Page 142 of Fighting With Light
His hand squeezes my arm tighter and holds it at an angle until my arm is about to pop out of its socket. “Nothing happened to it. My daughter isn’thelping the family. So I’m forced to do something if she is no longer useful to me. For the sake of thefamily,” he spits.
I rip my arm from his hold and take a step back.
“You are evil. You are a selfish, disgusting, philandering, sorry excuse for a man, you have no—”
The hit comes faster than I can block it. His large hand with rings on it hits the side of my face so hard my ears ring. I stumble back, pressing my hand to my face, and the tears involuntarily burst from my eyes and stream down my face.
Of all the things my father has done, he has never hit me. I’m too stunned to respond, and he waves his hand, dismissing me. The guard grabs me, and I yank away, wishing I had a knife so I could make good on my threat, but I don’t, and I’m too stunned to speak.
The guard closes my door, and I flip the lock, collapsing onto my bed and cry. I let myself cry for everything that has gone wrong for all the beautiful moments my father has taken from me and continues to steal. I’ll never have the mother I needed, or brothers that love me enough to defy their loyalty to him despite their natures to rebel. They love me, but they will choose the family, the Costa empire, over me every time. They have fought and bled for this, too. The irony is not lost on me.
I’ve been on my own for a long time now, but Liam changed all of that. The breeze from the window blows against my face, and I close my eyes, breathing in the fresh air. Then my eyes spring open, and I look at the window…that I didn’t open.
Out of the corner of my eye, the closet door opens. I mentally punch myself again because my only weapon is in that closet, and now I’m stuck. I could scream for help, but who’s to say my father didn’t send someone to finish the job because I didn’t cooperate with him?
I fist my hands to keep them from shaking and take a long deep breath, staying still so I don’t let whoever is in here know that I’m aware of them. I’ll grab the lamp a few inches from my hand as a weapon. Then I’ll scream. Hopefully, it will disorient them enough to give me time to get out. I will fight.
The silent footsteps get closer, and a knee presses down on the bed. I ready myself to use the back of my head to slam into his face, and then he groans softly, dropping all of his weight on top of me and sliding his hands over mine, resting on the bed as he inhales a deep breath.I know that groan, and I know those hands.
“You really shouldn’t have stayed still, princess. I could have been anyone. You were better off grabbing that lamp as a weapon,” Liam says.
I burst into tears and bury my face in the comforter, trying to keep my sobs silent.
“I missed you so much, baby. Don’t leave me again,” he whispers in my ear. Things dig into my back, and I wiggle around to face him. He’s on all fours, looking down at me.
He hisses in anger and stares at my face. I can feel it swelling up. It also burns, so one of my father’s rings probably cut me. He has a t-shirt and military vest on with his baseball hat backward, and black cargo pants.
I bite harder on my lip, trying to stay quiet, and he sighs, wiping my tears. “Baby, don’t cry, I’m here now.”
I take a deep breath, trying to calm myself, and lift my hand, not sure if what I’m seeing is real. Maybe I fell asleep after my father hit me. He watches me as I lift my hand to his cheek, pressing it to his scruff. He looks like he hasn’t slept a wink and his eyes are dark, and brown, andreal.
A soft cry bubbles out of my lips and he turns his face, kissing the palm of my hand. “You came,” I rasp over my tight throat.
He presses his forehead against me, brushing his lips against mine. “I will always come for you, princess. I knew something was wrong,” he says, gently grasping my chin, turning my face back and forth, and frowning.
I nod my head in his hold and cry silent tears, wrapping myself around his body. He hugs me back and pulls me to sit up. Emerson is standing in the corner, looking like a bull about to charge.
Liam stands off the bed and grabs my chin again. “Who did this to you?” he growls.
I grab his hand, holding it in mine, and kiss his knuckles. “My father,” I whisper.
He grunts angrily and says, “We don’t have much time, baby, but what happened?”
I explain everything that happened in as abbreviated a version as I can. The look on his face that I was promised to another man, one I had never met, made it worse, but he stayed silent about it. I knew I should have told him, but how do you tell someone you love that your family wants you to marry another man? You don’t.
“We will talk about the whole arranged marriage thing later. But now, we need to get you out of here.”
“We have to bring Mom,” I whisper. Liam glances at Emerson and he shrugs.
“Alright, princess. We’ll bring her, too. But first, we need to get rid of the guard outside your door.”
I nod, and he pulls away. I hold fast. “Liam, I found it. It’s exactly what we needed.”
He grins wide, pulling me into his chest, and kisses me gently. I wince, ignoring the pain, just grateful that he’s here.
“I knew you could do it, baby,” he says.
“Let’s get going,” Emerson says quietly.
