Relinquish(80)

I sigh.

“Maria got pregnant by you. We all knew she was here for money, and she had dreams, goals. We all knew that. Getting pregnant by your bastard baby and getting stuck here as your side ass wasn’t going to happen,” I remind him. Maria was a quiet person, but that was something she did tell everyone. She wanted better.

He turns, running his hands over his face. “She killed my blood. There is no explanation that could justify that!” he shouts, pointing at me. “But to make it worse, she had a daughter.” He twists his face in anger, looking directly at Charlie. My body tenses as anger fuels my veins. “And she was alive this whole time.” His face goes lax as he looks at me. “Did you know she had a daughter? Because she never told me. She didn’t tell anyone.”

I swallow, my tongue feeling thick in my dry mouth.

“I did,” I respond strongly.

His head whips up and his jaw clenches. He wasn’t expecting me to answer, nonetheless admit to knowing Maria had a daughter.

“I saw her hiding under the table that day,” I continue, rolling the cuffs of my sleeves.

“You what?” he hisses, blood vessels protruding on his forehead.

“You were out of line that day. Out of your mind, to be exact. You would have killed a nine-year-old little girl,” I fire back.

“Damn right I would have. And I will,” he sneers, pointing at Charlie. Hearing him threaten her makes me want to snap his neck.

“No, you won’t,” I seethe, stepping nose to nose with him.

“I will, and I will do the job myself this time, seeing how incompetent you are. I should’ve made Roman the head of the estate. At least he has the balls of a Blackwell,” my father states.

“I’m good. I don’t want the position,” Roman adds, stepping up the stairs in his usual messy attire.

Father looks down and scowls at Roman.

“You won’t go near Charlie,” I tell him, my tone serious.

Father laughs, his bellows echoing through the estate.

“Oh, please don’t tell me you’ve fallen for the whore. After everything I taught you about them. Let my mistake be a lesson, son. They don’t care about us Blackwells. They just want what’s better for them.” He chuckles, his eyes watering from his amusement.

“Fuck you,” Charlie clips, her body puffed out in absolute fury. I grab her hand and pull her behind me. I don’t need her to make him any angrier than he is.

“So, Charlie is just okay with you killing her mother in cold blood,” he states loudly, trying to look around me.

“I told her how if I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have been able to save her from you.”

My father sighs loudly and looks to the heavens. “Oh, how my son has deceived me,” he mutters.

“What I should have done was turn the gun and killed you that day. It would have saved everyone a lot of grief,” I grit.

“It’s not too late,” Roman clips, standing next to Charlie.

“Screw you. Screw all of you. You don’t know what power is, what control is.” He points at all of us.

“Baby?” Tara walks out of the hallway, concern written on her face as she makes her way toward us.

“You need to leave.” I take a step forward, ready to throw my father out the door if I need to.

“What?” He stops, his eyes wide.

“Why?” Tara cries, draping herself across my father.

“You need to pack your things and leave the estate. I can’t have you here anymore. You’ve done enough damage to the Blackwell name.” I lower my head and glower at him. “Besides, I’m sure Charlie will feel uncomfortable having you under the same roof.” Now, I’m just trying to piss him off. I’m past the point of caring.

“You will not kick me out to move that… that…” He stutters on his words, his tone becoming flustered as he points at Charlie.

“I will, and I am,” I interrupt. I stomp forward and clutch his arm, pulling him, ready to throw him out the f*cking door in nothing but his robe. Tara screams and starts slapping my back in a fit of rage. It doesn’t surprise me, Tara is obsessed with my father. She’ll do anything to protect him.

“Don’t you touch him!” Charlie shouts, grabbing Tara by the hair. Tara suddenly stops her belligerent slapping. I look over my shoulder to see where she went when Father roars, flinging his robe open and pulling a black pistol out. His chest heaves as he points it at me. I let go of his arm and take a step back, my hands raised. I look over and see Tara and Charlie going at it. Tara is pulling Charlie’s hair, her teeth baring with anger as Charlie tries to gain her balance on the edge of a step. I take a step toward them to break them up and help Charlie, but father shoves his gun in my face, stopping me. Roman raises his hands, too, standing right next to me.

“Tell Maria I’ll see her in Hell,” he growls, cocking the gun. My eyes widen and my body tenses before a loud bang rings out and I flinch. Realizing I’m not hurt and the sound came from behind me, I turn to find Osborn in position, his gun aimed right at my father. A loud thump sounds as my dad falls on his back. He’s sprawled out on the stairs, eyes wide and blood pooling underneath him. One bullet hole rests in the center of his forehead.

“Holy shit,” Roman whispers, turning to look away from Father.