“You killed a man,” I reiterate.
“For you,” he says, moving the hand on my hip to trace my hip bone with his fingers.
“You didn’t have to kill him, Ryken.”
“I’d do it again.”
“What did that man mean, you owe him?”
He lets me go and steps back from me. “Why are you here, Barbie? You have no idea what you’ve done.” He looks past me to the stairs then back to me. “I’m leaving, and when I finally return, I never want to see you again. Do you understand?”
Shaking my head at his words. “No.”
He huffs, his chest rises and falls, and I want to run my hands down it. But then I remember Stiles and withdraw from what I want to do. I’ve been good for a year. Stiles has been good to me as well. But I must admit our relationship is coming to an end. He must know it as well. I plan to finally bring up the courage and tell him soon.
“What do you mean, no? You don’t understand?” He looks up the stairs again then back to me. “You interfered in something you shouldn’t have. You’re lucky you’re still alive. You’re lucky you haven’t been collected.”
“Collected?” I say, murmuring what he’s said.
“Yes. We collect. It’s what I do. You interfered with that last night. These men aren’t nice men, Barbie. They’re the ones that lock you in a basement and won’t feed you for days if you talk back. They will let you sit in your own filth, and they don’t give a flying fuck about it.”
“You sold those girls.”
He nods his head. Just as I go to ask him another question, his father’s voice echoes through the house. “What have you done?”
Ryken turns to look up to him. His father doesn’t look great. Actually, he looks like he’s about to fall down any second now. Just as I go to say something, he does just that, falls down the stairs. Ryken runs to him. I call an ambulance on my cell as the front door opens, and Livia walks back in. She looks to me, there’s a look of hatred on her face. Then she stares at Ryken and his dad, but when she realizes what’s happening, she runs to his side.
“You did this,” Livia says, her teeth bared as she looks to me. I shake my head. His father waves his hand at Ryken to get away, as Ryken stands and walks over to me. Livia follows close behind him. Pulling Livia to him, so she is standing right next to him, they both look at me. Livia has so much animosity for me I can’t bear to even look at her. He wouldn’t have told her, so why she hates me, I still don’t understand.
“I want you to leave, Saskia,” she says.
I look at him, waiting for confirmation. Looking down, she squeezes his hand, and he blinks a few times then looks to me.
“We’re leaving. Don’t ever contact us again. The damage is done.” It’s all he says. Livia looks to him, not understanding, but still agreeing with his words.
“Your father.”
“Is dying,” he says, shrugging his shoulders. My hands fly to my mouth as he turns to look back to his father who’s now sitting with Quinn next to him.
“I’m sorry,” I say while stepping back.
“You aren’t, but its sweet of you to say so. We’re engaged now. So you need to stay away, Saskia,” Livia says.
My head nods like I understand. I don’t. I have no clue what’s happening right now.
He’s leaving.
They are leaving.
His father is dying.
A man’s blood is still in my hair.
What’s happening?
Turning, I walk to the door. She shuts it as I go, slamming it. I hear the ambulance and run to my car.
Calling Stiles, I know what I must do.
I don’t love him. It isn’t fair to continue.
That right there just proved it.
And that was the third and final break of my heart.
He’s engaged.
He doesn’t love me.
He loves her.
Crack.
Chapter 23
Ryken
“I wouldn’t recommend leaving,” is all the doctor says. Father only got worse, and because he did, we had to bring him here. To the hospital.
“How much longer?”
He gives that doctor look, you know the one where they don’t really care, but they have to act like they do. It’s fake, and I can see straight through it.
“I’d be surprised if he made it through the night.”
Livia cries, clinging to my shoulder. Looking at her, I brush her hair back and kiss the top of her head.
Is it her father that’s dying? Because she sure as shit is acting like it is.
I nod my head as he offers his apology, it means shit.
“What do you want me to do, Boss?” Quinn asks, taking the spot that the doctor just vacated.
Looking to my left, my father’s in a bed, broken. The man that most people fear is weak and beyond repair right now.