Page 120 of Legacy

I might’ve been an adult by then, but I wasn’t old enough to raise those kids on my own. I tried, though. Teagan and I had tried so hard, and she hadn’t left us. Our stepmom hadn’t left us.

I would feel relief at that, and sorrow, but later. Right now, I could only stare at the man who called himself our father and wonder exactly when he had turned into a monster.

“Your mom, though? Here’s a little secret. She was trying to go away too. Trying to leave me. Take our kids. But she didn’t get to do that. She took my name, so I took her. Right around here, you know. This is where your mom died, where I shoved a little too hard.” He let the knife fall slightly, gripping Felicity’s shoulder as he shook her, and everything slammed into me at once.

I had been right. He’d killed our mom. He’d shoved her hard enough for her to hit her head on the rock, and she drowned. Only a couple of hundred feet from where we stood now.

Everything slowed to a crawl as the past consumed me.

My mom’s laugh. The way she’d kiss the bruise on my knee when I fell off my bike. Or how she’d hold my siblings and sing to them so they’d fall asleep. Or the way she’d throw herself in front of us when Dad started to drink.

The blood drained from my face as I tried to come to terms with what he was saying, even as it sounded as if Bodhi had been punched in the chest.

“Just let her go.”

“Never.” He waved the knife around, and everything happened at once.

Felicity shoved her elbows back, ramming them into my dad’s gut, and as my dad tried to swing the knife, she ducked and rolled right into the creek.

“Felicity!”

I ran, ignoring the pain in my chest and the idea of what the hell had just happened, and just moved. At this point of the creek, it was more of a river than anything, just deep enough for her head to go under the water.

I tried to shove past my dad, but he didn’t care. He pushed at me, his fist flying out. I ducked and slammed my fist into his shoulder. He growled, swiping his arm out, the knife nearly slicing into my flesh. I twisted to the side, trying for his arm, but he had a knife, and I had nothing but my hands and wits.

Fiery pain ricocheted up my arm as the blade slid along my forearm. I let out a hiss, shoving my arm into his chest. But then my father moved again, going for Felicity. I didn’t think, didn’t breathe. I just punched out, landing a blow on his chin. His head flew back, but he rotated quickly, his arm coming at me even as I shifted to the left. When he shoved the knife into my side, I gasped, taking him by the neck and shaking.

“Fuck you,” I bit out, my vision going hazy.

“Bastard. Just like your mother.”

I shoved my father, knocking him to the side, even as my knees began to give out. I cursed through the pain and leaned toward the horror that called himself an Ashford.

Felicity’s head tore through the surface as she swam towards us, her eyes wide, even as blood trickled down her neck.

“Callum!”

Blood seeped down my side, but even as I went numb, I slammed my fist into my dad’s face.

But then Felicity was coming towards me, and my dad’s body was ripped from my arms. The knife glistened in the sunlight once again. But Bodhi was there, shoving my father out of the way as I fell back, and Felicity was at my side, bleeding, wet, and holding me.

“Callum. Callum. Oh my God. We need to call 911. You’re bleeding.”

“It’s not that bad,” I whispered, knowing it was probably that bad.

I pulled Felicity towards me, even as she tried to staunch the bleeding, and then there was silence, an eerie silence as my father stopped shouting.

And Bodhi stood there, blood on his arms, covering the burn scars, as our dad lay crumpled over his own knife, still in death, and no longer the ghost that haunted us with every waking moment.

“Oh my God. It’s going to be okay. It’s going to be okay,” she whispered as lights began to dim behind my eyelids, and I tried to say anything. Something.

“I love you,” I whispered.

“No, you don’t. You don’t get to say you love me as you’re bleeding out in my arms. Fuck that. I saved myself, you know. And I’m going to keep doing that in case this town decides to continue to come at me. But you don’t get to leave me.”

“I love you,” I whispered, this time the words a little breathier.

“I love you, too, Callum Ashford. And you better be okay. Damn it. You better be okay.”