Page 4 of The First Cut

“No, I don’t think you will, babe.” He keeps moving closer, and before I can run, he has me pinned against the wall. “The only thing you’ll do is warm my bed as mymy old lady.”

I shake my head, but he grabs my jaw and holds me in place.

“What, my brother’s dick was good enough for you, but not mine?” he hisses, spittle hitting my cheek.

“I belong to Havoc. I’ll never be yours.”

He leans in and licks the tears from my cheek, making me shudder in disgust.

“Havoc’s gone. You belong to me now, bitch.”

He slips his hand under the hem of my T-shirt, and panic sets in—that's when I start pushing and shoving him, trying to get away.

“No. I can’t be yours, not when I’m carrying Havoc’s baby,” I yell, hoping that will make him leave me alone.

But when I see the look in his eyes, I know I’ve made a huge mistake.

“Well, that’s an easy problem to fix.” He grins before pulling back his arm and punching me in the stomach.

I scream in agony, covering my stomach as pain rips through me. He hits me again before tossing me to the floor.

I try to crawl away, but he kicks me in the ribs, knocking the wind out of me, and I collapse.

As I struggle to push myself up, he stomps on my lower back, making me scream again. Then, with a jerk, he flips me over and starts kicking me in the stomach over and over.

The pain is unbearable, but I keep fighting, desperately trying to protect my baby. But when I feel wetness running down my legs, I know I failed.

Still, he doesn’t stop. It isn’t until the darkness swallows me that it finally sinks in.

Havoc’s gone. My baby’s gone. And I’m all alone.

Alone with a monster.

Chapter One

Five years later

Hannibal

Iresist the urge to throw my phone across the room, but only because it would be the fourth one I’ve broken in the last few months.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Shaw. I’ve exhausted every other avenue. If you don’t take custody of Millie when the time comes, I’ll have no choice but to place her in foster care.”

I rub my hand over my face and let out a frustrated breath. “I’ll call you back.”

I hang up before she can say another fucking word and hurl my phone against the wall. Blood boiling, I storm over to the desk and swipe everything off, sending it all crashing to the floor. Picking up the chair, I throw it across the room before turning and flipping the bed.

Chest heaving, fists clenched, I stare at the mess, feeling no relief. What I need is to hurt someone. Make them scream. Make them bleed.

Yeah, that’d go over real fucking well with the social worker, wouldn’t it?

I stagger back and slide down the wall until my ass hits the floor. Sitting there, I try to figure a way out of this clusterfuck I’m in.

A few weeks ago, I got the call that there’d been an accident. Millie and her mom, Melissa, were in a car crash. I was shocked. I didn’t even know I was down as an emergency contact. And as much of a dick as it makes me, my first thought had been whether Millie was okay. I rushed to the hospital expecting the worst, only to find out my kid didn’t have a scratch on her. Once I knew Melissa would pull through, I figured I’d slip back into the shadows again.

That’s what I did when I found out Melissa was pregnant with Millie. Partly because I was afraid that my DNA would make my kid as fucked up as me, and partly because I knew I’d be a danger to both of them. Melissa, thankfully, had understood. She’d seen me have one of my episodes and wanted nothing to do with me after that. She was more than happy to take my kid and raise her alone, as long as I paid child support. And I did. I hadn’t missed a payment in fourteen years.

What I had missed, though, was that Melissa’s parents died a few years ago in a house fire, and two years later, her sister passed away from a heart attack. So when the doctors told Melissa she had an inoperable brain tumor—the reason she passed out and lost control of the car, almost killing both her and Millie—and only had weeks left, it was a blow I hadn’t been expecting. I would be the only family Millie had left and I was nothing more than a stranger..