Page 45 of An Inevitable Marriage

My father moved fast. One moment, there was space between their feet, and the next, their toes were touching.

“What the fuck did you do?” he growled.

He must have hurt her because she cried out in pain. I smacked my hands over my ears. I hated this part. Hated even more that I couldn’t drown out the sound of her whimpers.

“You better answer me! What.” Slap. “Did.” Slap. “You.” Slap. “Do?” Slap.

Tears fell from my eyes, and I begged for the kind of bravery I saw in every superhero movie I’d ever seen. But it never came. My whole body filled with fear and something so heavy I couldn’t move.

My heart slammed against my ribs, wild and furious.

Even more when there was shuffling, almost like they were wrestling each other. Then, just as I thought it would get worse, Mom’s feet hurried away from my father’s.

“I’m done. I don’t care what the will says; I refuse to stay here a day longer.”

I saw her move toward the exit before she stopped and spun back around.

“I’m taking my son, and we are leaving you.”

I blinked, and my father was right where my mother stood. He whispered something. I didn’t know what; it was just that it was low and angry. And this time, it wasn’t a slap that followed his words.

It was louder and harder. Almost like bones crushing.

In the space of a breath, my mom fell to the floor, the back of her head hitting it so hard it bounced up before connecting with the tiles again.

I wanted to yell, to scream, but no words came out of my mouth. Two thick lines of tears kept rolling down my cheeks as I watched my father climb onto my mom and wrap his hands around her neck.

He looked horrid and evil.

Spit flew in every direction while he called my mom names too awful to repeat. She clawed and scratched at his hands, but the more she fought, the harder he squeezed. Until her skin grew pale and her arms weak.

They dropped to her sides like two limp noodles before her head rolled sideways. Her eyes locked with mine. I couldn’t breathe. Inside my chest, pain burst into a million different directions.

Mom blinked once; it was so slow. She opened her mouth, and her words came out all wheezy and breathless.

“I’ll…always…love…you…my…s-sweet…boy.”

And then she was gone.

Just like that.

My brain was still trying to catch up to reality when big hands clamped down on my ankles and pulled me out from under the table.

“Son of a bitch,” my father yelled. “You saw nothing, you hear me? Nothing.”

I woke with a start.

Breathing heavy and covered in sweat, I shot upright and scrubbed a palm over my face. Should have known better than to think the fucking demons would leave me be for one night. Because apparently, a peaceful slumber was too much to ask.

“Fucking nightmare.” But it wasn’t. It was a memory I was doomed to revisit every single night when I closed my eyes. There were times I begged any deity who’d listen just to make me forget.

Then I remembered the vow I’d made to my mother on the day of my mother’s funeral. It stopped with me. I’d never become like him, even if it meant closing my heart off.

Which had been a lot easier to do than I’d thought. Especially when I’d been forced to live with the devil and his son.

They made sure the only thing I was capable of feeling was hate.

And by the time most boys my age noticed girls; I’d been completely indifferent. I didn’t care how short their dresses were or how much they batted their lashes. Hell, I didn’t even care about getting laid.