Page 104 of The Freedom in Captivity

“Good luck.” De Falco shrugs a shoulder. “She has a new family now. Why would she want to return to the death and destruction here?”

Rozelyn falls silent. She stares at her father for a long ten seconds with her jaw working over the soundless words she’s readying to dish out. It takes so long that Nico shifts, and like that noise woke her, she peeks toward me, more pain in her expression than I’ve ever seen, even when locking her downstairs.

Then she faces her father again and asks, in a broken whisper, “Why do you hate me, Dad? You pretended to love me, and then…”

“For your mother. You were never mine.”

“Blood doesn’t mean shit,” she spits, the edge returning to her tone as she gestures to the people around her. “You thinkanyof these people care about blood relations? Do you know what you truly did here, in your search for power? You handed your own enemy,” she hooks a thumb toward Nico, “a wife. She and her sister have found a new family since we were so fucking shitty to them. Blood doesn’t mean jack shit, so fuck you. Fuck. You. Try again.” She advances a single step, bending to look him in the face. “Why did you abuse me?”

De Falco parts his bloodied, cracked lips to respond, but apparently, she’s not done.

“You hit Mom too. I cried so fucking hard that day. Then…you hit me, and you never stopped.” Another step, and she’s leaning down, her hand gripping the hilt of the knife in his thigh. That action garners everyone’s attention, in case she yanks it out. Instead, she presses her weight down until he lets out a pained moan. “There isnothingyou can say that’ll be a good enough reason for the abuse, you fucking asshole.” She spits, a wad landing right on his chin, sliding down his neck.

“Look at you, growing up.”

“Growing up,”she repeats, her back stiffening. “Youforcedme to grow up sooner than I wanted to. You think I wanted to drug Aurora? Do you know what I found in her? A genuinely good person. You know what I’ve found here, even when I was their captive becauseyouabandoned me. Agoodgroup of people. A family who fights for one another.”

With that statement, her walls crumble. Tears fill her eyes and I shift closer, to provide her a semblance of comfort. We only have two feet between us now, and it’s in the short space, I feel my breath even out.

“Do you know what I’ve witnessed in my time here?” she continues, her tone a fraction quieter. “A woman whose trauma is owed toyou, who offered herself up for a wedding for this family.” Ariella. “Another woman, protected by one, whobecamethem when you failed in having her killed.” Isabelle. “A women who’s going to be the best fucking mafia queen there ever was.” Della. “Even better than Mom because Mom was no queen. She was simply one of your captives. I’ve found a man who should have killed me the moment he saw me. Yet, he didn’t.”

Pressing down on the knife again, she meets my eyes. Her final statement continues to roll through my head.

“I don’t need to grow up,Dad. I simply needed a better fucking family than the one I was handed.”

“I saved you,” he spits, finally breaking his silence amidst her rant. “If I never asked them,” he jerks his chin toward Caterina and Lorenzo standing off to the side, “to find you, who knows where you’d be. In a fucking whorehouse possibly.”

“Or with a family who didn’t use me because that’s all you’ve done. You used me when you were frustrated. Used me when Mom wasn’t here any longer to take your anger out on. Used me to drug an innocent girl. You’re using me now, pleading to me like I’ll save you.” She straightens, nudging her hair off her shoulder as she shoots the final blow. “You’re not going to be saved. Not by me and not by anyone in this room. You’ll be six feet under before the end of the day and Iwillfind Yasmine.”

Finished, she straightens and a look of peace falls over her. The tenseness in her shoulders is gone and she turns, giving him her back, only to stop with his next words.

“You won’t find her. I lied when I said she was safe. They’re furious with me and took it out on her. Your sister is their new plaything, so good fucking luck getting through their stronghold. My advice,daughter, give up. Give up trying to save everyone else and worry only about yourself.”

“That’s all you’ve done, isn’t it?” she sneers over her shoulder.

“I’m the only one who matters, Rozelyn. Not you, not your mother, not your sister. No one more than me.”

Somewhere within that statement, Rozelyn moves again, but it’s not to turn to face him. She also doesn’t rush away. She runs toward me—toward the gun in my hand. And maybe I see her coming, maybe I don’t, maybe I simply don’t fight when she yanks the gun from me.

Despite the crowd of Corsettis who move as one, with a loud cry, she whirls around and pulls the trigger.

Bang!

Red seeps from the centre of his chest. His eyes bulge and then the colour fades from them. His head falls to the side. He shudders his final breath.

Stefano De Falco is dead.

Murdered by his own daughter.

With a cry that’ll echo in my nightmares, she tosses the gun to the side and drops to the floor, her arms wrapping over her head. I fall too, cradling her into my arms as her disturbed, heartbroken scream latches onto my heart, my mind, my soul and is only penetrated by one thing: Nico’s command, and one I’ll obey.

“Fuck. Get her out of here, Flynn!”

Wrapping my arms around her, I lift her bridle-style and she buries her head into my chest and I feel, rather hear, her mumbling.

He’s dead.

She repeats it over and over, for the entire trip to my room. The one she was given is larger, and where I should take her, but a deep-sated desire to hold her in my bed controls everything else. I vow to hold onto her as the grief slams into her with every breath she takes, to be there with every tear she sheds.

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