“I know you hate me, but I could never hate you, Aoi.”
The way he utters my name makes me sick, but I shove it down and smile instead. It takes all the strength in my body to cup his cheek without gagging. “I can’t hate you no matter how much I wish I could.”
I suppose it’s not entirely a lie. I despise him now for what he did to me–to those I love. But I can’t help loving the man who took root in my soil. He raised me and took care of for me for so long.
I find it hard to forget our past so easily.
I can’t hate the memory of who we were when I was still ignorant. But those memories are tainted with blood, because greed was stronger than love, more important than family.
I feel him soften under my touch as if he’s slowly taking in my words. “You’re your father’s son, undoubtedly.”
“Why are you saying that?”
He smiles at me, his hazel eyes dark with desire. “Your face, your body, and even your laugh. It’s all your father’s.”
“You…hated my mom.” I watch his lips twitch faintly. “But you cared for Dad and Maia, didn’t you? They were your family after all, were they not?”
“Your father was everything to me,” he says quietly. “I had him all for myself before Meredith showed up.”
“You hated her because she…took him from you?”
His brows draw together, and he strokes my cheek with his thumb. “What do you want to know, my dear?”
“Did you love him,” I mutter, “like you love me?”
Did you obsess over my father like you do with me?
“It was different,” he says, smiling hollowly. “He was something else to me. I’m not using you to replace him if that’s what you’re wondering. Your father never loved me in any way other than as a brother. He wantedher.”
“But you wantedhim,” I say, and bite the inside of my cheek.
He wanted my dad, but my mom got to him first. Is that why he hated her so much? Is that why he settled for me?
“I wantyou, Aoi.”
“You killed her because she got in your way twice,” I whisper more to myself than to him.
He strokes my cheek and lets his fingers drift down to my lips. “My love for you is the only reason I got rid of her.”
Liar.
I know what he wants from me, but I just can’t bring myself to do it. My entire being recoils from the thought of his hands on me. The warmth I once chased is now a new fear latched onto my mind.
I want to run away, run as fast as my legs allow and never look back. But my mind drifts back to Visha. He’s somewhere in the warehouse, and I have to get him out of here.
So, I slide my arms around Jason’s neck. “Did you come here to confess your love, or will you prove yourself to me?”
He lowers his body onto mine, chuckling darkly as he does. The pressure of his weight on me was once so comforting, but now it’s terrifying.
I tremble against him and try to suppress it with all my might but fail miserably.
He presses soft kisses down my throat and smiles against my skin. “You’re scared of me.” Then he gets off me and sits on the edge of the bed, turning his back to me. “I can’t say it doesn’t bother me.”
“No,” I force myself to reach for his hand and place it on my chest. “I’m not. Don’t turn away from me when I need comfort.”
“What do you take me for, Aoi?”
Once upon a time, he was my torch in a dark cave. Yesterday, he was still my uncle and the man I once loved with my entire being. Today, he’s the monster plaguing my darkest nightmares.
