Page 126 of Hexed
I reach out and grab a glass vase filled with flowers, then slam it on the ground at his feet. “Don’t lie to me!” My voice comes out shrill and high.
His eyes widen slightly, and he backs up a space now.
“Tell me the truth, for once in your fucking life.”
“The truth,” he says slowly. “The truth…okay, Venesa. You want the truth? Your father was a no-good drunk who owed me money and didn’t pay, and I saw an opportunity. My sister was worthless, but our daddy loved her like the moon loves the tides, and even after she cut us all off, hestillwanted to give her everything, like a fool.”
I shake my head. “You are really just a pathetic, jealous old man, aren’t you?”
He reaches out and backhands me, his gold rings cutting into the side of my lip.
Fury burns through me, but shock keeps me in place, my palm coming up to clutch at the spot he hit.
“Don’t speak on things you know nothing about, little one.” He steps on top of the shattered glass, the crunch of it loud in the otherwise quiet room. “I didn’t kill your momma. But I sure as hell made sure she was dead.”
“Who was it?” I whisper, still clutching my cheek.
“The Atlantis MC, of course. The men you’ve been working with for the past few years.” He laughs, one of his brows rising—challenging me to do something. But I stumble back instead, my body hitting the wall. My hand moves from my face and clutchesat my chest now because I can’t breathe, I can’tbreathe, and he’s slowly suffocating me with his truths.
“Did you ever actually love me?” I force out, although it’s hard from the knot that’s lodged in the center of my throat.
He’s silent.
I huff out a laugh and shake my head. “All these years, and you’ve just been using me.”
“I gave you ahome,you ungrateful little bitch,” he calls me again. “You are who you arebecauseof me.” He slams his fist against his chest. “Get out of my house. Get out of my state.”
My eyes grow wide. “What?”
“You’re finished here. Do you understand?”
“Uncle T, I…”
He levels me with his stony stare. “You don’t deserve the Kingston name, and you’re no family of mine.”
I let out a sarcastic laugh, anger quickly replacing my heartache, and I grasp it, letting it fill me like gasoline and set ablaze the raging inferno inside.
God, I’ve been so blind. So ignorant.
“You said I am who I am because of you,” I whisper, pressing my nails into the insides of my hands until red drips down my fingers.
I step forward, my heart pulsing with rage and vengeance until its inky poison pumps through my veins like blood.
“Just wait until you see who I become in spite of you.”
Pushing past him, I walk out the door.
I walk out of his life.
For good.
THIRTY-FOUR
VENESA
“So, you’re skipping town?”Fisher asks, leaning against the corner of my vanity and flicking a Zippo lighter open and closed.
“On orders of the king,” I joke, although the sentiment falls flat.
