Page 11 of Reckoning

“I’m sorry, Daddy.”

He strikes me again.

“Say you won’t do it again.”

“I won’t, I promise.” I sob. I’d say anything now, do anything to make him stop.

He hits me three more times, it’s brutal and it burns, it bites into my skin - I doubt I’ll be able to sit down properly for a week.

When he’s done, he lets go of me and I slump onto the floor in a heap. I know he beats Roman when he’s been naughty but it feels like I’m always the one on the receiving end of his punishments. That I never do anything right in his eyes.

He storms to the door, hollers for my governess who comes running, clearly flustered.

“Mr. Montague?” She says dropping a curtsey like he’s a king.

“You weren’t watching her.” He says pointing in my direction with the stick.

Her eyes dart to me, “I’m sorry, sir, she must have slipped out.”

“You need to do better.” He says shoving the stick right in her face like he might hit her too.

“I will, sir, I promise I won’t let her out of my sight.”

“You better not.” He snaps as she rushes past and hauls me to my feet.

I can’t walk properly, my legs seems to refuse to work and she has to drag me out of the room, but as we pass the threshold my father grabs my head, pulling me back.

“Not a word of this, Sofia.” He says in my ear. “Never mention that man to anyone, you hear me?”

I gulp, nodding.

“If you do, you’ll get a lot more than a simple lashing.”

I whimper, scrambling out of the room, unsure who I’m afraid of more, my father or that man with the dead eyes.

* * *

It’samazing how much life can change in a year. How you can go from existing in the very pits of hell to suddenly being transformed into a world where happiness exists, where the dead come back to life.

Where everything is supposedly back to normal as if none of it ever happened.

I stare up at the big white house that my brother and sister-in-law now call home. For a few weeks I lived here, no, I existed here. I barely remember all that much of that time. I don’t want to remember. It’s easier to blank it all out, and start afresh now.

The man on the security gate inclines his head and opens it enough for me to drive in. When I come to a stop I can see there are more cars on the drive than I expected. Roman’s flashy new range rover is parked besides Rose’s. And the classic Defender tells me that Ben is also here.

But there’s a G Wagon alongside them. All black, with tinted out alloys. It looks like it’s armoured as if that’s a thing.

I squint as the realisation hits me of who else is in the house.

As I walk up to the front door, it opens and I step back taking in the enormous bulk of the man coming out. He stops immediately as our eyes connect.

I know him. I know his face. A memory stirs from what feels like forever ago.

‘I was the one who made him pay’

His words echo in my head, reminding me of that awful moment, that awful time when I was still so weak. When I didn’t even have the strength to defend myself.

“Sofia.” He murmurs my name like it’s a secret. Like it’s forbidden. Like he savours every syllable.