Page 96 of Blood Ties

My vision swims in and out of focus as the house looms up. Fear claws at my insides, choking me. He’s taking me back. Maybe I made a mistake. Maybe it would’ve been easier to die out there.

Knox slows as he steps onto the porch. He freezes there, head tilted to one side as he listens.

Then he drops me. My battered skull bangs against the floorboards, and as darkness closes in around me, I hear the sound that must’ve sent Knox running — somebody is screaming inside, a sound full of pain and terror.

Kaiis screaming.

?Chapter Forty-Eight

Kai

Thump, thump, thump.

Each thud of my head sends fresh agony jolting down my spine. I force one eye open, and then the other, the world spinning around me upside-down. I’m being dragged—

Thump.

—down the stairs. My head thunks against each one, jarring the side of my skull that’s already wet and cold where it hit the nightstand.

“Here,” says my dad’s voice. “Good.”

I blink away fog, trying to sit up, but my body won’t listen. We’re in the kitchen.The easiest room to clean up, my dad always says.

Dad’s face enters my line of sight, his bruised face swimming in and out of focus. The whites of his eyes are stained red.

Somewhere off to the side, I hear Frank groaning and retching. A wet splatter against the tile.

“Is thatblood? The fuck is wrong with you?” Dad asks. He glances his way, then back at me. “The fuck did you do to him?”

I guess the rat poison worked a little, but not enough to take my uncle down. I should’ve known. Frank’s huge.

“Get him up,” Dad says.

Huge, calloused hands grab me by the arms and haul me to my feet. I catch a glimpse of Frank’s face, blood streaming from his nose and staining his mouth, before my head lolls forward. I dangle like a ragdoll, boots scraping against the tile without finding purchase. My stomach churns.

Fingers grip my chin, and my dad forces my head up to look me in the eye. “You still with us?” he asks, searching my face.