“For now, but then what? Kasen decides he’s had his fun with me and tosses me out on the street? He was ready to do it once, help his dad send me off to some fucking school overseas, I’m sure he would do it again.”
He runs his finger over the side of my face, tracing my lips like he’s trying to memorize every detail. “Things are different now, baby, we have all the control. K cares about you, we all do.”
“I have no intention of sending you anywhere.” Kasen’s voice booms through the kitchen, making me flinch back in shock. I thought he was at work. Thought I was safe to talk openly with River.
River takes a step back from me, giving Kasen space to crowd me. The dark circles under his eyes are deeper today. He looks like a man on the verge of losing control, not the powerful leader he’s supposed to be. “I didn’t go to all this trouble to make sure this town knows you belong to me just to ship you off anywhere. Stop letting your imagination run wild and start seeing what is in front of you.”
My heart races like crazy. I wasn’t ready for an altercation with him this morning. “Yeah, like it did ten years ago? I know you were helping your dad to get rid of me, send me off to some school overseas. I was nothing to you back then, so why pretend I mean something now? What are you getting out of it?”
His nostrils flare. “I never would have let him send you away.”
“It was happening, I heard my mum tell your dad the school was booked. And you helped them, you made sure I came home that night knowing what Keller had planned for me.” Fresh pain radiates through my chest, taking me right back to that night.
“They weren’t sending you away that night. We had time. If you and your dad didn’t take off, I would have helped you stay.”
“How?” I scream back at him. “We all know your dad had all the fucking power. If he wanted something, there was nothing you or anyone else could have done about it.”
For a beat he just stares at me. He knows I’m right. He was just a kid, he had no power against a man like Keller, even if he was his dad. “Things are different now. He’s not here, but you are. And we won’t let you go this time.”
Yeah, his words make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. All I ever wanted was to feel like a part of this crew, be one of them, but I grew up and realized that wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. A bitter smile crosses my face. “This time you don’t have a choice. When I get whatI’m after, I’m leaving, and there will be nothing you or anyone else can do to stop me.”
He lowers his face so it’s just off mine, a cruel smirk painting his lips. “You run, I will chase you. Try and hide, I will track you down. I didn’t get this powerful by following Daddy’s instructions. I made up my own rules, ones you can’t escape. I’m going to be stuck on you like glue until you give in to what we all know is inevitable, even if I have to play dirty to make it happen.”
I shake my head, words not forming even though I want to fight him. Want to yell and scream until he hears me out. Till he stops this madness, but there is something in his eyes that stops me. A desperation I don’t even understand. “You could have anyone, why are you doing this to me?”
“Because you’re one of us, and I never should have let you and your dad leave in the first place. What has happened to you in the last ten years is on me, and I intend to spend the rest of my life making it up to you.”
My heart flutters. He blames himself for what happened to us? That’s just absurd. “You’re not as powerful as you think, K. You couldn’t have stopped what happened. Don’t live your life with that regret. What my life became is on whoever killed my mum. If you really want to help me, help me find who murdered her.”
He runs a shaky hand through his hair. “You’re looking for answers you don’t really want, birdie.”
“What?” I huff out. “Stop trying to act like you know me or have my best interests at heart when we all know you only do shit for yourself. Why wouldn’t I want to know who killed her? I loved my mother, she was a good person, trying to do good things for this town.”
Pity fills his eyes. “Come on, Dove, I know you saw those photos. You know she wasn’t the person she wanted us all to think she was. Shewas just as dirty as my old man, probably more because at least Keller owned it. She was hiding behind a perfect façade. Perfect husband, perfect daughter, perfect mayor, but it was all a lie.”
His words fill me with venom, and before I can stop myself, I slap him across the face as hard as I can. It stings the palm of my hand, but I hardly notice with the anger trembling through me. How dare he.
Kasen falters back, not expecting it, before a deranged smirk glides across his lips as he touches the side of his face where I got him. He’s not right in the head, that’s the only thing I can be sure about.
River steps in between us. “Enough, K, leave her alone.”
“She didn’t deserve to be killed,” I spit back at Kasen.
His glare darkens further, and he tries to shove River back. “Maybe she did. How can you know when the life you all lived together was a lie? You think that night ruined your life, but maybe it freed you from a hell you didn’t know existed yet.”
My glare turns deadly. I hate him. With everything in my being, I hate this man standing in front of me. I want to inflict the same pain he is. I want to destroy him like he is me, but I don’t think that’s possible. He’s dead inside. So instead, I turn away from him. What’s the point in fighting? He thinks he’s right no matter what I say, and I will never agree with him on this. It doesn’t matter what my mum did, she didn’t deserve to be shot for it. Nothing he can say will change my mind.
“Don’t walk away from me,” he calls after me.
“Just let her go, man, you two yelling at each other isn’t going to help the situation,” River tells him, his voice calm.
But in normal Kasen style, he doesn’t listen. I can feel him hot on my heels as I hurry down the hallway to my room.
I try to close my door, but he gets in the way. “Go put something nice on, a dress preferably. You’re coming towork with me.”
I throw a filthy look back at him. “No, I’m going to work with River today.”
He towers over me, deliberately trying to intimidate me. “Not anymore, you’re not. You need a good hard dose of reality.” He shoves a small cardboard box in my direction, one I didn’t notice him holding before. “I came home to give you this.”
