Page 54 of Dangerous Attraction

Releasing a humorless laugh, he shakes his head and takes a step toward the bed.

Sweat beads along my hairline, and my fingers tremble where they're still tightly gripping the envelope of money.

"This was never your home, Beatrix," he spits, placing his fisted hands on the edge of the bed as he leans closer to me, sneering. "Get. Out."

It's been five years, and yet he's the exact same man he used to be.

My chin wobbles as I stare into his hate-filled eyes, but I nod, slide off the bed with the straps of my bag in one hand and the other twisted behind my back.

He stands at the same time as I do, towering over me.

Hesitantly, I step toward him, press my back against the wall and keep my eyes trained on the floor.

He shuffles to the side, giving me enough space to squeeze past him, and I take a deep breath before doing so.

My nose wrinkles and my stomach quivers when I catch a whiff of his stench.

The smell of stale alcohol makes my stomach turn.

As soon as I'm past him, at the doorway of the bedroom, I turn quickly, swinging my arm around from the back, carefully attempting to shove the envelope I've been hiding in my bag, but his fingers wrap around my bicep, digging into my skin as he yanks me backward.

He snatches the money from my grip, then releases me, pushing me away from him.

"That's mine!" I protest, jumping forward and reaching for it.

His hand swipes through the air, forcefully connecting with the side of my face, and sending my head crashing into the wall of the narrow hallway.

"Not anymore it isn't," he hisses, tossing the money over his shoulder and wedging himself in the doorway so there's no way around him. "About time you paid what you owe."

Fury shoots through me, from his words and from the painful throbbing of my cheek.

"What I owe?" I shout. "I don't owe you shit!"

"You owe me for everything!" he bellows as he steps forward with a finger pointed in my face.

I stumble backward, keeping some distance between us.

"I had to struggle for years because I was burdened with you!" he spits with narrowed eyes and harmful words that pierce through my thin armor. "I didn't want, nor did I ask, for the extra mouth to feed."

Tears shining and chin trembling, I shake my head.

"All you ever did was cause me pain." His lips curl in disgust. "The moment I lost Connie, was the moment you meant nothing to me."

Tears trickle down my cheeks, and tremors run through my body.

He steps forward.

I step back.

"The day you finally left this place was the happiest day of my life," he says.

My heart splinters inside my chest.

I may fear him, and also hate him, but he's still my father.

Although most of my memories of him are awful, there are a few good ones that poke their way through sometimes, from when my mom was still alive, before she got ill and everything went to shit.

He wasn't always a nasty person.