<b>+25 </b>Bonus
E’s POV
My blood turned to ice.
Richard stepped further into the light. He looked worse than thest time I had seen him. His hair was disheveled, his clothes wrinkled and stained. Dark circles ringed his eyes like ck bruises. But his smile was the same as it had always been.
Twisted. Angry. Hateful.
“Hello, E.”
I tried to sit up, but my body wouldn’t cooperate. The medication Dr. Evelyn had given me made verything feel sluggish and heavy. I could only manage two words. “Get out.”
“Is that any way to greet your father?”
“You’re not my father. You never were.”
“I hate to break it to you, darling, but I am. And you take after me more than you want to admit.” He walked closer, stopping at the foot of my bed. “It’s a shame, you know, If you had been a boy, I might have been proud of you.”
I blinked, not quite sure what to say to that.
“Did I ever tell you that I wanted your mother to abort you?” he asked.
“Once or twice.” My jaw clenched. I nced at the button to call the nurse, but it was too far away. Richard noticed me looking and picked it up, turning it over in his hands.
“I told her to do it when she first got pregnant,” he said, “but she refused. Said you were a gift. Said you were going to be the Alpha of Stormhollow one day.” He sneered. “A female Alpha. Can you imagine? I told her it was ridiculous. Only men should be Alphas. But she wouldn’t listen.”
“Why are you telling me this?” I snarled.
“I tried to fix it,” he went on as if he had
poisoned her while she was pregnant with even heard me. <b>“</b>I tried to make the problem go away myself. <b>I </b>
1 you. Just
small amounts at first. Enough to causeplications. Enough that I thought nature would take its course.” His eyes gleamed. “But your mother was stubborn. She survived. And so did you.”
<b>I </b>just stared at him. My mind raced. I wanted to lunge at him, but my body was too weak. Think, E. Think!
“After you were born, I waited a few months. I had to be careful, of course. I couldn’t have anyone getting suspicious<b><i>.</i></b><b>” </b>He paused. “Margaret helped me. We performed a ritual. Dark magic. It killed your mother in a way that looked like natural causes. No one suspected a thing.”
I should have known. I supposed I did.
“I was going to kill you too,” Richard said. His gaze drifted to the window. <b>“</b>I stood over your crib one night. You <b>were </b>crying. Screaming. I picked you up, held you in my arms, and thought about how easy it would be. How <b>simple</b><b>. </b>Just a pillow over your <b>face</b>. Maybe shake you a little too hard. idents happen with babies all the time.”
<b>My </b><b>hands </b><b>clenched </b>into <b>fists</b><b>. </b>I wanted to scream at him. Wanted to shift and tear him apart. But I couldn’t move. I <b>couldn’t </b><b>do </b><b>anything </b>but listen,
“But then I realized something.” He looked back at me. “You could still be useful. A daughter might not be able fry be an Alpha, but she could be a Luna. A perfect, obedient Luna that I could sell off to the highest bidder. Sompen who would bring me money and power and influence.”
He moved closer. I shifted under the nkets, preparing to run, but his hands shot out and mped me downs <b>to </b>the bed by my shoulders before I could move. His eyes were ck and full of hate.
“But then you had to go and ruin it,” he snarled. His calm facade had cracked, revealing the true man beneath. Dark and empty, with a heart made of tar. “You got too headstrong. Too defiant. You started asking questions. Started fighting back. Even when you were supposed to be dead, you came back, just like your bitch of a mother did. Then, you killed Margaret. You broke your mother’s curse.” He leaned over the bed. “You weren’t being a very good girl, E.”
“You ignored me when I was dying without my wolf,” I hissed. “I had every right to defy you.”
“Perhaps. But it doesn’t matter now.” He straightened, but his hands lingered on my arms. One moved down to the IV in my arm. He pinched the tube with his fingers. “I’m going to finish what I should have done years ago.
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<strong>Sara Lili</strong> is a daring romance writer who turns icyndscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of d’s breathtaking cold.