All I Need

Chapter 51 - Dead Man

Kaia

As soon as my father's arm loosened around my neck, I dropped to the floor. I grovelled over Dominick's body, holding his limp hand and crying into his palm. He was actually gone. What would Isaiah say if he saw me now?

"There will always be consequences for reckless actions, my sweet Kaia," Nathaniel spoke from behind me. "I thought I raised you better. To know I wouldn't take something like this lightly."

The anger that surged through my veins allowed me to shoot up from the floor and grab the gun that I stole earlier. I pointed it directly between my father's eyes and put my finger on the trigger. A surprised look washed over his face but it faded quickly. He must have known I had the gun, yet the last thing he expected me to do was threaten him with it.

"You are the worst kind of person to exist.'' I stood tall. I wasn't going to give up. "You deserve nothing."

"You're wrong. I deserve everything and more." he took a step towards me. I refused to step away, to let him win once again. His brown gaze warmed as he stared at me. "I've worked hard for all I have. I've given you the best life possible, aren't you grateful?"

Grateful? Was he serious?

How could I be grateful for everything he put me through? For all the men I had to sleep with, for the ones who took advantage of me... for sending me to seduce Elias, making him fall for me?

I felt disgusted. Every time I thought about all the bad things I had done, I felt like a monster. I felt like I was following in the footsteps of my father. I would ruin lives and then just be lonely in the end. Who would want that for themselves?

My heart flipped upside down when he took another step forward, this time so close that the gun was touching his chest. He looked down at the firearm then looked back at me with that sickening smile I hated so much.

"Do it." He raised the gun so the barrel was pressed directly in the middle of his forehead. "Kill your father. Kill the man who raised you, cared for you, and made you the person you are today."

Another tear fell from my eye and slid down my cheek, into my mouth. I could taste my own pain, my fear, my rage. This is what Gabriella told me to do. She said I couldn't fail. She was right. I couldn't fail.

But just for a moment, I thought about the question I had asked myself since I was young.

Did I love my father?

Not in the way where I adored him or admired him because I knew I didn't. I meant in the way that a child loves their parents. Because the parent has always been around, and the only source of guidance they had. In the sense that a child loves their parent because automatic, no matter what the parent has put the child through. A kind of love that's hardwired into the child's brain, despite how much they want to feel it or believe it.

"I wish your mother was here." he went on, trying to distract me. "I wish she could see what you became. An ungrateful slut who wishes death on her own father. Jasmine–"

Without hesitation, I hit him across the head with the gun. He fell to the floor laughing obnoxiously like something was funny.

"Don't you dare say her name!" I stood over him, lifting my leg and pushing my foot into his chest as hard as my strength would allow me. "I'm glad she's not here. She's better off dead than with you."

"You're right. Maybe you should join her, but not yet. I don't think you've suffered enough." My father rested his weight on one of his elbows, using his other arm to grab my ankle and keep it in place. He glanced towards his bedroom door behind me and nodded. "Take her. I'm done here. I'm fucking done."