Page 69 of Cruel Deception
“I’m fine,” I said, uneasy. “Actually, I think I should go now.”
He raised a brow. “So soon? Leaving because of Cassian?”
I forced a smile. “No. I just have things to do.”
“Sit,” he said, suddenly firmer.
I blinked. “Why?”
“I said... sit.” This time, the command wasn’t masked. It snapped like a whip.
My heart dropped.
What the hell?
“I’m leaving,” I said, standing.
But then he stepped closer.
“You think you can leave? Make it to your car? Escape this estate?” His smile twisted. “Do you think I’d let you?”
“Luca... what’s going on? You’re scaring me.”
His hand cracked across my cheek—so hard, I stumbled.
Shock crashed over me. I held my face, the sting blooming like fire.
“You stood at that altar,” he hissed, “and said yes to a man who wasn’t even your groom—because of some stupid threat? You should’ve walked down that aisle!”
“How could you!” I gasped, my hand still pressed to the burning skin of my cheek.
Then another figure stepped into the room—from the shadows.
My stomach dropped.
“Father?”
He stormed toward me. “Don’t call me that, you disgrace,” he spat, seizing my wrist and yanking me down to my knees. “You’ve always been weak—like your mother.”
Tears welled in my eyes. Not from the pain. From the betrayal.
This was a trap.
I’d walked right into it.
My father yanked my hair so hard I screamed. Pain exploded across my scalp like fire. But I refused to beg. Not for him. Not for anyone.
Someone else stepped forward from the corridor.
Thiago.
The man who said he was heading to Chicago. The man I believed was going to help me find my mother.
“You...” I whispered, my voice cracking. “I thought you left.”
He didn’t reply. Just stood there with a blank, stone-like face. All of it—a lie. The search. The help. The kindness.
The realization cracked something inside me.
