Total pages in book: 148
Estimated words: 147734 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 739(@200wpm)___ 591(@250wpm)___ 492(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 147734 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 739(@200wpm)___ 591(@250wpm)___ 492(@300wpm)
There’s shuffling of feet outside, my father’s men waiting as backup, probably also scared I’ll chew the rest of their ears—and noses—off. I’ve done it before and will do it again in a heartbeat, including but not limited to, fighting the guards I know he likes the most, because they’re an extension of him.
My father grabs a tool out of the box, really large scissors, and I doubt it’s because he wants to cut my bindings.
“What’s the reason for the sudden kidnapping?” I joke as he walks toward me. “What happened to a phone call to summon me home?”
He pulls out his phone, then thrusts it in my face. I blink once so the blurry image gets clearer, and my chest squeezes because it’s a picture of me kissing Vaughn, hungrily, like a goddam madman, one hand around his throat and the other in his hair while he has a palm to my chest.
The screen goes black, shoving me back to the present and the bitter reality that my father has a picture of Vaughn and me.
He pockets his phone, his muscles bulging. My father has always taken care of his appearance, part of his “not a weak man” mantra.
“What did I say, Yulian?” He speaks slowly but with simmering rage.
“About? You say a lot of things about a lot of shit. You’d have to specify—”
His punch whips my head sideways, copper flooding my tongue. The next strike comes harder, a boot slamming into my chest, and the chair buckles beneath me, toppling, and I hit the ground with it.
“I told you I’d kill you if you did that disgusting business again, you useless bastard.”
“It’s not disgusting,” I murmur, blood dripping down either side of my mouth.
He grabs my collar with one hand, pulling me all the way up, his manic eyes staring down at me. “The fuck you just say?”
“Me liking another guy is not disgusting.” I glare at him. “Maybe you’re the disgusting one for thinking that.”
He snarls. “I bet you bend over like a pussy to be fucked by another man. What a fucking weakling.”
“What I do with my dick does not make me a weakling!” I yell, spit and blood splashing his face. “Beating your son for as long as he can remember, spawning illegitimate children and forcing them into the army, then proceeding to abuse them, and neglecting your terminally ill wife while dipping your dick into all available holes is what makes you a weak man, Dad!”
His fist slams into me again, followed by a brutal kick that topples me sideways. “I should’ve killed you years ago, you useless piece of shit. You should’ve gone with your worthless mother.”
I growl deep in my throat as I cough up a mouthful of blood and struggle against the binds. “My mother was not worthless.”
“Sure was for spawning a faggot like you.” His boot grinds into my chest, the pressure so sharp, I swear a rib snaps.
“Your whole life has been useless, Yulian, but I’ve been willing to give you chances. Seems I spoiled you for too long, but I can’t have you being a deranged, sick motherfucker who’s less than a man. I told you, didn’t I? No son of mine will be a cocksucker. Since breaking your legs didn’t fix you, I’ll break your whole fucking body this time.”
He slams his boot down again, a crack snapping through the air. Pain floods my chest, nausea surges up, and a raw, piercing roar tears from me.
The room spins, my vision fractures, and in the haze, I see my father’s outline. He’ll kill me, whether he means to or not.
And all I can think of is Alina.
And the last time I saw Vaughn.
If I’d known this would happen, I wouldn’t have thrown a fit and demanded he must go all in. I don’t like that the last memory he has of me is anger and ultimatums.
If I’d known this would happen, I would’ve kissed him one last time.
But then again, Vaughn and I always came from different worlds. They might have collided a few times, but all that’s come out of it is pain.
Four years ago
So yes, I totally shouldn’t be here.
In New York City, hundreds of miles away from home and carrying a fake ID that Cy begrudgingly gave me.
I touch my abs, wincing as pain explodes where my injury is. It’s been a week since I woke up in the hospital to my mom looking like a skeleton and me not being in the cave.
And that’s fine, truly.
Or was, for a while, until that urge to see Vaughn one more time returned.
Just once.
For like ten minutes.
I know it’s one of those reckless choices Dad will punish me for, Mom will ache over, and Alina will lose sleep about—but I couldn’t stay away.
Not after the cave.
I stole a kiss from him, and I think he might have stolen my heart in return.