Page 206 of Safe Word

And there it was. Memory loss my arse.

I clenched my jaw so hard my ears rang. ‘You broke everything, Ezio. Mum and me.’

He snorted. ‘Broke you? Please. You wouldn’t know what breaking is. I should have been worse, boy,’ he hissed, spittle glinting on his lips.

My heart stuttered, climbing up my throat. Suddenly I was that little boy again, and he towered over me as though he were twelve feet tall.

‘I held back. God knows I had to. You were never easy. Little delinquent who never listened.’

He pointed to his temple. ‘All that noise in your head, those tantrums – Cristo Dio, you needed discipline. Structure. I gave you that.’ He gestured with both hands, a smile drawing over his face as if presenting a gift.

The sound of my own breathing filled my ears, rough and uneven. The sour-sweet rot of his aftershave filled the space – the same scent that had haunted every nightmare.

I caught my reflection on the dark TV screen behind him – my shoulders squared, eyes big and dark. Unrecognisable.

He smiled wilder, sensing it. ‘Look at you. Still angry. Still blaming me for what you became. Does she know?’

I snapped my eyes back at him.

He circled me like a fucking hyena, as if the room wasn’t spinning enough as it were.

‘The temper? The violence?’ A sound bubbled low and wet in his throat – between a chuckle and a snort. ‘She will. Eventually, they all do.’

I took a step closer, chest brushing his parka. ‘Leave her out of this,’ I said with a tremor I couldn’t hide.

‘Why?’ he asked, still with that fucking grin on his face. ‘She’s just another Cecilia.’ My mother’s name felt like a dagger punching through my chest. I rubbed the spot instinctively, suddenly reminded of the wounds already there from the fighting ring. ‘You always needed a woman to fix you. But, just like your mother who abandoned you, when she realises she can’t—’ He snapped his fingers. ‘—you’ll break her too.’

The dog barked frantically somewhere down the hall.

I forced air through my lungs. ‘We’re done here.’

Ezio leaned in, breath hot and decaying. ‘Not so quick, boy.’ He squared off with me. It didn’t matter I was a foot taller than him. It didn’t matter I could crush him in my palm. He puffed up.

And I felt small again, the image of his fist flying towards my face flashing behind my eyes. It took every ounce of my strength not to wince, not to fold in on myself.

‘You think you’re clean in all this?’ he whispered. ‘You didn’t think I’d remember you putting me in that coma? Your father.’

‘You’re not my father,’ I gritted out, feeling the tension drawing my spine taut.

He laughed quietly, bitter and full of phlegm.

‘What the fuck do you want?’ I spat at him. ‘Money?’

‘You were the abuser, Cain. Imagine how that’ll sound to the police: a son who turned on his parent.’

My throat went dry.

My vision pulsed at the edges, red bleeding into the dark. Every instinct in me screamed to silence him – to end it.

But my legs wouldn’t move. My arms stayed glued to my body.

‘I can’t wait to hear what your woman will say when she sees you behind bars,’ he said slowly, the words dragging through those clenched teeth.

I opened my mouth, a growl climbing up my throat.

I hadn’t even heard the metallic click until the barrel appeared in my vision, pressing against Ezio’s temple.

He froze.