Page 61 of Fueled Fury

36

Lainey

Clutching the book to my chest, I hurry upstairs, bypassing the living area where Dad is asleep on the sofa just as he was last night.

Quickly shutting my door behind me, I walk over to the bed, set the book down, and study the golden halo engulfing the book’s title.

Settling against the headboard, I curl my legs beneath me, and open the hardcover as I flip to the first page of the book. Skimming the words, I’m engulfed in the story of angels and demons when I read a line that stops me dead in my tracks. My eyes reread it several times.

“There’s no way.”

“I’m guessing you’re on chapter fourteen.”

Dropping the book, I move, attempting to get away from the whisper but a hand covers my mouth, pinning me in place and silencing my scream.

My back is pressed against the mattress as I try to sink deeper into it, anything to escape Eli’s haunted eyes hovering above my face.

Shoving at him, he grips my wrists, hauling them above my head as he surges closer to my face. “If you scream, I will kill anyone who comes to your rescue, and an injured old man shouldn’t be too hard to overpower.”

My dad.

I go completely still, watching to see what he’s going to do.

His hand moves from my mouth as I gasp for air.

“Don’t hurt him. Please.”

“Oh, he’ll be fine.”

A metal blade catches my eye as I watch Eli cock his head, studying the blade. “Things could’ve been so different.”

“What’s wrong with you?”

“I’m not the one who wrote it.”

“No. You just acted it out.”

All the pieces come together. The reason Austin left the hospital after Eli was attacked, left with an X carved in his chest. The attackers never being found, and now I know why. The “attack” is the same thing that the half-human, half-angel with the golden halo does to the possessed in order to dispel the demon.

“And I plan to recreate another scene.”

“How demented do you have to be to carve an X into your own chest just to get back at your brother?”

“I didn’t mean for the cuts to be that deep or lose that much blood. But you took forever finding me out in the woods after the attack.”

Every time he said Austin hurt him was a lie. None of it was real. It was all a malicious, demented push to get what he wanted. “You’re sick.”

“I wanted him gone and it worked for a while. This time, he’ll go to jail for murder. It’s even more poetic than having to leave you behind, now he’ll rot in jail for your murder.” The maniac lets out a sinister chuckle. “And he wrote me the playbook.”

Shaking my head, I can’t believe the cold, dead eyes I’m looking into. “You are a monster.”

“All he had to do was go away and leave us alone. He’s made my parents’ life a living hell, my life too.”

“He didn’t do anything wrong.”

“He was born. That’s what he did wrong. Then we had to kiss his ass so Waylon didn’t cut us off, and I know Waylon will leave everything to Austin. I’ll never be rid of him. He’ll always take everything from me. I lost you either way. At least this way he’ll finally be gone for good.

“I debated just killing him. But this way, he’ll suffer as much as he made me suffer.” Eli rubs the flat of the knife along my face. “I warned you that you’d get hurt. Now you’ll get exactly what you asked for when you let him fuck you.”