Page 47 of Dragon Touched
“No.” A scream ripped free of her parted lips. She struggled to loosen the tight grip from her head.
“What are you waiting for, Vito?” Lorenzo continued to use her as a shield and kept his body out of Fin’s line of sight. “Shoot the asshole.”
Her father’s cold eyes turned on his daughter.
For a moment, Sacha remembered being a small child and riding atop his back as he pretended to be a pony. Those were happy times filled with sunshine and innocence. But he was no longer that man.
“Sacha.” He sighed. “That freak doesn’t love you.” One hand motioned in Fin’s direction. “He’s out for revenge for what I did. That’s all you are to him—a payback and a way home. I told you there’s no such thing as love—only power.”
She searched Fin’s face. Her eyes willed him to deny the ugly words.
Hands still outstretched, Fin’s stare cut away before turning in her direction again. His brows furrowed, and his entire body shook.
Sacha could feel the unseen power building, like a static charge rising in intensity.
“How pathetic.” Lorenzo chuckled and loosened his hold. “What do you see in this hobo?”
Red irises met her brown ones. “Sacha.” He took a deep breath, and his body seemed to stabilize. His voice was quiet, the accent sharp. “That’s not entirely true, love. I—”
She could see the truth in his eyes. He’d planned on using her as a pawn in some sick revenge scheme.
“You knew who I was all along, who my father was?” She took a step toward him but stopped. “And thetest? What a joke.”
“Princess—”
“Don’t call me that.” She closed the distance between them and slapped his cheek. The sound reached the tall ceiling and echoed against the rafters.
“Fine.” He squeezed his eyes shut for a few seconds, then refocused. “Yes, I knew who you were, I wanted revenge, and I wanted to go home—back to myrealhome.” His jaws clenched. “But I—”
The cock of a gun clicked in the airy chamber.
His attention whipped to the two men, and white fire shot from his hands.
Everything seemed to happen in slow motion, and Sacha turned to see both her captors tumble to the floor like two planks of wood.
“Pops.” She took two steps toward her father but stopped. His chest moved up and down. Fin hadn’t killed him—yet. This was her chance to escape, to leave and never look back.
Fin stepped behind her and threw his palms against the naked skin of her shoulders. “Iwantto kill him, but I won’t.”
Heat from his fingers curled over her cool flesh. He leaned next to her, and his breath tickled her ear and neck, inciting goosebumps.
“You want to know why?”
“No.” She shook her head and wiped her cheeks. “I don’t care.” A lump was in her throat.
In the blink of an eye, she was losing everything; her father, her mother all over again, and now, the man who’d begun to wind his way into her heart. Gone, it was all gone.
“Well, Idocare.” His hot grip flipped her around, and he brought his face level to hers. “Because, for the first time in years, I want something more than home or revenge.”
His thumbs traced lazy circles under her jaw, and he shook her gently.
Hewasa wizard—the proof was everywhere. In his actions, in his eyes, and in the blazing fire from his body. She knew she should question her sanity right now, but shock from Pop’s confession in killing Mamma—and Fin’s admittance to using her as a game piece—overrode the need to examine her current state of mind.
When her mother died six years ago, part of her entire childhood had disappeared, and now she knew the truth. It wasn’t a random act that snuffed her lifeforce out, but a jealous husband.
She glanced over her shoulder at the slumbering men. Her father had killed two people because of love. He’d disfigured a kid out of spite. Vito Ninette deserved death for those actions alone, and who knew how many others he’d maimed or murdered over the years? Yet he was still her father.
Maybe the man was incapable of love, but she still remembered him as he was when she was a child. Eyes opened to the truth, though, she wanted nothing more to do with him. He was a cruel monster covered by human skin.
