Page 76 of Thane's Demon
My throat tightened.
He looked me over slowly, suspicion twisting his features into something cruel and familiar.
“You were leaving,” he said, the accusation landing like a slap. “You were going to sneak out of this home like some…little slut on the way to meet a man…Is that what you want, the life of a whore!?”
I swallowed hard, the doorknob still gripped in my hand, my pulse racing so violently it felt like it was trying to escape my body.
“I asked you a question!” he snapped, stepping closer, the air around him charged with restrained violence.
Any hope of slipping out unnoticed evaporated in an instant. I was trapped. Caught. Cornered. I froze, breath caught painfully in my throat, the weight of his anger filling the room like a choking fog. Every instinct in me screamed to run, to get out, to get as far from him as possible, but my legs refused to move, my body reverting to the old pattern of paralysis that always came when he used that tone.
He took another step towards me and I knew, without a doubt, that I had made a terrible mistake coming home.
A mistake…
Leaving my demon.
31
BY A DEMON’S HAND
The moment my father demanded to know what I was doing, I felt the familiar coldness sweep over me. The same suffocating pressure that had smothered every breath of freedom I had ever tried to draw in this place. I tightened my grip on the doorknob, the duffle bag held against my chest like a shield as I tried to decide if I should lie, run, or attempt the impossible task of explaining myself to a man who never listened.
“I was going for a walk,” I said, but even to my own ears the words were thin and trembling. The lie destined to fail.
He stepped closer, his robe shifting around him like a shadow.
“At two in the morning? With a bag? Do you take me for a fool, Alora?!”
“No,”I whispered.
“Then tell me the truth,” he snapped, his voice rising sharply. I swallowed, my throat tight, my heart slamming against my ribs.
“I just needed to get out. I needed some air.” His lip curled in disgust.
“Air. Is that what they are calling it now? Wandering the streets like your mother used to, careless and disrespectful. Always looking for trouble, and different ways to embarrass me.”
My stomach twisted painfully.
“Do not talk about her like that.”
He stepped forward again, close enough that I could smell the faint mix of cologne and feel the anger radiating off him.
“I will speak about her however I please. Do you know why she ran off? Because she was weak! No discipline. No structure. A dreamer who drowned in her own stupidity. And do you know what she left me with? A child just like her. A fucking disappointment!” The words hit me harder than I expected, even though I had heard versions of them my entire life. Something inside me snapped, a small, fragile part of my heart that had been clinging to silence and obedience out of habit.
“I hate you!”I breathed venomously, the confession ripped out of me with more force than I intended.
“I hate the way you talk to me. I hate the way you try to control me. I hate the way you try to make me feel small. I hate you for what you say about her. And most of all…I fucking hate you for being my father!”
His face darkened instantly, the shift vicious and immediate as if I had thrown a dagger straight into his pride. His hand came up so fast I barely had time to gasp before his palm cracked across my cheek. The impact knocked me sideways, the bag falling from my hands and hitting the floor with a heavy thud. The sting burned hot across my skin, and tears sprang to my eyes.
“You ungrateful bitch!” he hissed, his voice trembling with fury.
“If you think you can speak to me like that, you are mistaken. You will not leave this apartment. You will not see anyone. You will focus on school and the future I have secured for you. I willnot have you ruining your life the way your mother ruined hers and making a mockery of this family!”
“She did not ruin anything,” I cried, my voice shaking but strong.
“You didn’t ruin her….you were nothing to her! She was everything, and once we were rid of you, she was the happiest person in the world!”
