I am unable to let him drag Coda into this. He can say no matter he needs about me—do what he needs to be—however Coda is off-limits.

“Keep out of my life!” I scream over my shoulder, my voice cracking as I jog down the steps.

“Karina!” He stumbles out onto the porch behind me, his kind blurred by tears.

My hand shakes as I fumble with the automobile keys, determined to get out of right here. I by no means ought to have come within the first place. Whoever this man is…he is not the one that raised me. That man was flawed and imperfect, however he wasn’t a monster. This one is a monster.

When did he begin the sluggish descent? Or was he at all times on that path and I simply by no means realized it till now? I do not know. However I do know what the darkish appears to be like like now.

It is not the person who kisses me as if I command his soul.

It is my father. That is darkness.

Coda is all the things proper on this world.

I slide into the motive force’s seat of my Camry and jam the important thing into the ignition. The engine growls to life. Gravel crunches beneath the tires as I reverse out of the driveway with an excessive amount of velocity and too little warning, determined to place this home and my father behind me.

“You did not deserve her!” I spit out the window, a final act of defiance towards the person whose love comes wrapped in barbed wire.

He is a blurry determine within the rearview mirror as I race away, his head hanging as if remorse rests heavy on his shoulders. However it’s too late for him and too late for us. I am accomplished.

He will not ever communicate to me like that once more.

The streets are a blur, homes streaking by in a kaleidoscope as I race again to Coda’s. I want him. I want his arms round me. I want him holding me collectively. I simply want him.

My breaths are available in pained gasps, sizzling tears streaming down my face.

I see the flash of blue dart into the intersection forward a second too late. My gentle is inexperienced, and I am going too quick to cease.

Time stretches. For an on the spot, all the things is painfully clear—the brilliant sky, the horrified look on the face of the opposite driver, the conclusion that there is no stopping this.

I slam into his automobile.

Steel screeches.

Glass shatters.

The world spins.

My physique lurches ahead, held again by the seatbelt biting painfully into my chest. Ache explodes in my head, vivid and fierce, after which there’s nothing however darkness clawing its approach in, threatening to swallow me complete.

“Coda…” His identify is a whisper on my lips, a plea for salvation because the darkish takes maintain, pulling me beneath.

Chapter Seven

Coda

The fluorescent lights of the emergency room buzz overhead, casting a sterile glow over the waxed ground. Sick folks huddle in chairs all around the ready room, mindlessly ready to be referred to as.

I stride previous them, heading for the door to the again.

A middle-aged nurse on the reception desk appears to be like up at me, opens her mouth, and shortly snaps it closed.

Good.

I haven’t got time for bullshit.

I shove the door open so exhausting it slams in opposition to the wall, saying my arrival like a raging wind. My breath is ragged, my coronary heart slamming in opposition to my ribs as if it is attempting to flee my chest. It has been pounding the identical approach because the fucking physician referred to as, telling me that Karina was right here, asking for me.

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