Page 4 of Fragments

His jaw ticks, eyes igniting a fuse of wrath as he steps closer to me. “You are such a worthless little slut.”

“Ooh,Daddy,” I hum. “Talk dirty to me.”

I swear to God, it looks like he’s about to lay hands on me. And I’mprayingfor it.

I need it, like a winding up that’s been happening inside me for days, weeks, months, years… All the time blending together like a suffocating gray nothingness. The need to breakfreefrom the chains of this life, stretching me thinner and thinner…

I’m about to snap.

Hit me, motherfucker. I dare you.

“What’s going on over here?” My father’s voice breaks the spell, and Stranger falls back, instantly reacquainting himself with reality and his surroundings.

“I’m so sorry, Kenneth… Unfortunately, I won’t be signing the deal.” His surly gaze narrows at me. “I’ve had a change of heart.”

He turns and stalks toward the front door. The palpable shift in the room is strong, like a sudden leak of noxious gas in the air. My father shoots me a withering glare, chasing his potential business partner to the door, pleading with him to reconsider.

My mother steps out from the dining room, simply shaking her head. “What have you done now?”

I lift my shoulder in a bored shrug.Who cares?

When my father comes back, he grabs me by the arm and hauls me to his face. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done?!”

My muscles stiffen in anger as I snarl in his face. “Do I look like I give afuckabout your business ventures??”

He shoves me away from him. “You’re disgusting.”

“Listen, Father, if you’re no longer accepting funds from men who have ridden me raw, I’m sorry to say, but your accounts are about to be dryer than your wife’s pussy.”

He slaps me.Hard, right across the face. Like a bitch.

A laugh bursts from my throat, loud. A deranged cackle.

I spit blood onto the floor. “Fuck you.”

“You think you can just get away with this?” My father glowers at me, and while I’ve always loved the way I look, in this moment, I despise it. The similarities between us. “Ruining our lives, our reputation with your sickening lifestyle?? You can’t. I will burn you to thegroundbefore I let you destroy everything I’ve built.”

Burn.

A flicker of elation sparks inside me.

Like the strike of a match…

“Don’t worry, Dad,” I whisper with a curl to my lips. “I’m way ahead of you.”

The shouts blur in my ears as I walk away from him. The threats I’ve heard since I was a child. The hatred I’ve built for these people, this home, it stacks up inside me like bricks. The final nail in the coffin.

The last straw.

Burn it down.

And later that night, when the castle is quiet, I’m surrounded by the scent of kerosene.

And I light a match.

Today…

“Fuck yea… That’s good. Hold still.”