Chapter 107 The painful truth
My heart ripped into a million pieces while I watched what had become of the day that I'd love to keep replaying in memory on a loop. My father has turned my wedding day which had just made me shed tears of unimaginable joy into a freaking shit hole.
As he called to me with an arm stretched out, I felt a wave of disgust and hatred for him that was impossible to conceal. I was certain that my facial expressions gave away just how much I detested his guts as he stood before me.
My heart kept beating uncontrollably and I could barely form the millions of questions that flew through my mind. I needed to breathe but I didn't care to catch my breath as much as I terribly needed answers to those questions from my father.
I couldn't believe the smug and unapologetic look he had on his face, it was as though he didn't care about hurting me as long as she had his way. I finally mustered the courage to speak but I was certain my voice would sound cracked and snotty because of how much I'd cried.
"Why dad? Why? I don't know what else to fucking ask but Why? Why would you ruin this for me?" I pleaded for an answer that would suit the ache I could physically feel in my chest.
"You have to understand that I will never accept defeat from the Ivanovs. After they used you in trickery to get the shipment back, I knew I had to get revenge and you were fur perfect piece in my puzzle-"
I cut him off, "as usual? Because that's all I am to you? A fucking puzzle piece to place wherever you damn please not caring how much it scars me." Tears rolled down my cheeks again and I bit my lip in a bid to push them back.
"Don't be such a baby about this, Lisa. This wedding was the perfect rouse I needed to get the Ivanovs under one roof while they're vulnerable and I believe it's played out quite nicely" He spat out while looking very proud of himself for what he'd managed to pull.
I laughed bitterly at his words and blinked back more tears as I watched him show just how truly heartless he was. How could a man take so much pleasure in his child's pain over and over? I wondered.
"Now step away from the Ivanov boy, I ought to empty a few bullets in his skull for playing tricks on me using you." He raised his voice as he pointed his gun toward Axel who I was covering halfway with my shoulder.
"I'm not fucking moving," I said angrily through my gritted teeth and stepped back closer to Axel, such that my entire body covered most of his in the defensive stance I took.
"If you don't get out of my way, I won't hesitate to put a bullet through your chest to get to him you useless bitch" He'd started calling me names again like he did whenever he didn't get his way, but I didn't flinch.
"You're nothing but a bastard who has been mooching off me all your life, you know that?" He said in a much angrier tone, as though my existence disgusted him.
"Your mother was a common whore like you, you know? She had an affair with some godforsaken man and got pregnant for you." I didn't think my heart could take the information he'd just thrown my
way.
My knees felt like they would give way and the earth beneath my feet would collapse. He hated me so much because I was the only reminder of my mother's infidelity to him and nothing more. I sniffed and tried to calm my raging heart, it was as though my entire life had been a lie, one that had left me with countless scars.
"I didn't want to be the man who couldn't keep his wife satisfied or on a leash so I accepted the pregnancy as mine and raised you as my own. But what do I get for that? You're here being a fucking ingrate" He laughed in my face and waved his gun in it as well.
I had no idea what to possibly say as he kept speaking, all the life I had felt unworthy of his love and now I finally understood that I'd never actually gotten any love from him. He only acted kindly towards me when I was doing his bidding without questioning him, but since I'd met Axel I had become harder to bend to his will and he'd shown his true colors by emotionally abusing me.
"Did you really think I'd raise you under such dangerous circumstances in the mafia if you were really my daughter? For fuck's sake open your damned eyes, I raised Tricia like a princess and protected her from all the ugly shit because she's my only daughter"
As he spoke, everything that had gone on in my entire life began to finally make sense, and as much as it hurt at least I could take comfort in knowing that he'd treated me like shit because I wasn't his daughter, it would break me more if I was truly his child and he'd treated me like a pawn.
"The only thing you're useful for is using your body to bring our enemies to their feet, and as you can see-" He looked around at the chaos they'd caused in the church and pointed the gun back at us.
oblivious sheep that was constantly being dragged to the slaughter or used as a sacrificial lamb.
I could finally see why the only time he rained praises on me was after a successful mission, especially missions where it was my seductive skills that brought his victory. He'd encouraged me to use my body as a beckoning tool for dangerous men, he didn't care that I would be exposed to unwanted sexual advances and death as well if they found out I was being deceitful.
All of this didn't mean a thing to him because he never loved me, I was a reminder of his shame and proof that my mother chose another man over him at some point in their marriage. Now, I know " why".
But I'd sacrificed my happiness with Axel for their undeserving asses once and I wasn't about to do that again. There's no way on earth I'd let him take the one man that felt like family and home to me, the one man that had shown me unconditional love, despite my shortcomings.
By exposing that I wasn't his child, he'd only given me a renewed sense of confidence to protect Axel from being shot because I now knew that truly, he was all I had in the entire world.
.
And over my dead body, would he ever have the satisfaction of such a thing as my husband's life?
"No! I said I'm not moving!" I screamed back at him and stood my ground, angrily.
"Have it your way then, I don't give a shit" He said and at that very moment, he pointed his gun at me and pulled the trigger with a smile.
Before I realized what had hit me, I heard a loud noise and everywhere went dead silent.