Page 101 of The Freedom in Captivity

“You fucking traitorous bitch. I should have known you’d turn on me.”

Somehow, regardless of the previous instances of physical abuse, that comment hurts the most. Like a small part of mewantedhim to beg, to apologize, to explain his evilness. Instead, he lashes out.

Della’s hand strokes over mine comfortingly, which Dad notices. He chuckles without humour. “I can see it all worked out for both of you. Two stepdaughters. Two disappointments.”

My heart curdles.Thatreally pains me. Dad’s never referred to me as his stepdaughter. As a child, he treated me no differently than Yasmine, but it’s in his statement, he lumps me with Della.

Flynn meets my eyes, and Dad follows the trail, his own widening. “Oh, this is too good. Flynn Rhodes.” His cruel smirk finds me again. “Ishewhy you betrayed your family? Once a slut, always a slut. You spread your legs for him in high school, and I should have had him killed then.”

Flynn makes a noise and my peripheral vision catches Lorenzo gripping his shoulder, keeping him back, but I’m too busy staring at the same man who used to care for me when I fell down as a kid, the one who hugged me before Mom tucked me in.

The same one who hit me time and time again.

Who threatened Flynn.

Who married and murdered an innocent woman.

Who changed too many lives with a single accident.

“Enough,” Nico orders. He sheds his suit’s outer coat and tosses it to the side then rolls up his sleeves. Rosen reaches over to hand Nico a large knife, who takes it and re-angles it toward Dad’s chest. “You’ve caused a lot of pain to everyone in this room.”

My own heart pounds. Fear? Shock? Happiness? All of the above?

“Go for it,” Dad mutters, grinning his regular cocky smirk. “What else do I have left? My own daughter betrayed me.”

Nico looks pleased, like he was waiting for Dad to make that very statement. “For your own knowledge, she might have told us where you were, what you’re doing in Montreal, and who truly owns you, but it was the Seven themselves who delivered you to our doorstep. When you piss off the wrong people, this is the outcome.”

Dad’s brows drop, his gaze going past everyone. “I…I have no memory of that. I was in a—”

In a flash, I nearly don’t catch, Nico shoves the blade into Dad’s upper thigh, similar to where I was stabbed, earning a blood-curdling scream from Dad that latches itself right into my head. I can’t look away, even when I long to.

“That stays there for now, or else you’ll bleed out much too soon and we can’t have that. Now, fucking shut up.” He straightens, looking to Della. “Still want to do this?”

Della releases me and stands beside Nico, who touches her cheek briefly, his anger shifting into a momentary hint of love, evidence of what Dad’s actions have brought to the people around him.

“Answer her questions,” Nico demands of Dad with no further threat.

Della glances at me, rolling her lips together, and then toward the direction we came. She must be thinking of her sister because the look in her expression is only one that matches the love and loyalty within a sibling bond. With a dark look I’ve never known her to be capable of, she crosses her arms.

“Did you kill my mother?”

“A…” He sucks in a deep breath, gritting his teeth through the pain in his thigh. “A-a car took her out.”

“Did you order the accident?”

“Does it matter if I did?”

She flinches. “You confirm it then.”

“Your mother did what I needed her to. She would have been in the way.”

In that instant, Della defies every notion that women don’t belong in the gritty aspects of mafia life and proves she’ll be a queen worth following one day. She has no concern of ruining her nails or injuring herself when, in a flash, her arm cocks back and with force from her entire body, she lands a punch straight to his nose, immediately hissing and yanking her fist to her chest. Nico grabs her instantly, probing over her knuckles.

Dad moves his jaw around, the punch to his nose just hard enough that a small trickle of blood emerges. He glares at Della as Rafael barks out laughter, moving up in front of them, closer to my father.

“If you’re done, Della…”

“I am.” Still rubbing her hand, she mutters, “Make his death hurt. I need Ariella.” She leaves, Nico watching her until she’s out of sight, and the second she’s gone, all signs of his love for her goes too as he shifts right back to a person capable of extracting death.

---