Page 2 of Blazing Desires
“There, all better now. Run along to your room and I’ll get some food sent up.”
He smooths back my auburn curls with his hands and kisses my forehead like he hasn’t just hit my jaw hard enough to send it into the next realm.
What I would give to cut those hands off.
I nod and turn to leave his office as he walks back to his large desk.
I fucking hate that desk. One day I’ll burn it to the ground.
“I love you so much, sweetheart. I just want what’s best for you, you know that.”
His words are sickly sweet and innocent as he calls out after me. I don’t stop or turn to deliver my reply.
“Love you too, Dad.”
Would love to tear you apart.
I leave him to his work and walk back to my room. It’s dull, it always is around here. My cheek is throbbing and my arms tingle from where he’d been gripping me. I have no doubts the skin is blooming into dark bruises as I walk.
The silence from the bodyguard who escorts me back to my room is suffocating. He had to have heard my father shouting. He had to realise that my dad’s the one who split my skin and left the darkening bruise on my cheek, but hesaysnothing. Hedoesnothing.
You’re just as bad as my father.
It is Groundhog Day. My father shouting and striking me has become a routine between us. He uses any excuse he can find to punish me, all while his staff ignore it as if it never happened. It’s been this way for the last two decades. I know better than to let hope that things can change sprout, because it always ends up trampled and forced back into the ground before the sunlight can reach it to help it grow.
Iwake in a panic, my heart hammering in my chest and my skin clammy. My arms and face pulse where the bruising has spread from my father’s strike. I reach over to my bedside table for my phone to check the time.
4:45 AM
Rubbing my eyes, I pull off the covers. There’s no point in trying to get back to sleep now, because I’ll only end up tossing and turning until I give up. I kill a few hours reading in bed until a reasonable hour to eat rolls around.
My dear daddy wasn’t lying when he’d told me I couldn’t leave my room. I have to ask for my breakfast, and one small slice of toast is the only option I’m given. It’s bland even with the mountain of jam I pile onto it.
The day is grey and I’m willing to bet a raging storm is approaching, a reflection of how I’m feeling internally. I have a sinking feeling today will be no better than yesterday.
How depressing.
I’m lounging in the deep cushions of my sofa with a soft, white, faux fur blanket draped over me when a loud knock on my door makes me jump out of my skin, the book on my lap falling to the floor. My hand flies to my pounding heart to try and settle it. The security guard stationed outside my door only knocks like that if I’m being summoned to my father’s office.
Ugh, this day isnotbetter than yesterday.
I stand with a huff and square my shoulders in preparation for the bad news, annoyed I have to leave my cosy cocoon. But it’s best to get it out of the way and not keep my father waiting unless I want him to continue painting my body with bruises.
I open the door to find Noel, one of my father’s favourites, smiling at me with too many crooked teeth on display. He’s older than me by a few years. His average height and slim build show off his bulging stomach, a sure sign he drinks too much beer, while his nose is a little too big for his face. He’s always looking down it when he speaks to me—from the first day he joined the team and was stationed outside my room, he’s made it clear he doesn’t like me and that it’s his personal goal to make my life more miserable than it already is.
He gives me the creeps.
He believes the rumours that inevitably spread when no one tried to stop them. The previous guy stationed outside of my door was fired for trying to sell information to a rival company. Once Dad found out, he beat the shit out of him and blacklisted him for being a snitch. No security company would ever hire him again. Nobody ever evenheardfrom him again from what I’ve gathered.
But even now, when anyone new joins, the rumours are the first thing the team shares with them—a warning to anyone coming in that I’ll be their downfall.
‘I heard she slept with him and then claimed he attacked her.’
‘Well, I heard they were dating, and she found out he was married and got him fired.’
“She seduced him, pretended her towel dropped, and exposed her naked body so he couldn’t resist.’
It’s all bullshit, but the drama is more exciting for them than the truth. The security detail bitch and gossip more than high schoolers do.
