Page 75 of The Reaper
“Maybe not, but my sword does.”
One more step and I was right in front of him. My sword pressed against his stomach, our eyes burning pure hatred towards each other. Breaths panting, waiting, ready to go into battle.
“There’s different blade lengths, but the perfect length is about sixty to seventy centimetres. That makes it easier to wield when you’re on the battlefield. Is that what we’re doing here? Going to war? Because you know you can’t win. I hold all the cards.”
He didn’t speak, and so I gave him my last fact.
“They used to test the blades of the katana swords on corpses to see how powerful they were. The more bodies it sliced through, the more valuable the sword was.” I leaned closer to him. “I can tell you this one cost me a hell of a lot of money, so I’m betting it’s seen a lot of corpses. A lot more than I’ve shown it.”
“You don’t scare me,” he said, and from the still, steady way he was carrying himself, it was true.
“I don’t need you to be scared to reach my objective.”
He smiled, and I knew then that his end game had changed. He sent me the messages because he wanted me gone. He came onto our land to threaten me. But now that he was chained up and held at our will, the tables had turned. If I killed him, he still won, because eventually, she’d find out. I’d never be able to keep something like that from her. And when she did, she’d never forgive me. I was in a catch twenty-two situation here and he knew it. Furthermore, he didn’t seem to care. He didn’t care about himself. All he wanted was Leah away from me.
“I’ll never leave her,” I stated, and he gritted his teeth. Under his eye, I noticed a twitch, and I knew it was a tell-tale sign that I was getting to him. “She’ll never leave me either. She loves me. She wants to be with me. If I brought her down here and told her everything you’ve said and done, and then I asked her to choose, we both know she’d choose me.”
He grimaced; pain seared into his features as he digested the reality.
I was right.
“You wouldn’t dare,” he goaded again, but I knew he didn’t mean it this time. He didn’t want Leah down here any more than I did.
“Try me.” I met his challenge with one of my own.
We stood staring at each other. Me, with my sword aimed right at his stomach, and him boring hatred into me with his glare. Each breath laboured as the fight in us turned to something else.
“When I came in here, I asked you a question. You still haven’t answered it,” I said, and Nathan frowned at me. “I asked you why?” I added.
“And I told you,” he replied, but I shook my head.
“You gave me a load of bullshit about the history behind it. Told me all about your passive aggressive method of parenting that quite frankly is a crock of shit. You threw out a load of facts, but I want to know why you’re so intent on destroying your daughter’s life?”
It was at that moment that the curtain fell away, and the real Nathan Johnson came forward.
“I’m not doing this to hurt her. I’m doing it to protect her. She’s everything to me.” His voice broke and I saw emotion pour from him, his eyes welling as he stared at the ground. “When I lost my wife, I vowed I’d do everything in my power to give my little girl everything she needed. Keep her safe, love her, make sure the evils of this world couldn’t taint her pure innocent heart.” He looked up. “Evil like you.”
“But she isn’t a little girl anymore. And what you’re doing isn’t keeping her safe. It’s bringing violence and revenge to her door.” I glanced behind me. “Do you know I have four brothers right outside, ready to come in here and mutilate you like a pack of rabid dogs if I shout for them. Seconds, and they’ll slit your throat without a care. Is that what you want? She lost a mother, and now you want to play God with your own life just to keep her away from me? Are you fucking crazy?”
His nostrils flared, but I carried on.
“I’ve been paranoid, looking over my shoulder, convinced I’m being haunted by ghosts of my past. Spending time chasing demons when I should’ve been with her. I’m not evil,Nathan, but I can be if someone threatens what I love. And her? I love her the most.”
He squeezed his eyes shut and on a whisper, he said, “Everything I do is for her.”
“Including destroying the man she loves?” He turned his head away from me, but I wouldn’t let him side-step me. “Because she does love me. She has done for a long time. You can’t stop it. You could kill me, but she’d spend the rest of her days feeling like she was living a half-life because she’d lost me. If you’d do anything for her, then you’ll be the one to walk away. Let her live her life, and maybe, if you can learn acceptance, you’ll get to spend time with the grandchildren we’ll give you. Be a part of the family we make. Because I will marry her. I’ll build my whole world around her.”
A tear fell from his eyes, trickling down his cheek, but he stayed silent.
“She might be our little raven,” I said, and he took a sharp breath in at my use of the word ‘our’. “But you can’t cage her anymore. She needs to be set free to make her own choices. Live the life she wants to live. Love the man she’s chosen.”
He started to sob silently as his head hung, guilt keeping him from looking me in the eyes.
“I won’t breathe a word of this. On my honour, I will take what has happened here tonight to my grave. She doesn’t even know about the letters and the photographs. This can all be buried. Not forgotten entirely, but you’re her father, she loves you too, so we have to find a way to make this work. I won’t steal her away, Nathan. She’s mine now, but I still want her to spend time with you. You’re her dad, nobody can ever change that.”
He let out a cry, his heart breaking for what he thought he’d lost here today.
Her.
