“I’m the reason all this happened,” I say. “It’s my fault this happened to you. So I swear to you right now, Pandora, I’ll make it up to you for everything you’ve gone through.”
“How?” she demands, shaking her head in frustrated disbelief. “There’s nothing you can do, Dexter. It’s over for me. I’m done in Eden Falls.”
“Not if I have anything to do with it,” I tell her, offering her my hand to help her get out of the bed they defiled her in. “Come with me, Pandora. I’ll make it all better. I won’t leave your side at school, I’ll protect you. I’ll make sure nobody ever hurts you again.”
It’s as much as I can give her, the promise hanging in the air between us as she eyes me suspiciously, her gaze searching mine for another ulterior motive. I hate that it’s come to this, that she can’t trust me at all anymore, but I’m a man of my word and I fully intend on protecting Pandora from the others like I promised.
Finally, she puts her hand in mine and I pull her out of the bed.
“Where are your clothes?” I question her, and she gives me a long look that speaks volumes.
“They took them,” she finally mutters, and I curse under my breath before slipping off my jacket and wrapping her up in it.
“Come on, I’ll get you home.”
“What about my father?” she asks, her bottom lip jutting out. “He’s going to fucking kill me.”
“No,” I say resolutely. “I’ll make sure you’re okay, don’t worry. Come on, we need to get the hell out of here.”
I lead her out of the house to a shocked Kelley who doesn’t say a word, just opens the car door for us and silently drives away from Julian’s lake house.
Pandora’s quiet for the entire ride home, and I take every chance I can to check if she’s okay. Apart from the ruined makeup she looks just like the girl who’s been the thorn in my side for months. But there’s something different – the way she holds herself, the way she meekly looks away every time my eyes meet hers. Her defiance is gone, wiped out by the boys I called my friends only a day ago.
They broke her.
They broke her the way I never could.
2
Pandora
The car comes to a stop in front of Oakes Estate, but I stay glued to my spot. I don’t want to move. I don’t want to go inside; I don’t want to admit what happened to me in that lake house was real. Saying it out loud will make it too awful to handle. My mind is already foggy. I can feel myself fading away, and though I’m clutching at straws to stay sane, I’m getting fucking tired. Is it worth it to stay here, with these people who want nothing more than to ruin me? It would be so much easier to just slip away… let the shadows take me and build a wall not even my father’s shouting can penetrate.
“I’ll come with you,” Dexter offers, and I twist in my chair, taking a long look at my unlikely savior. “It’ll be okay if I’m there with you. I’ll convince him it wasn’t your fault.”
“Convince him?” I laugh. “It wasn’t my fault, Dexter. In fact, all of this is your fucking fault!”
He regards me with a cool gaze, but I can see the silent fire raging within him.
“Aren’t you going to say anything?” I blurt out, glaring. “You’re not even going to defend yourself, you prick?”
He remains quiet, his gaze fixed on mine as he waits for me to go on. I groan, rubbing my eyes just as the door of the car flies open.
“Sir, I’ll have her brought up as soon as-” Kelley scrambles to say, stepping in front of my enraged father.
But the man doesn’t listen, reaching past Dexter and grabbing me by my hair, making me cry out in pain as he drags me out of the vehicle.
“You fucking slut,” he says with cool disgust. “I should have known you’d be the one to disgrace this family! Raised somewhere else like a commoner, acting like an entitled brat with no manners… If I hadn’t made you take that DNA test, I’d be questioning whether you’re my daughter at all!”
I scream as he drops me to the gravel, staring up at him with pure disgust. Dexter’s quick to get out of the car, and it takes him and Kelley to hold my father back before he can beat my unmoving body for what’s been done to me.
“You make me ashamed,” my father spits on the ground, wiping his mouth with the sleeve of his jacket. “Fucking ashamed that you’re my blood, my fucking family – my Firstborn, no less! Well, no longer, daughter. I’ve put up with you long enough.”
“Please, Emilian, let’s speak about this,” Dexter interrupts, laying a calming hand on my father’s shoulder. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here, there’s still so much for us to discuss-”
“And you!” Father roars back to life, turning around on his heels and jamming his finger against Dexter’s chest. “You’re the reason all this happened. Because you couldn’t keep your filthy paws off her, and you made them want the same.”
He looks at me with pure disgust in his eyes, the way no father should look at their daughter as he murmurs, “I still don’t understand why, she’s nothing. Not beautiful. Not bright. Fucking nothing.”
The words sear me like knives but I don’t cry. Instead, I pick myself up from the gravel, the stones digging into my bare feet. It’s cold as fuck out here, and I want to go to my room, bury myself under the blankets in my bed and pretend none of this ever happened.
“Let’s go inside,” Dexter suggests. “Come on, we can’t talk out here.”
My father groans, rubbing his temples, while Kelley offers me a helping hand and leads me across the gravel inside the house. I feel shame burning my cheeks as we walk into the house and find both Minnie and Belle there, watching us intently.
“What the hell are you looking at?” Father roars to life as we walk inside. “Get back to work!”
Both of them scurry to their feet, each one heading into a different direction of the house. Father turns to face me now, his face twisted in displeasure as he mutters, “My office, fucking now.”
Kelley gives me an apologetic nod. Now I’m left with Dexter and my father, and I don’t know which one of them I hate more. Wordlessly, I fall into step behind my father and follow the two men upstairs to Emilian’s pristine office. I want to ask whether I can grab some clothes and wash my face, but I’m too ashamed, and I have a feeling my father would say no just to fuck me up more.
In his home office, father sits behind his desk while Dexter takes the other chair. I wrap his jacket around my body tightly, attempting to hide what I can. A deep need for revenge ignites me to sit on the expensive Chesterfield couch in father’s office, not giving a damn that he’s shooting me dirty looks. I deserve to sit down, if nothing else.
“What happened?” father demands now, his question aimed at Dexter.
“Brantley,” my ex-fiancé grits out. “He took her to Julian’s lake cabin.”
“Did you fuck him?” father demands, and I look away, squirming beneath the weight of his gaze. “Did you fuck the Brantley boy?”