Page 86 of Blood Ties

?Chapter Forty-Two

Kai

Iwatch in disbeliefas my brother stalks toward Riley. She recoils as far as she can on the mattress, pressing her bare thighs together, her eyes darting around the basement before settling on me. Wide and terrified.

“Knox!” I try to push myself up, but Dad’s boot presses on my spine, the gun on my head. The grit of the floor digs into my cheek. “Stay away from her!”

He doesn’t look at me. Doesn’t even hesitate a moment as he reaches to undo his belt.

I shove up from the floor, but Dad sends me back down with a blow to the back of the head. I thrash and fight him, trying to stand again and again. He beats me bloody with the gun, until my arms and legs give out and I’m flat on the floor, drooling blood, half-senseless.

“I’ll fucking kill you,” I snarl, even though I know it’s useless. My Dad is grimly silent above me, my uncle chuckling to himself over in the corner. I can’t see Knox’s expression, but I imagine him smirking, and a searing heat fills my chest. “I’ll kill all of you.”

I should have done it sooner. Should’ve slit their throats in their sleep like I once imagined. I imagine the gush of hot blood on my hands, the dumb fucking looks on their faces, and the fire in me burns hotter and hotter.

But I can’t move. Can’t do anything but watch as Knox shoves Riley down on her hands and knees. I want to look away, but she looks right at me, her gaze holding mine, and it feels like she needs me to see, to witness, to be her anchor. So I do it. I force myself to watch every second as my brother takes her from behind, as he sweats and swears and degrades her.

Her gaze never leaves mine. She doesn’t so much as flinch as Knox violates her. Her eyes stay on me, and she bites her lower lip so hard it bleeds, but she doesn’t make a sound. Not once.

So I do the same. As much as I want to beg and scream and cry and threaten, I’m not going to make this about me. The only thing I can do right now is to witness her suffering. Imprint every bit of it in my mind so I’ll never forget.

So I’ll remember this, the next time I have a chance to kill every last one of the people who hurt her.

*

AFTER IT’S OVER, DADand Uncle Frank drag me out of the basement and force me into the attic. Knox watches it happen. They throw me onto the floor, where my legs give out, my battered body too tired to fight anymore. And once they leave, it’s just me in the room with Momma.

Of course the door locks from the outside. Because this room was built to hold Momma, like the basement was built to hold girls like Riley.

I slam my fists into the locked door into my knuckles bleed and scream until my voice gives out. Then I sink to my knees on the floor and try to breathe through the panic. It’s suffocating in this room, like the walls are slowly pressing in on me, but worse is the thought of what Knox might do to Riley while I’m cut off from her.

“Momma,” I say hoarsely, looking over at her. “Momma, what am I supposed to do?”

She doesn’t answer. I curl up on the floor, and eventually exhaustion drags me down into the abyss of unconsciousness.

*

AT SOME POINT, I WAKEup to a sharp pain in my head. I groan, and someone shushes me, trickles water into my mouth.

“Momma?” I asks, slurring. My head hurts so fucking bad. Everything hurts. My vision swims.

“Jesus.” A face swims into view above me. Definitely not Momma. Knox, his brow creased in concern. “Dad really fucked you up, huh?”

A flicker of rage makes its way through the pain and confusion as I recognize Knox. Remember what he did. I lift a hand to swipe at him, but he pushes it aside.

“Oh, fuck off,” he mutters. “Just eat. Get your strength back.”