Page 66 of One Quick Obsession

But then a large hand covered my mouth, and I kicked out.

“Shut up. Just shut up.”

I froze, knowing that voice.

The same voice that had echoed throughout my nightmares since I had been a little girl. The same voice that had broken my mother.

“That’s a good girl,” he whispered.

The fact that it was the same words that Hudson had used made me want to throw up.

“Now. You’re going to be the girl that I raised, and do as I say.”

I had dropped my phone, and with the door closed behind him, nobody would truly be able to hear me if I screamed. That’s when I realized something sharp pressed against my lower back, and tears threatened.

He was going to kill me. I didn’t know what he wanted, but he had something sharp against my back, and this man was going to kill me.

“Now, I know you have a safe in here, or a way to get cash. You’re going to get me that. And then I’ll leave. I’ll leave your mom and your sister and everyone else alone. But you’re here with these little Cages now. You’ve got access to money. I want my due. I’m the one that raised you and now you owe me.”

Bile rose up my throat as his words played in my head. He hadn’t raised me. He’d done nothing but beat my mother and threaten Luna and me my entire life. His demented worldview made him think that he was owed just for us surviving childhood.

And I hated him.

“Now I’m going to lower my hand, and you’re not going to scream. You can feel this knife, can’t you? You’ve always been my smart girl. Just remember that. I’ll do what I have to. Don’t make me angry.”

He was a narcissistic selfish asshole, and I wasn’t going to let him break me. And yet everything hurt. My heart, my head.

Every ounce of the soul and strength that remained within me.

“We don’t have cash here. That’s not how the resort works.”

“Don’t fucking lie to me. I know you’re fucking that Cage, who has money from being a bitchy artist or something. Pansy.”

“I don’t have his money here either.” He pulled on my hair, and I held back a scream as the knife dug in slightly. A sharp sensation slammed into me, and warmth spread on my side.

“Fuck. You’re fine. I only broke the skin. You’re fine.”

My lips trembled. He was really going to kill me. He didn’t care about me at all and was truly going to kill me if I didn’t do what he wanted.

“Now, tell me where the money is.”

“It’s not in here but I can get it.”

“Don’t lie to me.”

I risked everything and began to turn. His hand let go of my hair, and I let out a breath, grateful that he let me face him.

His eyes were bloodshot, and he looked a decade older than he was. While my mom had aged thanks to the terror that he had put her through, drugs and alcohol had taken everything else from my father. And yet he had looked so charismatic even weeks before. He had fallen into something hard since, and I wanted to feel bad about it. But all I wanted him to do was to vanish from my life.

“Okay. It’s in the room next door, where our financial officer is.”

All lies, and I had to hope my father couldn’t see through them.

He narrowed his gaze, and terror slid through my veins.

“I’ll be right behind you.”

I nodded, wondering what the hell I was going to do now. I took a step past him, aware that the knife was close, and hoping to hell that the cut on my side wasn’t too deep. Then he was behind me, the knife right against where he’d already cut me, and I moved a little quicker, trying to get away.