Page 95 of Scarred Redemption

In hearing his tone, I was suddenly frightened our two worlds were collapsing under the weight of the past.

“Everything I told you about my father was true. He had no time for his kids, sending my sister Genevieve and me away to boarding school. He told us it would make it easier on our mother since she had to care for a sickly child. Genevieve and I had the best of everything, and she was happy not to be home where my mother was always depressed. I wasn’t. My father sucked the life out of my mother. When I was five or six, she was happy, always laughing, but year after year, she was reduced to being a shell of who she’d once been.”

While he didn’t say anything, he was paying close attention. His jaw was clenched so that his teeth were grinding, the man experiencing a level of fury I’d thought impossible.

“By the time I was nine, I resented him. At eleven, I asked to come home and go to school. Of course my father refused. All I wanted even then was to take care of my sister and my mother. When I left school at fourteen, hitching a ride home after Callista had spent two weeks in the hospital, it was the first time he beat me. I’d never seen him so angry. He was so different, so cold and uncaring. My mother was skin and bones, barely able to do anything. But time marched on. My sister was back in remission and my mother was holding it together. Then everything changed.”

“What do you know about your father’s business?”

“Almost nothing, Maxsim. When we were children, I was told our father owned a business that kept him traveling throughout the world. Money he took from my mother and her family. I thought it was exciting. When I was older, I started to suspect his trips weren’t always about business. There was no proof and since he was never home, what did it matter? When Callista went into the hospital the last time, I was seventeen and still had a semester of school, but for once, my mother put her foot down and I was allowed to stay. I did my schoolwork at the hospital while caring for both. I graduated with honors while my sister lay dying.”

He turned his head, his breathing as labored as before. “Your father wasn’t there.”

“Hell, no. One night when my parents thought I’d gone to sleep, my sweet mother accused him of having an affair. He went nuts and after that, he wasn’t even at the hospital when Callista passed. Did I know he was a dangerous man? I suspected, but there was never anything about his work or his friends at the house. And believe me, I looked because I hated him so much. Not long after that, my mother killed herself.”

“A true son of a bitch.”

“You have no idea. By that point, I was eighteen and thankfully, my father honored my wishes along with Genevieve’s and I left for college. I wanted nothing to do with him ever again. I will never forget when I found out he’d died I was elated. While I didn’t go to the funeral and Genevieve did, I was well aware he was dead and buried six feet under. I made certain of that.”

There was some relief in the way he took a deep breath. “The past has returned. Sdelannyy nami v zhizni vybor nikogda ne budet zabyt—v tom chisle i mertvymi.”

“What does that mean?”

“An old Russian proverb. The choices we make in life will never be forgotten including by the dead.”

“Powerful. And telling.”

“There is a rumor that a man by the name of the Butcher is behind the acts of revenge. My father will be the person who can confirm whether Bedford held that moniker. And whether or not it died with him.”

“There’s no way he’s alive. If you’re suggesting someone is pretending to be him, that’s exactly what is happening.”

“Perhaps not, but I find it interesting the picture Mina drew appears very much to be the same man. But you knew that. Didn’t you?”

He had a way of being able to look at me as if I was the enemy. “I don’t know anything. Yes, the picture is similar, but it’s a sketch, a drawing by an incredible little girl who was held captive by masked monsters. One just happened to decide tormenting her further was a good idea. Since it’s obvious you don’t believe me, you should know I contacted the detective who investigated my father’s murder to confirm the man being buried in that grave was my flesh and blood.”

Every time he laughed, I went on an emotional rollercoaster. “Do you not believe members of law enforcement can be bought?”

He was serious.

Where I’d been sick to my stomach before, I was close to doubling over now. “That’s not possible. My father is dead. He has to be. You have no idea how many nights I wished I had the courage to kill him myself. That bastard ruined my life. My dying sister begged to see her daddy. She wanted to see him more than anything else. And he. Wasn’t. There. That nearly broke me and did my mother. That’s not what I want for my child.”

In wrapping my arms around my stomach, I knew my actions were as if I was closing myself off from him, but that wasn’t the case. I loved Maxsim and I already adored my unborn child, but I was terrified we’d both fail him or her.

I had a terrible feeling Maxsim was going to believe I was somehow a part of the horrible act of revenge.

The mixture of emotions and electricity created terror that his frustration would grow to a need for destruction. When he pulled me into his arms, my instinct was to fight him at first, but refusing him was impossible.

“Our child will never be forced to believe I’d choose business over them. And you will never be required to pretend as if I give a damn. You and Mina and now my unborn child are all that matters to me.”

Shuddering in his hold, I was dragged into the past and I hated the control my father managed even today.

He pressed my head against his chest, flexing his fingers as he held me close. “If the Butcher exists in any form, he’ll pay the price for daring to walk into my world.”

“That means you’re going out.”

“Just to talk with my father.”

Reveling in his warmth and the comfort and safety I felt in his arms, I was reminded of how lucky I was to be alive. And just how worried I was about the future.