Page 23 of Savage Stalkers
“No. I have spent years trying to turn you into something respectable. Someone worthy of this family’s name, and this is how you repay me? By rejecting everything that could give you a future?” Her words hit where she intended.
Mrs. Brown averts her gaze, uncomfortable and focusing intently on her pins. Kain has gone still, watching the scene unfold with an unreadable expression.
“You want to throw away your life. Live in that awful apartment withthosepeople, work at a coffee shop like some kind of...” She struggles to find a word for how I live. “You’re determined to embarrass this family. To throw away every advantage you’ve been given.” By this family she means her and her husband, not my real father, who doesn’t care how I live my life.
“Maybe I don’t want your life,” I whisper. She has hit every insecurity, every doubt I have about whether I’m strong enough to build a life of my own.
“Then you’re a fool,” she spits. “And if you cannot be bothered to act like a member of this family, perhaps you shouldn’t attend these events.”
The threat is hollow; we both know I will be in attendance. It’s not worth the fallout if I’m not.
“Fine, maybe I won’t.”
I step down from the platform, uncaring if Mrs. Brown hasn’t finished.
“Skye, wait...” Mrs. Brown stammers, but I’m already heading for the door.
“I need some air,” I mumble, brushing past Kain without looking at him.
I take the stairs two at a time, my vision blurring as tears threaten to fall. By the time I reach my old bedroom, which thankfully hasn’t been repurposed into anything else yet, I’m barely holding it together.
I close the door behind me and lean against it, finally letting the tears fall. This room feels like a shrine to the girl I used to be. My high school trophies line the shelves, pictures taken on family vacations where I’m smiling, and the desk where I used to do homework.
A soft knock interrupts my breakdown.
“Go away, Mom,” I call out, wiping my eyes.
“Not your mother, cashmere.”
My heart stops—it’s Kain. Slowly I turn and open the door, finding him standing in the hallway.
“What are you doing?” I whisper, glancing toward the stairs to make sure Mom hasn’t followed.
“Your mother asked me to check the upper level for security vulnerabilities,” he says. “I heard crying and thought I should check on you.”
“I’m fine.”
“Bullshit.” He steps closer. “You’re shaking.”
I look down at my hands to see that he’s right. I’m trembling like a leaf. She makes me so fucking angry.
“She’s always like that. It’s nothing new.”
“Doesn’t make it okay.”
I look up at him, surprised that the cocky asshole I first met is the same man standing in front of me.
“Why do you care?” I ask.
For a moment, he doesn’t answer. “Maybe I don’t like seeing people tear others down,” he replies.
“I should go back,” I whisper. “Finish the fitting.”
“Should is a dangerous word, cashmere. It leads to a lot of misery.”
“What would you suggest instead?”
A slow smile spreads across his face, the same arrogant smirk from the library. “Do what you want. Fuck what everyone else thinks.”
