Page 202 of Drown My Sorrow

“I’ll be right back. Just stay here.”

“Where are you going?”

Kelly smiles ruthlessly. “No one messes with the Daane.”

He gets out and reaches into the back, pulling out a baseball bat. I watch in amazement as he trashes the fuck out of their motorbikes. When they try to stop him, one of them gets hit so savagely with a bat that he collapses on the ground, holding his shoulder. It takes thirty minutes for Kelly to cool his rage.

He returns to the car, and we resume our journey.

We get on the plane, and Shale holds me in his lap as we say goodbye to the island that has been home to us for years. We won’t be coming back.

And I’m okay with that.

Chapter fifty-two

Kelly

KellyAged31

I stare at my father and wish I could do anything, say anything to make this better, but I can’t.

The private investigator can’t find her, and I’ve hired twelve. It’s like she was just erased from existence.

My dad looks like an older version of me. I’m supposed to be on my way to Black Valley, but my father’s sudden appearance has stopped it.

“Son.”

I stare at him, unwilling to bend. Ezy rests his face against my upper arm and stares at my dad. It’s not aggressive, but it’s comforting, and it definitely shows I’m not going anywhere without him, which is just as well.

“I don’t have time for this, I have a competition-"

“Make time!” My dad thunders, surprising me. He doesn’t usually use that tone. “You ran away from home, no word, just vanished. Just talk to me, Kelly, just one conversation.”

I can’t.

Typhor is still here on the island. I can’t risk it. He might know where she is, he might not, but nothing is worth risking her life over.

“No. I’m busy.” My words are curt and harsh.

“Don’t do this, Kelly.”

I’ve never seen my father cry, but he starts now. I’m so close to turning back, but I see that tiny girl in the café in my mind, and I see her as I’ve imagined for years, lying eyes forever open as her body rots in a gutter where Typhor promised he would leave her.

“I have to,” I spit out furiously. “You don’t understand. You didn’t teach us what the world was really like. Dad, you didn’t even prepare us. This is what it is, Dad. Me walking away because I don’t want to be who you told me to be. I’m sick of trying to live up to the Raines' name. I hate that you all put all that pressure on me!”

My father flinches. “Kelly, no, that’s not what-”

“Go home, Dad, and be happy you still have one son who loves you.”

Oh, the toxic poison that spews out of my mouth.

“Kell,” Ezy says in warning.

I look at my father, a man I love and respect more than any other, and I do what I did to her. I break him.

“I don’t want to see you ever again.”

I turn and walk away, feeling like I’m shattering inside.

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