Chapter 108 The Fall 2
Christian’s POV
I yanked the wheel but it was just too late.The other car slammed into my driver’s side with a sound like the world ending. Metal screamed, a lot of glass shattered. My head cracked against something hard.
The Porsche spun. Once. Twice. Slammed into the concrete barrier with another sickening crunch.
And after a while everything stopped, going completely quiet.I sat there, dazed, tasting blood in my mouth. The airbag had deployed, pressing against my chest. My ears were ringing.
“Fuck,” I gasped. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
I shoved the airbag away and tried to open my door. It was crushed. Wouldn’t budge.
The passenger side then.I crawled across the seats, glass cutting my hands, my head spinning.
I managed to get the door open and fell out onto the concrete.
“Who is that?” I shouted, my voice echoing. “Who the fuck…”
A figure emerged from the other car.
He was tall, with broad shoulders. He moved with the kind of calm that meant he’d done this on purpose.
“You hit me!” I screamed. “You hit me at the very wrong time, you prick! I’ll kill you! I’ll definitely…”
The figure stepped into the light. My voice died in my throat. The fuck.I knew that face from the gala. It was the prick that had interrupted me when I was correcting Aria.
“It’s you,” I breathed. “From the gala.”
Kane Rivers didn’t say anything. Just pulled a cigarette from his pocket. Lit it with steady hands. Took a long drag.Then he dropped it and crushed it under his heel.
“You have a lot of nerve,” I said, trying to sound confident. But for some reason I was freaking terrified. “Do you know who I am?”
He pulled on black gloves Slowly. The leather creaked as he flexed his fingers.
“Hey.” I took a step back. “What are you doing?”
Kane started walking toward me.
“Stay back!” I scrambled backward, my shoes slipping on broken glass. “I’m warning you!”
“I’m going to beat you,” Kane said. His voice was calm. Like he was discussing the weather. “For everything.”
“What?”
“For every time you hit Aria.” He kept walking. “For every bruise you left on her skin. I have seen them on her back and other places.”
My back hit the concrete wall.
“And especially,” Kane continued, still closing the distance, “for even thinking about touching my goddess.”
“Goddess?” I let out a hysterical laugh. “Man, are you crazy? She’s just my property! Her own father sold her to…”
His fist caught me in the jaw.I went down hard, stars exploding across my vision. Blood filled my mouth all over again.
“Get up,” Kane said.
“You can’t…”
He grabbed me by my collar and hauled me to my feet. Slammed me against the wall.
“I said get up.”
His fist came again. My ribs. My stomach. Each hit felt worse than death. And he kept hitting the same spot over and over again. It was almost like he was dancing with how graceful he looked. Wait, I'm mad? I was getting battered and I am here talking about him looking graceful.
But this wasn’t rage, it was punishment.
“Please,” I gasped. “Please, I…”
“You hit her at the gala.” Another punch. “In front of everyone.”
“I barely…”
“You made her bleed.”
“It was just…”
His knee came up into my stomach. I doubled over, retching.
“You were going to marry her.” Kane’s voice was still so calm. So terrifyingly calm. “Take her into your home. Own her.”
“The debt…”
“Fuck the debt.” He grabbed my hair and forced my head up. “She was twelve years old when your family decided she belonged to you. Twelve.”
“I didn’t…I wasn’t…”
“You were going to do to her what you did to those other girls.” His eyes were black in the dim garage light. “Weren’t you?”
“No! I never…”
“Liar.”
He threw me to the ground. I tried to crawl away. His boot came down on my back, pressing me flat.
“Every girl you bought,” Kane said above me. “Every child you destroyed. Every life you ruined for your entertainment.”
“Please,” I sobbed. “Please, I’ll do anything. I have money. Lots of money. I can pay you…”
“I don’t want your money.”
“Then what do you want?!”
He crouched down beside me. Grabbed my face and forced me to look at him.
“I want you to know,” he said quietly, “that Aria is never going to be yours. She belongs to me now. And the only mistake you made in your miserable life was going after my angel.”
“You’re insane,” I whispered.
“Maybe.” He smiled. It was the most terrifying thing I’d ever seen. “But I’m the insane person standing over you. So who’s really losing here?”
He stood up and then looked down at me with disgust.
“The feds will find you in about ten minutes,” he said. “Marcus made sure of it. They’re already on their way.”
“No. No, please…”
“You’re going to prison, Christian. For the rest of your life. And every single day you’re in there, I want you to remember this moment. Remember that you lost everything because you couldn’t keep your hands to yourself.”
“I’ll tell them!” I shouted desperately. “I’ll tell them you assaulted me! I’ll…”
“Go ahead.” Kane pulled out his phone. On the screen was Security footage, showing multiple angles of my car. But everything showed that I attacked him first.The video was edited. Perfectly. It showed me throwing the first punch.
“You’re insane,” I breathed again.
“You already said that.” He pocketed his phone. “But thank you for confirming.”
Sirens wailed in the distance. Getting closer.
Kane walked back to his car. It was barely damaged.
“See you in hell, Christian,” he called over his shoulder.
Then he drove away.
I lay there on the cold concrete, bleeding and broken, as the sirens got louder and louder.
And I knew.
I knew my life was over.The sirens were almost here now.I closed my eyes and waited for it to end.