It could bemydeath sentence. Our people didn’t look too kindly on the daughter of a traitor.
I shook my head.
I needed to tell someone.
Elio and Valentino. They needed to know.
I moved back, trying to get out of there before I was caught, but when I stepped back, a creak came from the floorboard beneath me.
I froze as everything in me went into fight-or-flight mode.
Dad’s voice cut off sharply. Then, “I have to go.”
He hung up the phone. I told myself to run out of there and looked at the front door.
I could make a run for it. Would he be able to catch up to me? Or was it better to pretend I didn’t hear what he had been saying?
A shadow loomed over me.
Too late.
I looked up to his dark eyes, a small gasp escaping my lips when I got a good look at his face.
He was injured. There were scratches on his face, and they looked new, like they had happened last night. But what was more unnerving was the stench of alcohol on his breath.
I blinked.
“What are you doing here, you little bitch?”
My mouth opened, but nothing came out. I couldn’t seem to make the words form and just shook my head.
He grabbed a fistful of my hair and pulled me back into the living room. I let out a scream in pain, my hands coming up to his grip, hoping that would get him to loosen it. It didn’t.
He threw me on the floor in the middle of the room.
“How much did you hear?”
“Nothing, I swear,” I cried out.
“You dirty fucking liar!” he screamed, pulling his leg back and kicking me in the stomach. I doubled over, the air expelling from my lungs.
I let out a pained groan as Dad bent down until his face was mere inches from mine. “Let’s try this again. Tell me what you fucking heard? I thought I raised you better, girl. Don’t you know not to fucking eavesdrop?”
I shook my head. “I didn’t?—”
He slapped my face.
A ringing sounded in my ear, the sound sharp and incessant.
My vision blurred, and my mind became fuzzy.
“Don’t fucking lie to me,” he said, his eyes wide and bloodshot.
He was going to kill me.
He looked like he wanted to kill me, and there was no one here to stop him.
This was it. I was going to die.
