Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 80261 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 401(@200wpm)___ 321(@250wpm)___ 268(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80261 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 401(@200wpm)___ 321(@250wpm)___ 268(@300wpm)
“Yes, I do. Prison is too good for you. It’s the only way I’ll be free of you.”
It was the first time I had ever seen pure fear cross my father’s face, finally comprehending he was truly going to fucking die. Never expecting it to come from the hands of his own only son.
His fucking prodigy.
“Look me in the eyes, motherfucker,”
He didn’t falter.
“You got any last words? I should have done this when I was kid! Maybe then my mother wouldn’t be six feet under.”
“Yes, she would you good for nothing ungrateful shit!” I never expected his next confession, “You think I wouldn’t have found out you were stealing my drugs from my club? What’s even better than knowing you’re just like me is how fucking good you were at it!”
“The fuck,” I rasped, listening intently.
“You’re my son! You stand by me not her! I did what I had to do!”
“Billy—”
“The only reason she ran that red light is because I cut the brake line on her car. I needed to get rid of her to have you! She was always so fucking protective over you when you were mine too! It’s the only reason I wanted you!”
I didn’t just jerk back, I stumbled.
“Oh my God.”
There was a familiar feeling lingering in the air, burning into my senses. Where it would forever be etched in my skin. Except this memory would be the first one that would never, ever, fucking haunt me.
“Yeah, Chase. All this time you’ve blamed yourself and it worked out in my favor. I knew she’d never be okay with you dealing drugs, doing shit for me, so I killed her in order to have you.”
I lunged at him, grabbing him by the throat, slamming his back into the wall as hard as I could. I knocked the wind out of him, causing a loud gasp of air to escape his mouth.
I cocked my arm back, shouting, “You son of a bitch!” clocking in him the face, not once but three times before he even got the last word out, sending his body to the ground with blood gushing from his nose.
He laughed, spitting up crimson red onto the ground, trying to hold up his head, pinching his nose.
“After everything! What the fuck is wrong with you?”
He chuckled, leaning his back up against the wall, wiping the blood from his nose with the back of his hand.
“Whatever it takes.”
I kicked him in the stomach as hard as I could. He immediately peeled over to his side.
My chest heaved.
My eyes burned.
All I saw was fucking red.
Rage couldn’t even come close to describing how I felt in that moment. It took over every last fiber of my being.
“For what?! To make me loyal to you? That’s what this is about!” I shouted, kicking him three more times.
He groaned, clenching his stomach. Coughing up blood from the blows I was delivering with my boot.
“Get up! Get up, motherfucker!”
“Hayes, I—”
When he didn’t, I gripped onto his neck and stood him up instead.
“I should choke you with my bare hands.”
I hit him in the face, in the stomach, and then in ribs.
Over this bullshit.
His lies.
His truths.
He keeled over again, thinking I was done. We were both panting heavily, sweating profusely with nothing but his blood dripping off his face and body. Our eyes never wavered from one another, wild and brazen, taking each other in.
He loosened up his shirt, and brought it up to his face to wipe the blood running into his left eye from the open gash above his brow.
It reminded me of Haven’s scar.
His chest heaved as he pulled off his shirt, throwing it to the side.
It was then I realized it wasn’t over.
It was far from fucking over.
I hovered above his beaten face and body, mirroring the way he used to loom over my mother.
My body swayed.
Ny head throbbed.
Pain radiated everywhere.
Groaning into the ground, he spit up more blood, holding onto his side. I continued to forcefully pant, trying to get my heart from pounding out of my chest. I blinked through the agony of what he revealed.
His face was void of any emotion. For the first time I stared at the man who killed my mother. All this time, I thought it was me. The years I spent under his control were for nothing.
Not one damn thing.
Looking at him with nothing but disgust in my eyes, I sneered, “This is for my mother.”
Cocking my gun, I locked eyes with him for a split second. Needing him to know it was me who was putting him to ground.
“Hayes, no—”
I blew his fucking head off.
My father wasn’t the only one I put to ground that day.
My demons were gone.
He took them with him.
Thirty-Nine
Haven
It had been two months since the last time I saw Hayes. He didn’t call, no texts, no emails, absolutely no communication whatsoever. Graduation was in a few weeks and as much as I wanted to go overseas and keep the plan I had with my mom—it wasn’t going to happen.