“Spare me the bullshit. I’m not stupid,” he spits in my face. “You’re an idiot if you think I didn’t make the connection after he beat the living shit out of me.”
I can see that now. Surrounding his eyes are bruises, although they’re almost gone, and I realize Levi did a lot more than talking. But nothing inside me feels bad for my dad. Nothing.
Stella’s cries grow louder, and the madman only grows more confident from her worry.
“I didn’t plan on staying long, but thanks for leaving the door open for me. That was nice of you. I’m here to give you a warning.”
“Wh-what?” I croak out, thrashing in his hold, as his red face sneers in my mine.
“If you don’t break it off with Levi by tonight, I will expose to the entire world that he’s an alcoholic, and the most important thing in his life will be ripped away from him. Leaving her in foster care, and we all know how that goes.”
He’s stepping on my heart, crushing it under his heel with a smile on his face. Watching me break down in his arms as he rips away the happiness I’ve finally experienced after being consumed with sadness for years.
I stop moving in his arms, going limp against the wall, causing him to loosen his grip, and when he does that, I push his chest with all my strength, making him stagger back a step. Running around him, I put some distance between us.
“How do you know he’s an alcoholic? What proof do you possibly have?”
“One night, when I was leaving the liquor store, I spotted his car in the parking lot. I waited in my car to see him get out, but he never did. He was just staring at the store for an hour before he left. I thought that was pretty suspicious, so I Googled him. Do you know how many pictures came up with a glass of bourbon in his hand? Him looking drunk, kissing other girls before disappearing into his car with them. The evidence is in people’s faces, but everyone is too stupid to put all the clues together.”
“Why are you doing this?” My throat closes as an unbearable pain shoots from my heart throughout my entire body. Almost making me buckle over. Pain for Levi, Stella, and myself.
Everything was going so well. I’ve been eating more, and I’ve never been happier, and I’m in a healthy relationship. But the one person who likes to shake up my life like I’m a snow globe is ruining me all over again.
“Because you’re a brat who only cares about yourself. You’re going to get so blinded by this man that you’re not going to realize you’re jeopardizing your own band. You’re going to tell him private information and stab everyone in the back, like I always knew you would. I can’t let this happen! You’ll ruin me!” he yells, and his voice bounces off the walls. “I’ll know if you don’t break it off, and if you don’t, say good-bye to that little girl. You’ll ruin two lives.”
I can hardly see past the thick tears in my eyes, can hardly hear over my breaking heart, but I see him slowly backing up to the staircase.
“If it isn’t done tonight, she’ll be ripped away from him because he’s not fit to be a guardian, and just know that this will be all your fault. I warned you, and he’ll figure out you didn’t give a shit.”
I watch him walk down the stairs, feeling like he’s taking my soul with him.
He couldn’t be more wrong. That little girl is so lucky to have someone in her life that loves her as much as Levi does. He does everything for her and strives to be the best for Stella. His little sister being taken away from him is his biggest worry. How can I not prevent that?
I don’t have any other options.
Sucking in a breath through my body-racking sobs, I realize I have no choice. No choice other than to break my heart that was just repaired and break his in return as well.
Break the man that was able to open his heart to me after years of betrayal and heartbreak from his past. Someone who struggles with control.
What if I cause him so much stress that he turns to a bottle? He wouldn’t. He’ll think of Stella. He has to.
Gripping my chest, I force oxygen into my lungs, but it’s so hard through my gasps.
A heaviness settles in my chest that I know will never go away. I’ll always feel its weight.
Welcome back, pain. You haven’t been gone for long.
CHAPTER47
LEVI
When Amelia Drakos entered my life, I never thought I would become a whipped idiot who would end up throwing out the mattress I spent almost a thousand dollars on just to buy a new one to make her comfortable.
But that’s what this girl does to me. It only took one look into her doe eyes, and I ripped my heart out and laid it in her palm. Knowing it’s going to be more loved and safer in her grasp than anyone else’s, even my own.
She should be here with my sister any minute now, and I’m itching for the both of them to be in my arms. I’ve been counting the hours till this moment. I missed them way too much for us only being apart for two days.
Straightening my duvet, knowing Amelia likes everything clean and neat, I step back to admire my work.
