Chapter 86 THE TIPPING POINT
THEO’S POINT OF VIEW.
“Oh, please, you’re whipped.” Killian snickers at Lucien as they go back and forth about Sloane.
“Yes, and so? You’re gonna understand when you actually like someone other than yourself.” I opened my mouth to but in, but my phone vibrated in my pocket.
I pull it out to see a notification about a text message from my father. That’s odd…. Father never texts me.
With a frown, I tap the notification to see that it’s a picture. My heartbeats thunder against my ribcage as I wait for it to download. For some reason, I’m filled with an ominous feeling…it’s like my entire nervous system feels like something’s up, and I won’t be able to take it.
The full image downloads, so I click on it.
It was her.
Seraphina.
She was standing in a spot close to the school parking lot with him. My father’s hand rested too close to her arm, his shadow stretching over her like he owned her. She was smiling—barely, but enough to make bile claw up my throat.
Fear and dread claw up my throat at the sight, as my mind screams at me.
‘What if this is a repeat of Luna? What if he already has her sedated and taken off to wherever the fuck he wants?
What if I’ve lost her for good?
I can’\[t lose Sera…..I fucking can’t.
Before I can think about anything else, three bubbles appear, followed by a text from the sick fucker.
‘Pretty, isn’t she? She’s even prettier than Luna. Don’t make the same mistake twice, son.’
My vision tunneled, as dark spots filled my sight. I could hear Cassian’s voice as he dropped his book to face Killian, but none of it stuck. All I could see was my father’s hand, my father’s smirk, my father’s poison wrapping around Seraphina. All I could think about was Luna, her slit throat, and the blood… There was so much blood.
My chest seized, each inhale jagged, and Luna’s face flashed again, it’s bloody, pale, and still firm as she lay limp with an open throat in the middle of my father’s living room, the last time I saw her. My father’s voice played in my mind, ‘Attachment is weakness, son. This is what happens when you care.’
I didn’t waste a second. I leapt out of my seat with false control, and bolted out of the elite lounge. I didn’t realise when I started running, all I knew was that my legs pushed me faster than they’d ever been, till I got to the parking lot.
They were still there. I saw my father standing still too close to her, even as she moved to keep some distance between them, her hand in her right pocket like she was clutching on to something. His chilling smirk was plastered on his lips as he spoke to her. She didn’t look like she was listening, but had to pretend to care, as an uneasy, fake smile pulled at her lips.
As if he sensed my presence, the moment I took a few more steps in their direction, he turned his head to me. I made eye contact with him, meeting his bone-chilling stare, as he flashed me a twisted smile. I recognized that look….it was the same one he gave me before killing Luna.
Fierce protectiveness filled my chest as I walked over to Seraphina. She blinks up at me in confusion, but I don’t miss the flicker of relief in her eyes as I pull her behind me.
“Ah, it’s my son. Isn’t this fun?” Phillip said, his tone mocking, as he looked at me like he was fighting the urge to laugh.
“Father. What are you doing here?” I asked, keeping my voice monotone, like I didn’t care about anything. But I couldn’t fool him…he’d seen through me. The moment he saw that I’d appeared here not even five minutes after his text, he knew what she meant to me.
“I just want to meet my son’s tutor.” He said, flashing his eyes to Seraphina, who I coddled safely behind me. My body language was tense, ready to coil and snap if he reached for her. “Seraphina, don’t you want to see me?” He asked, and my grip tightened.
If this fucker touches her, I’ll fucking kill him, I swear it. I wanted to wait till I turned twenty in a few weeks, but if he dares try anything with the only girl that makes me happy, I’ll fucking bury him alive.
“You should leave. I’m sure there are things to attend to, Father.”
“But I want to get acquainted with your….friend.”
“Get the fuck away from her.” The words came out of my mouth before I realized it, and I knew I was fucked.
Seraphina inhaled sharply behind me, her grip on my jacket tight, as mine was on her hand.
“But she can be my friend too.”
“She’s not your anything.” My voice was raw, shredded by such a mighty rage that even I had never felt before. I moved closer to him, my fear of him dissipating as I fixed him with a harsh glare; each step I took felt heavier than the last. “Don’t even dare say her name.”
“Relax,” he drawled, holding his hands out as though I was the one being unreasonable. “I’m simply curious. She has… spirit. I like that.”
Seraphina stiffened at his words, her grip on me tightening, though she stayed silent.
“Don’t.” My voice cracked, as my hands shook beside me with the urge to knock him out. “Don’t you dare look at her like that. Don’t touch her. Don’t—”
He tilted his head, studying me the way one studies a trapped animal. His eyes gleamed with something dark, and I could feel the chill in my spine. “Interesting,” he murmured. “So this is different. You care. That’s new.”
The world tilted, and my stomach dropped, turning to ice. He was baiting me...because he already knew.
Luna’s name screamed in the back of my mind, though he didn’t say it. He didn’t have to. The ghost of her was enough, the bruises my mother and sister had to endure at the hands of this monster, the silence at home over his brutality, the way my father had made everything a threat to keep me down. “Stop it,” I rasped.
Seraphina glanced between us as she walked to my side, her eyes narrowing now, like she was piecing together threads she wasn’t meant to see…threads I’d rather have her never see. “Theo… what’s happening?”
“Go inside, Sera,” I told her, my gaze never leaving him, not even once. My fists curled so tight in my hands that even my nails bit into skin. “Now.”
“I’m not leaving you—”
“Go!” I snapped, harsher than I meant. The panic in me clawed at my throat. If she stayed, he’d take her. He always took what I loved.
My father chuckled low, and the sound sliced through me, flipping a switch inside me that made me fucking break.. “Ah. You’re protecting her. That’s rich.”
Something in me broke, and I lunged.
One second I was standing, the next my fist was in his suit collar, dragging him forward. The silk of his tie bunched in my grip, his cologne—sharp, suffocating—flooding my senses. My teeth bared like an animal ready to rip flesh.
“Theo!” Seraphina gasped, her hands pulling on my back. “Stop, please!”
Phillip didn’t flinch. Hell, he didn’t fucking resist; instead, he leaned forward, so close I could feel his breath against my ear. His smile never faltered as he whispered, low enough for only me:
“Careful, son. You wouldn’t want her to end like Luna, do you?”
Everything stopped.
My heart.
My breath.
The fucking world.
For a beat, I was thirteen again, standing in a room where Luna lay bloody. Hearing his voice as he told me, while standing over me, his voice had been cold, clinical, as he uttered the words that forced me to carry a guilt that wasn’t meant to be mine……that it was my fault that it happened, that it was because I cared.
I saw red.