Irresistible Desire

The Scars She Hid From The World

REGINA MCBRIDE

The heavy iron gates of the Wilderness Correction Camp groaned as they released me after three years of state-sponsored hell. I stood on the dirt road, clutching a plastic bag that held my entire life, waiting for the family that claimed they sent me there for "rehab." My brother, Brady, picked me up in a luxury SUV only to throw me out onto a deserted highway in the middle of a brewing storm. He told me I was a "public relations nightmare" and that the rain might finally wash the "stink" of the camp off me. He drove away, leaving me to limp miles through the mud on a snapped ankle. When I finally dragged myself to our family estate, my mother didn't offer a hug; she gasped in horror because my muddy clothes were ruining her Italian marble. They didn't give me my old room back. Instead, they banished me to a moldy gardener’s shack and hired a "babysitter" to make sure I didn't embarrass them further. My sister, Kaleigh, stood there in white cashmere, pretending to cry while clinging to her fiancé, Ambrose—the man who had once been mine. They all treated me like a volatile junkie, refusing to acknowledge that Kaleigh was the one who planted the drugs in my bag three years ago. They wanted to believe I was broken so they wouldn't have to feel guilty about the "wellness retreat" that was actually a torture chamber. I sat in the dark of that shed, feeling the cooling gel on the cigarette burns that covered my arms, and realized they had made a fatal mistake. They thought they had erased me, but I had returned with a roadmap of scars and a hidden satellite phone. At dinner, I didn't beg for their love. I simply rolled up my sleeves and showed them the price of their silence. As the wine spilled and the lies crumbled, I sent a single text to the only person I trusted: "I'm in. Let them simmer." The hunt was finally on.

Modern Revenge Scheming

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Nick's POV

"Don't worry Dad, I'm going to find someone to take care of you." I said as I helped him climb the stairs and opened the door of his room for him. I watched my dad enter his room and shut the door.

I walked down the stairs and sat on the bed slowly. I heard a knock on the door and frowned. I glanced at the clock on the wall and cringed.

Walking towards the door, I opened it immediately and Tony entered with a smile.

"I had the urge to come to your house." He muttered with a bright smile.

"It's still early, didn't expect you'd come so early." I replied, managing to smile a bit. Tony went straight to the sofa and sat comfortably on it.

I closed the door and walked to the sofa facing him. "I just came to check up on your dad." He said as I sat down.

I lifted up his head and smiled at him, a genuine smile that momentarily eased the tired lines of my face.

"He's fine for now." I replied.

"Don't worry, he'll always be fine." Tony promised softly.

"Of course. He would,"

I found my voice after a few seconds of silence. "I'm worried, the doctor said he's likely to have a cardiac arrest as his condition worsened and I'm scared of losing him." I bit my lips uncertainty.

He countered with a frown, I was certain that he didn't believe that I cared about his father. We had been childhood friends and my father abandoned me when I was six years old. He relocated to England and later came back to New York after a failed adoption. I didn't get to meet my mother, she died while giving birth to me which made my father hate me.

He managed to smile at me battling with the rage inside of him. "Nick, do you realize that your father abandoned you and moved in with your step mother?" Tony asked, a little grin on his face.

"I don't remember, did he?" I ventured cautiously.

He scoffed. "Really?" Tony asked, annoyed. He let out a little sigh, still upset about my reply.

"I just want to have a good memory and not a bad one." I told him.

"You need someone to take care of your dad and that's why you need a girlfriend." He suggested and looked at me who also looked at him with an arched eyebrow.

"A girlfriend?" I asked him, a little bit surprised by his suggestion and he nodded.

"Yes, I don't know why you broke up with Anna but she did seem like a nice person." Tony answered and I hissed.

It was so ridiculous of me to date Anna, she was never my type of woman. "Anna was never a sex addict like me, she just wanted love. I'm not in love. I don't even fall in love. I didn't come to this life to love a woman foolishly, I came to enjoy it." I explained.

"I call it foolishness." He replied with a smirk.

I wore a disappointed look but managed to continue the discussion. "So what's your definition of life?" I asked.

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