Redesigning Fate (Revive #1) - A. M. Wilson Page 0,110
him?”
My head ricochets off the wall from the backhanded blow he delivers to the left side of my face, but I’m powerless to stop him.
“There’s no better payback than to take from them what they took from me. But why does it have to be you, Lena?”
My other cheek screams in pain. “Travis…please.”
To my absolute relief, he doesn’t strike me again. Instead, he begins to pace the floor in front of me, and through my swollen eyes, I watch him clench and unclench his hands at his sides.
“It wasn’t supposed to be like this. All I wanted was to hurt them. Hurt Preston for what he took from me, from my family. I’ve spent years waiting for the right moment to track him down. He wouldn’t hear it. My blackmail was useless against that motherfucker, so I had to come up with a new plan. Know what that plan was, Lena?” he pauses but continues without waiting for the answer I’m incapable of giving. “No, I bet you don’t, do you? If you did, you wouldn’t be here.
“Except you had to get in the fucking way. It wasn’t supposed to be you. When I found his son, it was supposed to be about hurting him. Somehow, you managed to find the one person in this whole state I fucking loathe. So then I thought, what a better way to hurt his son than to take the woman he loves?” The sickening sneer is back on his face as he squats down to eye level. He reaches out and runs his gritty fingers down the side of my bloody swollen face.
“You’ve always reminded me of her.”
I don’t attempt to ask whom. The words wouldn’t come out anyways.
“You made it too easy. Of course, you’d fall in love with a guy like that. The polar opposite of me. I watched you. I saw you do things you used to do with me. I listened to you tell him words I used to hear fall from your pretty mouth. It angered me. It was fucking disgusting. But like I said, you made it easy.”
Through the slits of my eyes, I watch as Travis steps out of the room, only to return seconds later. He carefully draws an object from the pocket of his jeans.
My eyes flit to his face as he draws nearer, the object grasped firmly in his fist.
His eyes roam me from head to toe; surveying my body like an artist studies a blank canvas, determining where to place the first stroke. A shiver ripples through his body. Cracking his neck, he rolls his head from side to side menacingly. “I’m so sorry it has to end like this Lena, but it truly is the only way. Unfortunately for you, blood is thicker than water.”
He lunges.
Faster than I can process he pins me against the wall with a long silver switchblade against my throat. I grapple with his tightening arms as the sharp blade pierces my skin. Gasping, tears sting my eyes as I try to ignore the white-hot wound and the warm blood trickling down my neck.
“Play nice, Lena, and I might let you live a little bit longer.”
The fight in my halts at his threat. I need to think about my next move instead of reacting impulsively out of fear. My chest heaves as I try to control the rapid breathing, and my body goes rigid.
Fear paralyzes me once more.
I plaster myself against the wall in that decrepit little shack as if I could blend in like a chameleon. Travis has me exactly where he’s wanted me this entire time, and there isn’t a damn thing I can do about it.
My eyes slam shut when he approaches me with the blade once again. The cool metal slips beneath the hem of my shirt, resting uncomfortably and foreign against the soft, sensitive skin of my stomach. The muscles beneath contract violently. The blade thrusts upward and my shirt splits to just north of my belly button. The sound of tearing fabric makes me cringe like nails on a chalkboard and a shudder rolls through my body.
When my breathing quickens, I remind myself to not lose control. Stay in the moment. Because the second I lose it, I’m done for. My willpower is stronger than his is. It always has been.
From the moment he and I met, I’ve been able to exercise my willpower over him when I’ve truly wanted too. The revelation is startling and a bit depressing when I