When She Falls (The Fallen, #3)(79)

I’m trembling, and the pain in my side is spreading and spreading. The shirt I’m wearing sticks to my back with cold sweat. My stomach clenches, and I throw up. There’s nothing in my stomach but the coffee I drank this morning.

A few moments later, someone’s hauling me up. I recognize who it is by his scent.

“Ras?”

Familiar hands cradle my face. “Are you okay?” he asks, his voice shaking with fury.

I blink at him. “There’s something wrong with my side.”

I get a single glimpse of his murderous expression before he carefully tucks me behind him and moves toward Papà.

My father’s slumped against the bookshelf, a trickle of blood running down his chin. His furious gaze is locked on Ras.

“Get out,” Papà says with a sneer. “Get the fuck out before I—”

Ras lunges at him, slams him into the bookcase, and wraps his fingers around his throat.

“You fucking decrepit piece of shit,” he spits out, the veins on his forearms growing more prominent as he squeezes and squeezes. Papà’s face turns beet red beneath his grip.

“I knew it was you.” Ras’s voice is clear and deadly and ricochets off the walls. “You’ve done this to her before.”

Papà’s eyes bulge. Ras is going to kill him.

I should try to break them up, but I’m frozen as I watch everything play out.

He punched me and kicked me while I was on the ground.

The halting words on the tip of my tongue dry out, but Ras stops short of choking him. Just as Papà starts sputtering, Ras lets go off his throat and lands a hard punch on his face.

Papà’s nose explodes with blood.

That visual gets my throat unstuck. “Ras, stop.” I reach out, grab his arm, and pull him back. “No, stop. Don’t.”

His rage is infernal. He throws Papà to the ground. “She’s your fucking daughter. You get off on beating women? Does it make you feel tough? You’re a sad joke, you goddamn asshole.”

My father glares at him from where he’s sprawled on the ground panting. His nose gushes blood.

“Who the fuck do you think you are?” Papà snarls, red spittle flying from his mouth. “This is none of your business.”

Ras’s response is a vicious kick to my father’s gut.

Papà groans, spits out blood. “You’ll pay for this,” he wheezes.

Ras steps on his hand, and a moment later, there’s a crunching sound, and Papà’s face goes white.

“Ras! Stop,” I beg. “Don’t do this.”

“You’re a dead man,” Papà hisses through the pain. “You hear me? A dead man.”

I dig my fingers into Ras’s forearm. “That’s enough. Please.”

Papà hits the floor with his fist. “Get out. Get out so that I can hunt you down.”

Ras lowers on his haunches and grabs Papà’s shirt, bringing his face close. “I’m taking Gemma to the hospital. You better not be here when we come back. I don’t give a fuck that this is your house. I don’t give a fuck that she’s your daughter. No one touches her. You hear me? No one. If I’m a dead man, I’m dragging you down to the depths of hell with me.”

There’s a loud gasp. “Gem!”

I whip my head around to see Cleo standing in the doorway, her hand covering her mouth.

Shit.

She flicks her gaze over the scene, and I can see the realization of what happened slowly dawn on her. Her eyes turn red and watery, and she rushes to my side. “Oh my God, are you okay?”

My body is in so much pain, but I can still feel my heart break. The secret is out. I’ve spent so long trying to shield Cleo from this.

Ras prowls over to us. “I’m taking you to get checked out.”

I hesitate. My mind is sluggish, but even in this state, I know Ras is in trouble.

He just beat the shit out of a don.

Papà will send his men after him.

They can’t kill Ras. I can’t let that happen. Maybe if I stay behind, I can talk Papà down. “Ras—”

“We’re going,” he says resolutely. His eyes lock on mine, and something inside of them makes my protest die out.

I swallow. Nod. “Cleo, go up to your room, lock the door, and wait until Mamma comes home.”

My sister’s crying now, tears running down her face. “Papà did this?”

“Please, Cleo. Just do as I say. Go to your room.”

When she doesn’t move, Ras takes her arm and lifts her off the floor. “Go, Cleo.”

She blinks at me, her lips trembling, and she then turns to him. “Please take care of her.”

“I will,” Ras says.

“Don’t you dare leave,” Papà growls at me as Cleo runs out of the room. “You leave with him, and I swear, Gemma, you’ll regret it.”

Tears spring to my eyes. How could he do this? My own father?

Ras wraps his arm around my trembling shoulders. “Don’t listen to him. They’re nothing more than the words of a desperate man who’s aware his days at the top are numbered.”

Papà’s face blanches.

And with one final look at my cruel, broken father, I let Ras whisk me outside.