Page 105 of Ruined By Blood
"It was hell," she whispers.
Idon't flinch when three sharp knocks sound on my bedroom door.
"Miss Sterling?" A man's voice calls through the door before it swings open. I never bothered learning his name. "Your father requires your presence in his office immediately."
My heart hammers against my bruised ribs, but I keep my expression blank. "I'll be right there."
He nods, eyes skimming over the bruises on my face without emotion. "I'm to escort you."
Of course he is. No more chances for escape.
I follow him through the familiar halls of my prison, each step sending dull pain through my body. My father's violence is still fresh, but something stronger than pain drives me forward. Hope. For the first time in years, real hope pulses through my veins.
The guard stops at the heavy double doors of my father's office, knocking once before opening them for me. I step inside, and my world shifts on its axis.
My mother stands there.
After years of seeing her only in a drugged stupor, barely recognizing me, she's here. Her face is thinner than I remember, with new lines around her eyes, but it's her. Really her.
"Charlotte." My father's voice cuts through the air like a blade. "Tell your daughter to sit down."
I scan the room quickly, finally spotting Enzo standing to the left of my father's desk. His expression is granite, unreadable to anyone who doesn't know him. But I see the storm in his eyes when they meet mine, taking in every bruise and mark my father left.
"Sienna." My mother's voice is soft but steadier than I expected. "Please sit, sweetheart."
She smiles at me but there's something more there. A warning or message she's trying to convey. Her fingers tremble slightly at her sides, and she's blinking rapidly in a pattern that seems deliberate.
I keep my face expressionless as I cross to the chair she's indicating.
"How touching," my father sneers from behind his desk. "A family reunion."
I catch Enzo's subtle head movement—the barest shake warning me to play along. Something's happening here that I don't fully understand yet.
"Now that we're all here," my father says, "perhaps we can discuss terms like civilized people."
Enzo's eyes haven't left my face since I entered. The bruises must be worse than I thought.
"You put your hands on her." Enzo's voice is deceptively soft, almost conversational, but I recognize the deadly calm beneath it.
My father laughs, the sound empty of any real humor. "She's my daughter. I'll do whatever I please with her."
"Every mark on her body is a debt you'll pay." Enzo stepsforward, his movement fluid and controlled like a predator. "And I collect my debts in blood."
"With one word, everyone in this room is dead." He smirks at my mother. "And I won't give a fuck about the money if I have to choose between it and my life."
The words slip out before I can stop them. "Of course you put yourself above money. A thing you've never done for me or my mother."
My father's attention snaps to me, his eyes narrowing dangerously. "You've developed quite the mouth since your little vacation with the Ferettis."
"I've developed nothing," I say, feeling something break loose inside me. "I've always known what you are. I just never had the courage to say it before."
My father stands, his chair scraping against the hardwood floor. "You ungrateful little?—"
"Choose your next words carefully," Enzo cuts in, his voice dropping to a whisper that somehow fills the entire room. "Very carefully."
The air between them crackles with tension. My father's face flushes with rage, but something in Enzo's eyes makes him hesitate.
"You think you understand what's happening here?" My father laughs bitterly. "You think you can walk into my house and threaten me? I've been playing this game since before you were born, boy."
