Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 60482 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 302(@200wpm)___ 242(@250wpm)___ 202(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60482 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 302(@200wpm)___ 242(@250wpm)___ 202(@300wpm)
“You coward. Hiding behind my fucking back, around my daughter like a goddamn snake.” He lunges, grabs the collar of Travis’s shirt, rips him toward him. “This is how you repay me? I gave you everything, Phoenix. Without me, you’d never fucking be where you are.”
My chest feels caved in. I throw myself at them both, wedge between their bodies, press my palm to Dad’s chest, and push with all I have. Enough to slow him. “Stop, right now. I mean it. If I matter at all, you will stop.” The words are sandpaper in my throat, lost under the clatter of rain on the mailbox, the porch, the world.
Chief glares down at me. The fury is there, but so is the betrayal, deep as an open wound. “Get inside.” He jerks his chin toward the door. “Now, Violet.”
“No, I’m not leaving. You’ll kill him.” My legs are trembling, but I hold my ground, make my voice go cold. “You don’t get to do this. I love him.” The words come out huge, bigger than I planned. They ring in the air, echo off the driveway.
For a second, no one moves.
Chief drops his fist. Just lets it hang, loose, like the fight got wrung out of him in a single breath. The rain has plastered his hair to his head, made him look scarier. He takes a step back, just a small one. “You love him?” The words are nothing, not even a question.
It’s almost like he’s horrified.
“I have always loved him.” My voice cracks.
Travis is breathing hard, but he straightens, wipes the blood from his chin. “I love her too. I always have. I’d die for her, Chief.”
Chief just looks at him.
I can feel the weight of it, the years behind that stare, how many times I watched it freeze grown men where they stood. It lands on Travis like a chain.
“Bullshit.” Chief’s mouth is curled, split where his lip hit Travis’s tooth. “You lied to me. Played me both like I was just... nothing. Years in my house, at my table, and you didn’t even fucking flinch.”
Travis stands his ground, but I can see his hands shaking. “It wasn’t like that. I fucked up, yeah, but none of this was fake. Not for me. I never meant to—”
Chief spits blood out like it’s poison. Then he looks at me, and everything slows to a crawl. There’s nothing about his face that’s soft, not like when he used to hold me after nightmares, or when he’d pat my hair and call me baby girl. This is a hard man, looking at the wreckage of his own goddamn heart. “You think I wanted any of this for you?”
He’s talking to me now, not even pretending otherwise.
“You think I wanted you with someone like him? You were supposed to get out. Get away from all this. And you pick the one scumbag who could ruin you the fastest?”
Travis flinches.
“Dad, please.” I taste rain, salt, and fear.
My legs are trembling so badly I can barely stand.
Chief laughs, but it’s just a snap of air, no joy in it at all. “Don’t.” He turns on Travis again. “I trusted you. I let you into my family. I saved your fucking life.”
“I never wanted to hurt you.” Travis glances at me, like I’m the only thing holding him up. “I’d do anything to fix this. I appreciate everything you’ve ever done for me.”
Chief snorts, the noise savage. “You can start by getting the fuck off my property. Out of my sight. If you ever come near her again, I swear to God—”
I step in front of Travis, my arms out. “No. Absolutely not. You don’t get to just erase him. I love him. I want him. That’s my choice, not yours.”
He looks at me, and for the first time in my life, I see my father’s hands start to shake. “You want to go with him?” His voice is quiet, deadly. “Go.”
Wind blows the rain straight into my eyes. I blink, but I can’t clear my vision. “Daddy,” I rasp. “Please don’t make me choose, because I will choose him.”
I don’t even recognize my voice, cracked and small.
Chief flinches, and I can see the hurt wash over his face, like I have just taken his heart and ripped it into a thousand pieces. “If you leave now, Violet, don’t come back.”
The words land like a bullet.
Travis’s hand finds my arm, but he says nothing.
I look at my father and all I see is a man standing before me, daring me not to break his heart. “Please, Daddy.” My eyes burn. I can’t breathe, can’t move. If I blink, I’ll fall apart. “Don’t do this.”
Chief doesn’t flinch, doesn’t blink.
The tiniest twitch in his jaw, and then he’s done.
He turns and walks inside, the slam of the door rattling the windows.