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“GET OUT! ALL OF YOU!” I yelled, my hands fisted at my sides.

“This is my fucking house!” he yelled, tossing the coffee table out of his way as if it were a piece of paper. The girls shrieked and fled, distracting me just enough to miss the fist shooting my way. His hand came out and landed a solid punch to my gut. Dropping to the ground, Dad was over me in a minute. The neck of the broken bottle in his hand, the shards pressing against my throat and cheek.

“You think you can tell me what to do? In my house?” he yelled, the edges pressing closer to my jugular, I tried to arc away but that just caused my arms and backs to sting.

“Who do you think you are? Don’t worry. After tonight, you’ll know your place. ELIZABETH! Get your ass over here.” Spittle hit me in the face as he barked the order out, his wrist twisting just enough to break skin. Drops of blood mixed with the sticky puddle of liquor I was laying in.

“What’s taking her so long?” he muttered before turning to yell in the direction of the kitchen.

“Elizabeth, get your ass in here, or I’m gonna kill the kid! I’m not fucking around with you.” His eyes were bloodshot, the veins in his neck and forehead pulsing. My hand dropped to my side, my fingers stinging as they landed on a shard of glass. Mom stumbled in, her face pale and eyes red.

“Stop. Whatever he did, it was my fault. Blame me. Punish me!” she begged, lunging for my dad. With a careless swat, he tossed my mother away from him, her back hitting a wall and the sound of her head colliding with the plaster reverberating in the air.

“NO!” I yelled as I watched her eyes slide shut before she slumped to the ground. Blindly reaching, I grabbed the first thing I touched and swung.

A moment of silence passed before a strange gurgling sound erupted from my dad, his eyes swinging from my face to the arm I had pressed against him, a shard of glass lodged in his throat as blood poured out. He looked shocked, dropping to his back beside me as his hands reached for his neck. Following him, I kept my grip firm, the position now reversed, with me crouched over Dad. He grappled with my hand in an attempt to try to stop the bleeding, but I wouldn’t budge, refusing to release my hold on the glass dagger lodged in his neck. The door swung open with a bang, two large men dressed in all black with thick leather jackets filling the space.

“Fucking hell,” the first one said, taking in the scene. Then a woman came rushing from behind them.

“Help the boy!” she yelled before running straight to my mom. She had a big bag with her and was pulling medical supplies out in quick efficient movements.

“Alright, kid, you got him good. Let us take care of it from here,” the bigger of the two men said as he crouched down next to me.

“Who…the fuck…Get out of my hou…” Dad tried to speak, and without thinking, I pressed the glass in further until he physically couldn’t get another word out.

“You got a name?” the bearded man asked, seemingly unbothered by the current situation. I shook my head, unable to speak or think about anything other than the weapon in my hand, the blood coating my fingers, the paleness of the man beneath me.

“Alright then. You can call me Reaper. You want him dead?” he asked, his head nodding toward my father but never looking at him.

“Yes,” I said, the first word I had spoken since the men had entered the house.

“Alright. Lay down your scythe and let us take it from here.” I hesitated and felt my dad’s body jolt at the words.

“For your mom. She needs help. We’re getting you two out of here tonight. You’ll never see or hear from him again. That’s a promise.” He spoke to me like an adult, not like a little kid.

Glancing at Mom, I saw her waking up as the woman cleaned her face. Turning to look back at my dad, I saw as the realization of the situation reached him.

“You’re going to die tonight. And I helped. We won. We got away,” I told him, his face turning different shades of red and purple. Slowly, I unfurled my fingers from the wedge of glass that was just as embedded in my hand as it was in my father. Another woman appeared, gently hustling me over to my Mom.

“Take them upstairs and check them out. Pack up the essentials. We leave in thirty,” the other man ordered. No one said a thing. The two women corralled Mom and me up the stairs, grunting sounds and low murmurs audible in our wake before a loud snap. Then silence. His body was gone by the time we finished packing. Mom and I were whisked out of the house and into a car in quick succession. As we pulled away, Mom grabbed my hand.

“Our old lives are over. Our past, the versions of us that existed in that house died with that man. We’re starting new. Starting now.”

Lilah’s hand cupped my face, drawing my eyes to hers. Focusing on the clear blue, I let the past fade away. Closing my eyes, I took a moment to center myself. The smell of Lilah’s perfume, the sound of her voice, the image of her beautiful face calming me. When I opened my eyes she was there, not a figment of my imagination but real, steady. I pushed on. Ready to get the story out. No more secrets. Between us, there was nothing to hide.

“That’s how we wound up here. Reaper gave us a new chance at life. I promised myself I would never let him down. I would never make him regret saving us.”

“And the man? That followed us?” she asked, her hand reaching out to squeeze my leg in encouragement. She wasn’t pulling away, didn’t run when I told her about how I nearly killed my own father.

“Reaper and Seph…They raised Crow in the club with Bash and me. We didn’t know…There was a lot we didn’t know. Crow betrayed the club. Stole money, hurt people. Has been on the run since we found out.” Her hands rose to her mouth, understanding in her eyes.

“Poor Seph. Why…Why would he do that?” she asked.

“He found out that Reaper wasn’t his biological father. It was Seph’s ex. Never told any of us. Had no idea how much hate he had growing inside him.”

“The only reason I’m alive is because of them. I love Reaper like a father. It’s not a secret. He raised me, took me on when I was at my worst. Nonverbal, practically feral after leaving. Never gave up on me, never treated me differently.” Swallowing the lump in my throat, I tried to figure out how to explain where I stood.

“Crow is in the wrong. From everything that happened, he’s a lot further gone than any of us wanted to believe. This has already hurt the club, my brothers…my family in ways that are irreparable. If there is anything I can do to fix this, to help them, it would be to kill Crow.” Lilah blinked, looking confused.