Man of Honor (Battle Scars #3) - Diana Gardin Page 0,93
her storm growing wild, wild, wild as she prepares to face her abuser.
“Is Mikah okay?” She steps out from behind me. Whatever she’s done to gather herself, it worked. Her voice is strong, none of the trembles I saw just seconds ago. One hand drifts down to her stomach almost absently as she stares with hatred at her father.
Her father tilts his head. “He’s inside. We’ve just been having a chat. I explained to him that all I want is to be in my children’s lives again. I was gone for a long time; you can’t know what that feels like. To be ripped away from your children. From your wife.”
Mea’s words are angry; she spits fire while she speaks. “Mom died after you went in! And what happened to her is your fault! I never want to see you again. I just want to get my brother and go!”
Carlos’s eyebrows rise to his hairline. He’s truly shocked, while he stares at her. He’s attempting to put something together in his mind, but then he frowns with obvious dismay. “Is that what they told you? That it’s my fault your mother’s dead?”
Mea reacts like she’s been slapped across the face. Her eyes go wide, and she grips her stomach like she’s in pain. I take a step toward her, allowing my hands to caress her shoulders while I stare with venom at Carlos. All I want to do right now is pick her up and throw her in the Challenger. Lock the doors. Make sure she’s safe. And then I want to rush the house and murder the man who continues to hurt her. Now with lies.
“Shut up! Just shut up.” Her voice is lost on a whisper, carried away in the morning breeze. But Carlos hears it.
“Your mother was sick. I had nothing to do with that.”
Mea begins to walk up the porch steps, calling Mikah’s name. As a unit, we all move with her. Carlos finally glances at us. When he meets my eyes, his gaze hardens to a metallic glint. Waves of disorder and contention roll off of him. He reeks with it. His intentions, whatever they are, aren’t good. They aren’t genuine. He only knows one way to deal with Mea. And that’s to hurt her.
Not this time.
I don’t want her near that man. I won’t allow it to happen.
“Mikah!” she screams again.
I grab hold of her, stopping her from moving any closer to the door.
“Mikah’s in there,” she says to me. Her eyes are just as pleading. “I have to get him.”
Gripping her hand tighter, I shake my head. “No.”
Carlos watches the interaction between us with growing interest. His lip curls in disgust as he zeroes in on my hand on his daughter’s. The man is seriously twisted. Years in prison haven’t mellowed him, haven’t made him any less fucked-up in the head. He still views his daughter as his property. Something belonging to him that he can do whatever he wants with.
He chuckles.
My head snaps toward him, my hands balling into fists.
“Mea?” Mikah appears at the door. We all turn toward him.
Mikah is all amped up. He’s fidgety, jumpy. He eyes Carlos, but he looks relieved when he spots me standing beside Mea on the porch.
“Are you okay?” Mea is asking him over and over again. But Mikah doesn’t answer, just keeps staring daggers at Carlos, like his stare alone can knock the man off his feet.
“Hey, man.” I keep my voice soft, because Mikah looks like he might go off the deep end with the slightest loud noise. “Let’s get out of here, all right? Your sister is ready to go.”
Mikah’s eyes meet mine, and all I can see in them is despair. Dark, dark, desperation. I didn’t notice the hopelessness in his eyes the last time I met him. I think the fact that he was away from this situation, hanging with his sister, living a good life, kept that muddiness clean. But now, I see that he has so much more darkness in him than his sister does. Where she’s dark, she’s also light. So much light lives inside of her, enough to drown out the twilight. Enough to lighten the murk.
But the same can’t be said for Mikah. What happened to him when they were children, what he saw happening to his sister, changed him forever. It changed her, too, but maybe she didn’t realize how much Mikah blamed himself for what had happened.