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GIA

As soon as Reed leaves to fetch Bryce from the lake, I spring into action, grabbing Jax’s softie and clutching the knife I’d been using, and my heart hammers. I knew my father was a monster, but killing my husband to get to me and my shares is unfathomable.

Jax makes a soft cooing sound, and my hold around him tightens, and I can feel his soft breath against my chest. “Momma’s got you, Jax,” I say, and kiss the top of his head.

I reached the first stair, and a flash of pain hits my face, causing the back of my head to bounce off the wall, and I struggle to remain upright as dizziness overwhelms me. Oh Jesus, that hurts. My vision is blurry, and I hold Jax tighter. “Please,” I beg, knowing it’s hopeless.

Then my hair is pulled so hard my head is yanked back, causing tears to flow from me in waves. Oh, fuck, that hurts. I drop the knife and Jax’s soft toy as I’m dragged from the room with no consideration for the small baby crying against my chest. My only priority right now is to protect him. “Please.” I try again, but my assailant ignores my pleas.

Then he spins me around to face him, with the knife I’d carelessly dropped in his hand, and that same evil gleam in his eyes that I’d become accustomed to growing up under his cruel reign is back in full force, making me swallow the bile rising in my throat.

My father looks like the deranged animal I know him to be, his face red and eyes bulging in anger. The usually carefully composed man to the public has let his guard down, and he’s showing me the man I know and fear. The one who sent me to school sore between my legs so badly, I held my pee in a bid to stop the pain.

He licks his lips like a predator, and I’m his prey, and what I fear the most is the little baby boy I desperately cling to in hope we can survive this. There’s not a doubt in my mind that my father will kill again to get what he wants.

“Where’s the boy?” he bellows, and I flinch at the power of his tone. Jax cries louder, and all I can think is that my father didn’t even use Bryce’s name.

I blink hard, trying to remain in the present. My vision is cloudy and I’m struggling to think straight.

“The fucking boy, nna!” he yells, causing my head to throb.

“I-I don’t know,” I whimper as my mind races, hoping and praying Reed has located Bryce and they’re both unharmed and safe.

“Lying little bitch!” My father backhands me, and my head whips to the side, and I’m grateful Jax had slid lower down on my chest.

The pain doesn’t come, not how you’d expect. I don’t know if I’ve become accustomed to it over the years, or if the dull throbbing at the back of my head is taking away the worst of it. I can taste blood in my mouth, and I’m pulled back in time as I close my eyes with dizziness.

“Sir, how did she lose her tooth?” the doctor asks as I stare up at my father and wait for him to respond.

The doctor’s kind eyes flicker back to me, and I jolt.

I don’t like people being too nice, that means they’ll pry, and when they do, my father gets meaner.

“Do you know who I am?” My father’s eyes bore into the doctor’s, and he swallows harshly.

“Yes, sir.”

My father’s chest puffs out, and a sinister smile encompasses his deranged face.

“nna!”

My eyes snap open in time to witness him lunge forward. My heart skips a beat as he takes a hold of my hair in a brutal viselike grip and turns me so my back is to his front, giving him the perfect position to hold the knife to my throat. All I can think about is how I hope Reed and our sons survive this.

Our sons.

Because despite Bryce’s DNA, he’s Reed’s son.

He’s a devoted, loving, caring father, and I couldn’t have wished for a better one than him. I just wish I’d gotten to tell him that. To tell him how much I love him.

Approaching footsteps can be heard, and my body locks up in fear, whereas my father’s pulls tight in glee.

Oh God, please don’t be Reed and Bryce.

Please.