Page 30 of Relentless Sinner
I tremble from deep within and my breath freezes in my lungs, burning inside me even though his words are hard and cold. “How could you be so cruel to me? That’s my dream. I’ve always wanted to be a doctor. Mom was?—”
He raises his hand and slaps me hard across my face. I flinch and stumble backward, grabbing my face. “Don’t you dare talk about your mother. You are not her. You willneverbeher. Just make sure you don’t fuck this up by running away again. I need you to stay put. Do you hear me?”
He comes at me again with his hand raised.
He’s about to deliver another blow when someone grabs him.
No. Not justsomeone. It’s Jaxon.
Jaxon grabs Dad and flips him around, then he looks at my face and sees that I’m holding it.
The area stings but I’m pale skinned so anyone would be able to see that I’ve been hit.
“Did you seriously hit her?” Jaxon yells at Dad and lands a solid punch in his face.
“You motherfucker. She’s my daughter. I can do whatever?—”
Jaxon serves him another punch then grabs him by the neck and shoves him hard up against the wall. The next thing I know, he pulls his gun out and places it at Dad’s temple. My mouth hits the floor and my stomach plummets.
Jaxon cocks the hammer on the gun and gives Dad a psychotic smile, tapping the butt of the gun on his cheek. “Goahead, De Costa. Try to fight me in front of your daughter so I can slaughter you.”
“Let go…” Dad sputters, trying to catch his breath.
“Not gonna fight? Okay, then how about you apologize to Gabriella?”
Oh my God. What is he doing? My father apologize? To me?
I watch in horror as Jaxon squeezes Dad’s neck harder. Dad looks pale and like he might pass out. Ordie.
“Jaxon, stop.” I grab his arm and tug but he doesn’t look at me. “Jaxon.”
“Your fatherneedsto apologize. Now.”
“I’m … sorry,” Dad coughs, his voice barely audible.
Jaxon releases him and Dad drops to the ground, spluttering and coughing.
“Get the fuck up.” Jaxon kicks his leg and waves the gun in front of his face, showing the threat of death is still there.
Dad gets up, swaying, then he casts me a hateful look.
“Get out of here,” Jaxon growls. “YA ub'yu tebya i skormlyu sobakam.”
I don’t know what the hell that means but it sounds scary. Jaxon continues shouting at Dad in Russian and sneering. Dad seems to understand what Jaxon is saying because his skin turns even paler than before. I didn’t think it was possible.
“Get out.” Jaxon points at the door.
Dad casts another loathing look at me before he sets his shoulders back and walks out.
I stare at him, watching him leave. I’m shaking and I feel like shit, inside and out.
My face stings and my insides are hollow, as if some part of my essence has been drained away and replaced with a void. At the same time I realize that today my father finally met his match.
In the past no one would dare challenge him. They always feared what he might do to them. Jaxon was not like that. He would have killed Dad without a second thought.
Eve appears at the door and gasps when she looks at my face. “What happened?”
“Eve get some ice,” Jaxon replies and turns back to look at me.