” I started, but the sound of his fist hitting the desk silenced me.
“You didn’t think,” he hissed, rounding the desk in two strides.
Before I could blink, my cheek was slammed into the corner of my father’s mahogany desk, the sharp edge biting into my skin. Blood trickled down my jaw, warm and sticky, as the sharp sting radiated outward. My vision blurred for a moment, but I didn’t flinch. Flinching only made it worse.
“Look at me!” his voice thundered, bouncing off the polished wooden walls and the mounted deer heads.
I turned my head slowly, my teeth clenched, my jaw aching where his ring had left its mark. That damn ring—a gaudy thing with an oversized gold crest—was his weapon of choice. He wore it like a badge of honor, a reminder of his position, a declaration of his right to rule over everything, including me.
“You think you can embarrass me like this?” His voice was venomous, his thick finger jabbing into my chest. The fire in the hearth behind him crackled, casting shadows across the room. The scent of burning wood and cigar smoke filled my nostrils, mingling with the coppery tang of my own blood.
“I didn’t—”
The slap came fast, ringing in my ears, snapping my head to the side. My mouth filled with the metallic taste of blood, and I swallowed it down, refusing to let him see me spit.
“Don’t you dare talk back to me!” he snarled, his face inches from mine. His breath stank of whiskey, sharp and acrid, and it made my stomach churn.
I wanted to scream, to yell, to fight back. But I didn’t. Not yet. Not while his eyes were still filled with that smug superiority, the look of a man who thought he was untouchable.
“You’re a disgrace,” he spat, pacing back and forth in front of the fire. His hands gestured wildly as he ranted. “You think you’re better than me? Smarter than me? You’re nothing but a spoiled little boy!”
The fur rug beneath my knees felt rough and itchy. My hands were clenched at my sides, my nails biting into my palms.
“I raised you, fed you, gave you everything! And this is how you repay me?”
He towered over me, his shadow long and looming in the firelight. His words came in a relentless torrent, each one sharper than the last.
“I should’ve had a stronger son,” he sneered. “Not some weakling who can’t even follow simple orders. Your mother coddled you too much. It’s pathetic.” His voice got louder. “I suppose it’s my fault for agreeing to marry that half-brained whore and expecting anything but failures from her.” He blew out a breath. “If it is not bad enough, I have you as my heir; the rest of your siblings are no better. Sickly, stupid, or broken. All of them tainted with that bitch’s useless DNA.”
Something inside me snapped.
The mention of my mother was the last straw. She was the only person in this godforsaken house who’d ever shown me love, who’d ever treated me like I mattered. And he had the audacity to speak ill of her? As though she were the reason any of us in this house were damaged?
My vision went red.
Before I realized what I was doing, I surged to my feet, shoving him back with all the strength I could muster. He stumbled, his expression shifting from fury to shock, but only for a split second.
