Page 83 of Dangerous Games

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I tell him as I try to swallow my panic.

My eyes dance around the room, trying to come up with the best plan that will get me out of here alive.

“Don’t play dumb with me!” He takes another step toward me. “You were always the smartest one. Always too fucking good for us.”

“Too good for you and Mom? Are you fucking kidding me?” I scream, finally losing it. “You should want what’s best for me!”

I’ve tried so hard to make sure I had a better life than I did growing up. He’s acting as if I didn’t share any of that with him. Never in my life have I denied him anything he’s asked for.

“I should have let your mom kill you when she begged me to let her have an abortion,” he sneers. “But nooooooo. I made her keep you. A lot of good that did me. Look at you? You disgust me.”

I flinch from what he just hurled my way. I’ve always known they never wanted me around as a kid, but to hear it is completely different. The hard truth always strikes you where it hurts the most.

“Why are you here?” I croak out. My hands are shaking; I’m so upset. Tears are threatening to fall, but I refuse to let him see me cry over him. “Do you need more money?”

“I’m here because you fucked up. You should have just left everything well alone, but you didn’t. You sent your guard dog sniffing around shit you have no business knowing.”

“Were you ever going to pay me back?” I ask. I know now is the worst possible time to ask, but I need to know the answer. I need him to verbally tell me what I think I’ve known all along.

Dad throws his head back and laughs. “Fuck no. Consider it your payment for letting you live.”

I swallow the emotion that’s threatening to spill out of me. A small part of me was hoping he would prove me wrong. I’m stupid to think otherwise.

“I never want to see you again,” I whisper.

“What?” Dad leans in and cups his hand behind his ear.

“I said I never want to see you again!” I scream as I run toward him, shoving him as hard as I can.

Dad loses his balance and flies backward into the shelves. The shelves rattle as games go flying every which way.

“You fucking bitch!” Dad yells as I run past him, making a beeline for the front door.

My hands slap against the glass as I reach it, breaking me. I yank on the handle, but it doesn’t budge. What the fuck? Who locked this? I quickly flip the deadbolt as I try to control my panic, but it’s not working. I have this pounding sense of dread in my chest that I’m going to die.

I yank the door again. This time it opens. Just as I’m about to run through, I’m yanked back by my hair. Hard. A cry leaves my lips as I fly backwards and land on my ass. My head feels like it’s on fire as a throbbing pain takes its place.

“You’re not going anywhere,” Dad sneers. “You got me into this fucking mess. You’re going to get me out.”

“What mess?” I cry. The tears I was refusing to let him see are pouring down my face in waves. “I didn’t do anything!”

His hand tightens on my hair, pulling until it feels like the strands are ripping out of my head. “You should have let Brian take you. You shouldn’t have asked any questions. None of this would have had to happen,” he rants.

Let Brian take me?

Ice runs through my veins as it all clicks.

The guy from The Drip who was following me. The same guy that Gio found waiting for me outside my apartment.

“You sent someone to kidnap me?” I ask, my own voice unrecognizable.

I feel dead inside. My own flesh and blood, who I’ve helped when I could barely help myself, set me up for god knows what.

“Don’t make it sound like I’m doing something bad. Your daddy racked up a huge debt. Thought the money I got from you would give me some time, but I was wrong. The man I owe money to offered me a deal. Give him you and the debt is cleared.”

My heart is shattered into a million tiny pieces that I don’t think will ever get put back together. “That’s all I’ve ever been to you, isn’t it?” I whisper. I can taste salt on my tongue from the tears pouring down my face.

“What else are kids good for?”