Total pages in book: 44
Estimated words: 41558 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 208(@200wpm)___ 166(@250wpm)___ 139(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 41558 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 208(@200wpm)___ 166(@250wpm)___ 139(@300wpm)
I turned on my heel and stalked away, ignoring the woman who was urging me to go inside and get my own injuries checked more thoroughly. The burning pain on my arms was nothing compared to the ache in the center of my chest as I forced myself to leave the woman I loved.
CHAPTER 7
Allie
I told the doctor that I couldn’t recall what had happened before the fire. It made her more concerned about my head injury, but I would trade a few more hours in the hospital to avoid implicating Max in the violence. An investigation into his cousins would surely lead back to our relationship. To him. And as much as I loved him, I knew that he’d committed crimes in the past. He’d handled that knife at Niko’s throat as though it was a natural extension of his arm; that hadn’t been the first time he’d threatened someone like that.
I’ll be better for you. I can’t lose you.
I couldn’t undo Max’s past sins, but he’d promised to change his ways. For me. Underneath all that rage and pain, there was a good man. I chose to love that man, not the monster that lived on the surface of his skin.
Once I was discharged from the hospital, I would talk to him about what his cousins had done to me. Max had protected me so many times before. I knew he’d find a way to keep me safe from them. If that meant going to the police, it was a decision we would make together.
I would have to tell my dad even less than what the doctor knew; I’d already instructed her that I didn’t consent to having my medical records shared with him. I didn’t want him to find out that I’d been beaten before the fire started. I didn’t want him to know anything that was connected to Max. There was too much to untangle between all of us, and I didn’t trust my father. Not anymore.
“Allie,” he rasped, voice hoarse and eyes red-rimmed from tears. I cringed as he rushed to my bedside, finally admitted into my hospital room now that the doctor had finished her tests. His hands fluttered around me, anxious to touch me but afraid of jarring my injuries. He settled for gently holding my hand.
Automatically, I squeezed back, drawn to comfort him. Just as I’d been protecting him from the ugliness in my life for a decade.
His eyes searched my face, lines of age etched deep in his brow and around his mouth. They roved over my bruised jaw, where Paulie had delivered a vicious punch. It was a miracle that he hadn’t broken any of my bones.
“Sweetheart, what happened?”
I dropped my gaze from his to hide my lie. “I’m not sure. I think I fell and hit my head on the kitchen island. The stove might have been on. I don’t remember.”
He couldn’t see the bruise on my stomach where one of the twins had kicked me. The head wound that’d made me pass out was beneath my hairline, but the bruised jaw was harder to hide.
The arson report wouldn’t be complete yet. He wouldn’t know that I was lying until after I got out of the hospital and was safely back in Max’s arms. All I wanted was for him to leave me alone. His nearness made my stomach churn. For days, I’d been avoiding the inevitable: I had to accept that everything Max had said about him was true. The Bratva ties. Covering up my mother’s murder. All of it.
I pressed my lips together, holding in accusations. I wasn’t ready to confront him about the awful things he must’ve done.
Daddy frowned at my bruised jaw again. “I don’t want you staying in this hospital. I’ll call a private physician. You’re coming back home with me.”
He said it like he was offering comfort, but my stomach dropped. “No!”
I shook my head, then stilled on a groan. His hand tightened around mine.
“What? Sweetheart, you can’t go back to your place. It’s been destroyed.” Again, that gentle tone, breaking the bad news to me.
All of my possessions were gone. Just like when I was a child, and we’d lost everything in the fire.
The fire that my father had set to cover up Mom’s murder.
I stiffened. “I’m not coming home with you. I can’t go back to that house.” The truth slipped out before I could stop it, years of resentment layering over the pain of his betrayal.
His frown deepened. “Why not? Honey, what’s wrong?”
“What’s wrong?” I burst out, a sudden swell of toxic emotion boiling in my gut. “I hate that house! You smothered me for my entire life. And I let you. I didn’t want you to be upset, so I let you shelter me. I let you keep me away from my peers, preventing me from forming friendships. Making me the school freak. And I hid the bullying from you too. All to protect your feelings because I didn’t want you to worry. I didn’t want to cause you any more pain. Not after losing Mom in the fire.”