Page 19 of Make Her Bleed
The betrayal sinks in, my stomach clenching at nothing.
"You knew?" I ask, my heart crumbling. "You knew they were going to do that to me and you said nothing!" I scream while clutching the trophy tighter in my hands.
I always knew my dad would protect me against anything but that couldn't be further from the truth.
He let Kai and the others do what they did to me.
Dad steps closer to me and I sneer at him. "If you take one more step toward me, I swear by all that is holy, I will bash your motherfucking skull in!" My voice rises with each word I yell until my voice bellows, and the walls shake from the volume. My eardrums vibrate from the intensity of my wrath.
"Please, Aria," he begs. "I swear, I never meant for any of this to happen. We moved here with the idea that you weren't going to be messed with. Kai swore to me you would be left out of it all, but then he warned me this morning that C-4 was enacted," he confesses.
"What is C-4? Don't you dare lie to me!" I warn, my arms starting to shake from the adrenaline.
"It's an explosive plan for retaliation. It's never been used before. Malakai came up with it when … when we were in high school. It's a ten-step plan to completely destroy someone, attacking their personal safety, their reputation, their friends, until there is nothing left to destroy and the person it's enacted on completely breaks."
Completely breaks? Is that what Kai is doing? He wants tobreakme? He won't break me. I'll kill him or myself before I let him do that.
"Kiddo, I tried to fight him on it but I can't. He … has something on me, and if I fight him, he'll send me to prison for the rest of my life. He'll frame for something I didn't do, and then there will be no one to protect you, but I have a plan," he explains as he pulls out his wallet and car keys from his pocket.
"How the fuck am I supposed to trust you?" I sob, my heart aching. "I love you, Dad, but you didn't even give me any warning about what he was going to do to me. He raped me for fuck’s sake!" My entire body trembles as his tears fall along with mine.
"He fucking held me down while Dax and Knox and Nico and Rowe raped me … Then, once they left,heraped me. A man I've known my entirefuckinglife! Someone you trusted with me. I was raped byfiveguys in the middle of the fucking school, and no came to help me no matter how loud I screamed." My chest tenses from the ache settling in my lungs. "You didn't give me any sort of warning. You could've told me to stay away from him but I went with him willingly because I had no clue he was going to do that to me!"
"I know," he mutters, heartbreak clear on his face. "I'm not going to let him get to you. You don't even have to trust me. Just take the trophy in your hands and hit me over the head," he commands.
Hit him? Is he fucking crazy? Every muscle in my body tenses. "Wha-what?"
"Hit me over the head. Take my car and my wallet. Stop in town at the bank and pull everything out of the account so no one can trace you. Then, dump your phone, get in the car, and drive until you get to the east coast."
"You're not making any sense," I complain with tears in my eyes.
"Kai and the others are coming for you tonight. He's going to take you away and this is your only chance to escape. Do as I say, Aria. You need to get out of Royal City before he comes for you. You're my daughter, and I love you more than anything but you have to go on your own or he'll know I helped you escape. Do it, kiddo. You're strong enough but you'renotstrong enough to survive what he has planned for you. No one is." My eyes shift from his keys to his eyes, uncertain if I have it in me.
"I don't know if I can—"
"Yes, you can. You have to run. You have to fight because he willneverstop until he finds you and I can't let that happen. Malakai Harris is a narcissistic sociopathanda psychopath. I was a fool for thinking he might leave you alone because you're my daughter but he has no soul, no remorse, no compassion. He's like if Ted Bundy had the reach of the United States President. Nothing and no one can stop him. You have to run, and never stop running. Aria Rae James, you need to do what I tell you. Hit me. Do itnow!" he demands vehemently.
Suddenly, my arms bring down the trophy on his head, and I gasp, dropping it. My dad drops to his knees, clutching his head, blood soaking his hand.
"Dad, oh, my god!" I cry as I run to him. "I'm sorry!"
"It's okay. Go, kiddo!" he urges, but I shake my head.
"I can't. You're bleeding."
"Do as I say!" he screams at me, and I jump back. "Take the keys and my wallet. Nothing else. Just run," he hisses.
I quickly snatch up the keys and his wallet, racing out into the garage. I throw open the door to my dad's car, jump in, and open the garage door. Throwing the car in reverse, I slam on the gas and speed out of the garage, praying that no one recognizes me driving my dad's car.
I'll need to ditch it and get a rental somewhere along the line.
I'm speeding through the neighborhood, my heart racing a mile per second, and I beg the car to go even faster, as fast as possible, but I'm pushing down on the accelerator as hard as I can.
I make it to the exit of our neighborhood, and luck isn't on my side. There at the red light is Kai in his blue sedan, his eyes widen when they settle on me.
He sees me and knows I've thrown a curveball his way.
"Goddamn it," I curse before slamming on the gas again, racing off toward the highway as fast as I can.
