Dare to Love me

ere closing in, their silence broken only b

my ear against the door, trying

r father's the reaso

ting. My stomach twisted as if someone ha

of my

tered into a shell of himself after Jason's death. He

footsteps snapped me back to reality. I scrambled aw

e small space. His gaze was sharp, assess

asked, his tone

ut before I could stop them. "What di

t for a moment, before harden

d, my voice trembling with a mix of

l my shoulders hit the wall. "Your father isn't the man yo

ces. Choices wi

I shouted, my chest heaving. "Wha

ut then his mask slipped back into place, cold an

, refusing to let him def

f struggling with himself. "Your brother go

l you need

felt like a slap, v

but no less determined. "If you're going to hold m

hrough his dark hair. "Your father's betr

f my feet. "You're lying," I whispered, though doubt was a

errupted, his voice c

air thick with unspoken tension. Hades t

this?" I asked, my voice

. "Because you deserve to know

ng me alone with a storm of emoti

ugh my mind. Hades' words haunted me, but so did the memories of my father. Cou

arred man from the car. He carried a tray of food

ping into my voice. "Can you-do

flicking to mine. "Eat," he said

eemed to know more about my life than I did,

of Jason's death: the police's vague explanations, my father's hollow

an facing the unknown. But now, the cracks in that story we

y the sound of the door unlocking. Hades

," he o

sked, my v

me to follow. Reluctantly, I complie

ng degrees of curiosity and suspicion. We stopped in a large, open

red to a ch

he room. The tension was palpable, every man

, his arms crossed. "I want to make someth

your father. But that do

d a beat. "What

l to get their hands on you. Literally. So unless you

atening to crush me. "Why would they want m

you're leverage. And in this

or terrified. Hades was keeping me al

couldn't shake the feeling that I wa

andwriting was unfamiliar, but what was written on it made my stom