We pulled through the gates and up the gravel drive to my father’s large, imposing house. Even in the midday sun, its dark, leaded windows made it seem cold and uninviting. It was a homecoming that was more akin to a punishment than a welcome. Although, it was a lesser trial than being locked in a car with my father.

The drive to Richmond had been long and painful. I’d had to listen to him belittle me the entire way. He blamed me for compromising his business. Told me how stupid I was to be taken. How pathetic I was for letting a guy like that near me. As if I hadn’t heard it all before. All I could think about was what those bastard thugs were doing to Aaron, or what they would do to him when they got him back to the warehouse.

As the car stopped, I opened the door and marched towards the house. Desperate to get away from my father.

He shouted after me as he climbed out. “Olivia, don’t fuck off. I need to speak to you.”

I didn’t break my stride as I called back. “What have you been doing for the past two hours?”

He slammed the car door, hard. Pissed off wouldn’t begin to describe his mood. “Don’t start. I’ve had enough of your goddamn attitude for one day. This involves your sister, too.”

I groaned as I realised Milena was home. “Fucking wonderful. Just the thing I needed to brighten my life.”

I climbed the stairs and opened the heavy front door as fast as I could manage. If he caught up to me, I’d no doubt acquire another slap for my smart mouth. Milena hovered in the hall as I walked through. Her arms crossed and a smug smile plastered on her face.

I huffed. “Do you hang around behind doors waiting to be annoying?”

Her smile grew. “Welcome home.”

“This isn’t my fucking home.”

“And here I was thinking you’d be pleased to be free.”

“Freedom is relative. Especially in this house.” I marched past her and climbed the marble staircase. I’d reached five stairs up before my father halted my escape.

“Olivia. Are you trying to wind me up? Get back here.”

I stopped, turned on the stairs and scowled. “Can I take a piss? It was a long drive.”

“There’s a bathroom downstairs.”

I resigned myself to the fact I wouldn’t get away without another fight. He stood and watched me until I reached the bottom. Then threw his keys on the sideboard as he strolled towards the living room.

“We’ll wait for you in the lounge.”

Without acknowledging him, I skirted to the bathroom at the end of the hall. It was a relief to lock the door behind me. A respite if only for a minute. I took a deep breath as I stood at the sink. My haunted reflection stared at me from the gilded mirror. Gaunt and pale despite the burgeoning bruises. For once, I stared back, but only to reaffirm the hatred I felt.

Hatred for myself, for my life, for this whole fucked up situation, but mostly for my father. I despised him.

My gaze dropped to the cut on my right cheek. It was small, but the blood had dripped down to my chin. I closed my eyes against the memory of the gash on Aaron’s face. My stomach lurched as I pictured what they’d do to him now. That cut might be the least of his injuries. I had to get to him soon, or there might not be much of him left.

First, I’d have to get away from my father.

I washed my face and freshened before I prepared myself to leave the bathroom. It took all my will to turn the handle and head to the living room.

My father stood leant against the drinks cabinet. Glass in hand and his eyes fixed on my every movement as I walked in. Milena was on the sofa setting up coffee on the table. I sat in the armchair closest to the door and rested my head in my hand.

“Coffee?” Milena said far too cheerily.

I nodded and gave her a weak smile as she handed me a cup. It was a thin veil of courtesy but I was grateful for the pretence. My father made his way over and sat in the chair opposite mine. His fingers tapped against the glass as he held it on the arm. He waited for Milena to sit back before he began.

“You’re both fucking idiots.”

Milena’s jaw fell in offence. “What have I done?”

He glared at her. “Who arranged the meeting with Marcus?”

Her head dropped, and she stared into her lap. I didn’t like my sister, but I wasn’t about to point fingers. She’d have to own up to this one herself. It’s not like she could worm out of it. He already knew it was her, Aaron must have told him.

“I did.”

“You thought that was a good idea?”

“I was trying…”

“I didn’t ask for excuses, I asked if you thought that was a good idea.”

“At the time.”

“Then you’re a fucking idiot.” He looked between us. “You both know I hate that son of a bitch, and you both know no part of this business ever goes near him.”

Milena shook her head. “You’ve never given us the reason why.”

I laughed to myself. Interrupting him was one thing, doing it with a stupid comment like that was asking for trouble.

He leant forward and narrowed his eyes. “I’m sorry.” His voice was low and controlled. When my father was calm, that’s when you needed to worry. “Do I answer to you now?”

She glanced over at me then back at him. Her face ashen as her confidence ebbed away. “No.”

“Are you sure? Because it sounds like you want me to explain myself… boss.”

She shook her head. “No, but I’m just saying, if Olivia knew…”

Her words faded off as his face darkened. The tension grew in the already coil-tight room. My sister wasn’t as experienced with his temper as I was, but she’d crossed a mark this time. She shrank back into the sofa away from the quiet rage that radiated from him.

“You don’t need to explain it to me. I know what you’re saying. What I don’t know is what’s worse, being treated like a moron, or having one for a daughter.”

He knocked back the scotch then threw the glass at the wall behind her. The shattering pieces rained down as she cowered. I gripped the cup in my hands as I tensed, knowing what was coming next.

He lunged for her, gripping her throat as he pinned her into the sofa. She gasped out panicked breaths as she tried to pull his hands away.

“Who the fuck do you think you are? Do you think you have a special privilege? A right to question my choices, do you?”

She shook her head.

“I tell you what to do, girl, not the other way around. Don’t you ever try to question me on this again. Do you understand me?”

She tried to nod.

“Answer me.”

“Yes,” she choked out.

He let go of her, stood back then growled as he paced in front of the chair.

She folded her legs up to her chest and huddled into the sofa, rubbing her neck as she wiped the tears from her eyes. Milena, wasn’t used to being treated like that. He’d usually give her a lot more leeway than he would me. Today was a bad day to wind him up, however.

“Of all the stupid fucking things you could’ve done, you thought calling on that cunt would be the best of them? I thought you had more sense than that, Milena. I really did.” He paused and glared. “You realise he set up that meeting to get to Olivia, don’t you? The stolen shipment, the meeting, all to get a tracker on her phone. You played right into his hands.”

I looked up at him in surprise. “Tracker? What tracker?”

“He stole the shipment?” Milena questioned at the same time I did.

He groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Neither of you have a bloody clue. I blame myself. I’ve been too soft on you both.”

He sat and glanced between us, then his cold eyes rested on Milena. “Marcus stole the shipment to force your hand on suppliers. You fell for it, like the imbecile you are.”

He looked at me, pulled a phone from his pocket and unlocked it. Then slid it across the table towards me.

“How do you think your new boyfriend knew where to find you?”

I placed my coffee down and picked it up. There weren’t many apps on the home screen. I clicked on the green target icon, and it loaded a folder with my name. When I clicked, it brought up the screen of my phone. Emails, messages, contacts, everything.

It meant nothing. He’d said he had me followed. Why would a clone of my phone be any different? That’s what I told myself, but it felt different.

Milena glanced between us, her eyebrow raised. “Boyfriend? Aaron? Really?”

My father huffed and shook his head. “It seems our Olivia has a thing for cunts out to use and abuse her. Quite literally asking for it now, aren’t you?”

I glared at him. “Is it any wonder? I’ve had to grow up with you as a role model.”

He laughed. “Don’t pin your deviances on me. We all know it was Jack who screwed you up.”

I closed my eyes and breathed against the pain his name rose. “Don’t go there.”

“Why not? You haven’t learnt your lesson. Maybe a reminder is what you need, girl. Or, what was it he used to call you? Princess?”

Clenching my hands around the phone, I opened my eyes and hissed. “Don’t call me that.”

“You fell for every one of his false charms. No one could tell you otherwise. You were besotted with him. Right up until the day you found out he was doing it all to get to me. What do you think hurt more? The betrayal, or realising he never loved you?”

My father was a master at torture. He knew just what to say to open my deepest wounds.

“I couldn’t have been more proud when I found you in the club next to his cold corpse. I didn’t think you had it in you. Of course, you didn’t either. You weren’t exactly coherent after. How did it feel when you drove that knife into his chest? When you killed the man you thought you loved?”

The panic and the pain resurfaced as if he was in front of me. I couldn’t stop the memories from swamping my mind, from feeling his hands around my throat, picturing his face as he gasped in shock. My hands shook. “Why are you doing this?”

“Why? Because this morning I found you walking around naked with the guy who was holding you captive. You’re falling for the same shit again. It’s all a ploy, Olivia, to get to me. Can’t you see that? I’m trying to protect you.”

I laughed. “The only thing I’m at risk of falling for is your bullshit. Even that is unlikely. And the only one you want to protect is yourself. You wouldn’t give a shit if I fucked and was screwed over by half the thugs in this country as long as they were in your pocket.”

He narrowed his eyes and shook his head. “You know that’s not true.”

“Do I? What was it you said at the farm? You should get rid of me, too?”

He closed his eyes. “I was angry.”

“You’re always fucking angry. Is that because you got rid of our mother? Did you kill her?”

His face fell into a harsh glare as he twisted the wedding on his finger. “Olivia. Don’t.”

“Why not? Let’s see how you like it. What did you do to her? Beat her? Throttle her? Slit her throat?”

He rose to his feet and pointed. “Enough.”

I smiled. “Does it hurt? Can you see her face right now?”

His voice dropped to a whisper. “This is your last warning, Olivia.”

I stood and slid the phone into my back pocket. “I suppose the better question would be, not what you did to her, but what she did to you. It must’ve been something big to warrant a death sentence. Did she fuck around on you?”

As he lunged for me, I grabbed the cup from the table and launched it in his direction. Then turned and ran. It wouldn’t buy me much time, but I prayed it’d be enough to get me out of the door. His cursing behind told me it hit somewhere.

“Olivia!”

In the hallway, I grabbed the car keys from the sideboard.

His footsteps closed in. “You will pay for that, Olivia.”

The heavy front door creaked as I hauled it from its frame. Then it slammed shut as my father pushed it back. The pain raced across my scalp as he tried to pull me from it. I held on to the handle and kicked back at him. It landed, and he growled as he pulled my hair harder.

Raising my leg again, I aimed higher and kicked with all the force I could muster. The pull stopped, and he groaned behind me. Direct hit.

I didn’t waste anytime looking back to check. I heaved the door open and flew down the stairs to the car. The locks clicked as I pressed the fob, ran around to the drivers side and got in. My father appeared at the front door as I started the engine. Still in pain as he leant on the door frame and shouted.

“I know where you’re going, Olivia. Don’t think I won’t be coming for you.”

I was counting on it.