Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 79261 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79261 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
I spun, almost knocked on my ass…
Because Sloan was holding the gun.
SLOAN
One second, I stood there ready to die, and the next, my brothers were aiming their guns at our father and Luke was tackling his ass to the ground.
I didn’t know if it was instant relief or instant survival.
Maybe it was fight or flight.
Before I knew what I was doing, I snatched Nav’s gun from the back of his jeans and didn’t wait for one second to pull the trigger.
“You fucking bitch!” he slurred, falling to his side.
My chest heaved.
My nostrils flared.
But my body stopped shaking.
I didn’t have time to register what had happened. He was finally unarmed, and it was all I ever wanted and dreamed about.
“What the fuck?” he huffed, and he puffed. “Grab her!”
X winked at me, Nav nodded, and Luke just stood there with my father’s gun in his hand.
“I want to start by saying…” X smiled wide at me. “I need an Academy Award for my goddamn performance.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” our father let out, sitting up against the wall with his hand over the hole in his stomach.
“When I showed up last night and these two…” X gestured toward Nav and Luke. “Caught me up on their plan. I’m not going to lie, I was a little skeptical you’d actually fall for it. I mean, you’re supposed to be smarter than that, but fuck, what do I know?”
His expression turned demonic.
Nav stepped toward X. “But you forget that his ego is bigger than his fucking brain.”
“You piece of shit! You motherfuckers!” He reached for his cell phone, and I didn’t waver.
I shot his hand.
“Ahhh!” he cried out in pain, making me smile.
Nobody paid him any mind.
“You guys didn’t think I needed in on that?” I immediately asked.
Nav walked toward me and then with the back of his fingers, he caressed my bruised cheek. “We couldn’t risk you fucking it up.”
I moved my face away from his touch. “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”
“Hey!” X hollered, bringing our attention back to him. “But look how we make it up to you?” He motioned to our father, only looking at me. “You’re so very welcome.”
I resisted the urge to chuckle since this wasn’t a laughing matter.
At least not for me.
My intense stare shifted to Luke who was now leaning against the far wall with his wounded leg. It was the first time I saw pure vengeance in his eyes. Though it wasn’t geared toward me, it was for me.
“Darlin’, he coaxed. “It’s time you make your voice heard.”
I couldn’t believe he remembered my exact words to him.
With that, X showed me a knife in his hand, and my gaze lit up like a Christmas tree. Grabbing it out of his grasp, I made my way toward the man who’d only ever hurt me.
“Sloan…” Dad warned with fear in his eyes.
“Do you remember the night you watched him steal my virginity?”
“Sloan…”
“I remember thinking that there would come a day when you would watch me kill you with the same pleasure on my face that you had when I was screaming for you to help me.” My eyes welled with tears. “Do you remember, Papi?” I goaded my agony. “Me screaming for you while you watched and didn’t do a damn thing?”
Two tears fell out of my eyes. “Come on, Daddy… tell me you remember how much I bled?”
“Sloan, you know I love you…”
“You don’t know the meaning of the word.” I crouched down to his face to straddle his body and sit on his injured stomach. “You always loved it when I sat on your lap?” I reminded, throwing all my weight on him. “Do you love it right now?”
He gasped, wailing from the pain I inflicted.
“Do you remember my mother at all? Do you ever think about her? Ever feel guilt? Do you ever feel anything?”
“Baby—”
I stabbed him in his dick, and he instantly howled in agony. He almost rolled over, but I held him in place.
“Did you feel that?” I cocked my head to the side as if I’d lost my mind, and in a way, I did. “Because I sure as shit did.”
With a deranged glare, I moved my face from side to side, breathing in his misery. I wanted it to become a part of me.
“Papi, tell me how much you love me…”
“I lov—”
I stabbed him in the chest, and he coughed up blood. Simply feeding my soul he stole from me when I was eleven years old.
Thinking back on a time that made me as happy as I was right then, I sang my mom’s favorite nursery rhyme she used to sing to us as children, “The itsy-bitsy spider went up the water spout…”
She said to always be like the spider, that no matter what, we always try to leave the water spout. The thought alone brought more tears out of my eyes.