Page 122 of Insatiable

“I destroyed her because I wasn’t in control. I don’t mean that I gave her a rough time. I gave herhell,little one. I stopped taking my medication, I stopped going to therapy because I thought it would be good for her to have a normal boyfriend. Most of it’s a blur, but I remember what I felt when she left me, what I felt when I watched her spiral into alcohol abuse and come close to losing her job. Did you know I drugged her with my medication? I thought, at the time, I was helping her.”

“I read you swapped her contraceptive pill with your meds to get her pregnant with the twins.”

He glares at me. “Not true. I had no intention of getting her pregnant. Why would I want to pass on my genes?”

I shrug once. “And you locked her and her best friend, Gabriella McGhee, in dog cages. Gabriella died because of you. Then you slit the throat of one of her lovers in front of her – his blood went all over her.”

“It was a dark time,” is his reply, monotone and careful. “I don’t remember most of it. I can only be thankful that Aria forgave me after years of trying to be better for her.”

“Is it true you stabbed her?”

“No. That wasn’t me.”

His eye twitches, and I regret mentioning any of it. I need to learn to keep my mouth shut.

“Those were mistakes I cannevertake back. I lost control of parts of me. But like you said, my son is not me; he has every chance in the world to have a normal life.”

I’m not too sure.

“Can anyone hear us?”

A smirk pulls at his lips. “No cameras. No microphones. Nothing. Just us, little one. But be careful – I have one type and her name is Aria. Kade did say you prefer them older though.”

I roll my eyes. “What chance does he have at a normal life when he’s killing people and taking drugs?”

Tobias, frozen in his seat, eyes darkening, watches me carefully. His hands are steepled, his fingertips pressed together. “Elaborate.”

“I watched him shoot two people,” I say, forcing the words out. “One was for money. The other was because the man touched me.” My thumbs twiddle together, and I swallow. I feel like I’m doing Kade dirty, but he can’t do this alone. He needs help, and I know Tobias will do what he can. “I’m positive he’s taking drugs. Drinking excessively.”

“What else?”

I grit my teeth to stop myself from getting emotional. Tears burn at the back of my eyes, and my chest caves. Not because I’m telling his dad that he’s in trouble, but because this version of Kade isn’t real. I hate that we’re even in this position.

The Kade I knew didn’t even know how to hold a gun, never mind shoot one.

And now I’m sitting down with his psychotic father, trying not to cry while I tell him about what happened at the warehouse. The nickname he has. Being able to speak different languages. The money. The suitcase full of white powder.

Each time I explain something, Tobias drops his head, and his knuckles turn white.

I should be telling this to his mother, but as much as he loves Aria, she won’t be able to stop him.

I’m not too sure his dad can either. But it’s worth a try.

“What about you?” he asks when I finish going through as much as possible. “When did you start caring about him again?”

I frown. “I never stopped caring about Kade.”

He shakes his head. “That’s a lie. Do you know how horrible it felt to sit there and watch my son fall apart because of what you did to him? How many times he had to call and tell me that the urge to drown himself, to throw himself off a bridge was getting worse, and he was scared. I may not fully understand how true love and trust and loyalty works, how it feels to have one’s heart ripped out, but I saw it all through my son as you broke each one of his emotions. How dare you sit here with me and claim to care about him?”

I go to speak, but I shut my mouth when he narrows his eyes at me.

“Aria found him close to overdosing on her boat. If he hadn’t managed to send her his location, he’d probably be dead.”

What?

“I didn’t know,” I respond quietly, a vivid image in my head of Kade frantically trying to reach his phone, his body shutting down as he coughs and shudders. I stand. “I… I didn’t know.”

“You didn’t deserve to know.”

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