No.
I don’t believe that.
Not anymore.
Pandora isn’t somebody to use. She’s wild and dangerous and she makes me laugh in a way nobody else ever has. She’s protective, generous.
Completely crazy, but I love that about her.
I love everything about her.
I loveher.
“Fuck you,” I say. “You’re going down. Your entire empire means nothing to me.”
It’ll suck not having my fortunes, but I’ll deal with all that later.
Whatever my father says next is lost as people shout.
Isaac attempts to grab me again. I duck down, going for a roundhouse kick, only Isaac doesn’t so much as flinch when my leg connects with his shin.
Yeah, I’m in trouble if I need to fight him directly.
I go to the gym, and I know how to fight, but I’m not as good as River or Asch.
Maybe I do need bodyguards of my own.
Isaac reaches for me again, and this time he manages to grab me by my shirt collar.
I grimace and struggle against him. When he pulls me closer, I punch him in the face. Isaac grunts, but his grip on my shirt doesn’t falter.
Fuck.
“Barely felt it,” Isaac says.
I smile at Isaac. “Come on. You don’t have to do what my dad says. You know this isn’t right.”
Somebody screeches in my ear.
“Mel!” Ares shouts. “Fuck, fuck, Kratos, we need to?—”
That really doesn’t bode well. I thought I’d put Mel somewhere far out of danger.
“Sorry, kid,” Isaac says. “Your dad’s the one paying me. Now let’s take you home.”
He starts dragging me, heedless of everybody else in the room.
No. No, I can’t leave now. I’m not going to let my father ruin anything anymore.
I lean forward, toward Isaac’s exposed arm, and bite down hard.
Unlike the punch, this has Isaac crying out. He lets go of me, and I scramble away, into the crowd of people. I hear more yelling, but everybody is yelling.
I need to get to the murder theatre.
If we can take care of Allers, the rest barely matters.
I find the side door, the one well out of sight from the main audience, and push through. The air is instantly cooler out here, and I take a breath to steady myself.
