Page 66 of Lawless
Be a good little girl for Daddy, Alana.
I’m jerked back, my heart somersaults as my stomach revolts again when a strong set of arms band around me, pinning me back against a hard body.
“That’s cute, Maverick. Real fucking cute,” he taunts, his hot breath rushing over my ear and down my neck, making my skin itch with disgust. “You always were trouble, weren’t you, Alana? Nothing like your little obedient sister.”
“Don’t you dare talk about Kristie,” I sneer. The sound of her name rolling off his lips forces me to find my fight, and I put into practice everything Mav has ever taught me in an attempt to break free.
“Doll,” he shouts, lunging for me, but Razor and Victor are on him before he even gets close.
“Get your dirty fucking hands off of her,” he demands. “She’s mine. Not yours.” Spittle flies from Mav’s mouth as he glares pure death at my father. The man who single-handedly started this nightmare that is my life.
I fight like I’ve never fought before, but it’s not enough. He’s too strong for me. Well, that’s what I decide to go with, the alternative of my body submitting to his after all the years of abuse is just too much to handle right now.
“That’s enough, whore,” Dad barks before I’m suddenly released from his grip, but the relief is so brief I almost immediately wonder if it even existed before his hand flies toward my face and he backhands me so hard, everything goes black.
Maverick
“NOOO,” I roar, lunging forward in the hope I can break free of the hands holding me back.
One-on-one, I could take both of them without breaking a sweat, I’ve no doubt. They might be old, but they’re still very much in shape. But two against one, they have the edge.
“You have no fucking right to touch her,” I bellow, staring in horror as a trickle of blood runs from her eyebrow.
An inferno rages inside me and just before I manage to slip free of them, Kurt pulls a gun from his waistband and aims at his daughter.
“Stop or I’ll end it right now.”
My blood runs cold as fear like I’ve never experienced turns my entire body to ice.
I fall deathly still, the only part of me that continues to move is my heaving chest as I hold Kurt’s eyes.
“Let her go,” I repeat. “Take me. I’ll give you anything you need if you let her walk away.”
All three of them laugh darkly as if what I just said was the funniest thing they’ve ever heard.
I look around at the place we’d found our solace the last few days. The place where we’d finally given ourselves to each other. But it’s no longer the cabin that brought us peace and happiness. Now it’s tainted with pain and nightmares, just like everything else in our lives.
“It’s cute how much you love her, Son. Truly. It’s admirable. Some might say it makes you a better man. But that isn’t us.
“She makes you weak.” He snarls, his fingers still digging into my upper arms.
“Just look at everything you’ve done because of her.”
“You’ve betrayed us,” Victor spits. “You’ve lied to us. You’ve colluded against us.”
“You don’t know anything,” I scoff. “All we want is a new life. A fresh start as husband and wife away from here.”
“And is that how you ended up with my son? Because you wanted to break free? A man you hate,” Victor demands.
“The men I hate are standing right here in this room. You and any others who have hurt my wife.”
“Reid hurt your wife, did he not?”
My teeth grind as I think of what he did to her. But none of it, not one single part of what Reid did even comes close to what they did to her. How they corrupted her. How they broke her.
“No?” Victor taunts. “Did he just use her up and spit her out like the whore she is.”
I barely recognize the furious roar that bounces off the walls around us as my own. His words give me the final bit of strength I need to finally rip free of their grasps.