But she’s really a snake.
A poisonous traitor.
“You don’t want me to be your daddy, Cleo?” I ask, keeping my voice gentle, and she tries to shake her head a little.
“No!” The word pops out of her lips and I smile.
“Okay then.” Shoving her to the floor, I hear several of my kids shouting as I follow her down and wrap my hands around her throat.
“DADDY, NO!” Sierra screams, but I keep my eyes on Cleo’s face. She’s trying to pry my fingers away from her neck, eyes scrunched up tight, shoes thumping against the floor, and it’s disappointing how many times I’ve had to do this. Betrayal shouldn’t be so easy.
“You don’t have to stay with us, Cleo. You can go be with Richter, and your mama, and your real daddy.” Tightening my grip, I put more weight into my arms, feeling her muscles fighting to move air and blood past my fingers.
“Please, no,” someone cries quietly, and I’m pretty sure it was Skylar, but Sierra distracts me when she drops to the floor beside us.
“STOP! DADDY STOP!” Sierra begs, both her hands wrapped around one of my arms as she pulls desperately. “Don’t hurt Cleo! Please! Let her go!”
“Cleo doesn’t want to be a part of this family, Sierra. I’m just letting her go.” Turning my head, I look at her. “Move back.”
“No! Daddy, stop!” she cries, yanking on me harder, but in a minute it won’t matter. Cleo’s not even kicking anymore, her eyelids are barely fluttering. It’s almost over. She’s almost gone, and then I really won’t be her daddy anymore. Sierra tries to throw her weight against me, but she’s always been on the smaller side, and it barely shifts my hold.
Then fire erupts on my face, and I jerk back, rage flooding me. “Did you fucking scratch me?”
Sierra isn’t even looking at me, she’s already leaned over Cleo, shaking her, but there’s no response coming from the girl I raised as my own. Grabbing a fistful of Sierra’s hair, I rip her away from Cleo’s body and throw her to the floor. She barely catches herself, sobbing too hard to speak as she flips to her back and shakes her head at me.
Touching my face, my fingers come away tinged with little smears of blood and I hold them out toward her. “You too, Sierra?” I can’t help but chuckle as I move to her side, backhanding her with my blood-stained hand. “You want to betray this family too?”
“Cleo!” she cries, choking on her sister’s name as she stares at her, pulling an arm up to try and hide her face. I immediately yank it away though, grabbing her jaw to make her look at me.
“Answer me, Sierra. Do you—”
“I HATE YOU!” she screams, and I feel my eyes go wide for a second before I backhand her again. Her cheek is bright red, but I don’t give a fuck. I would never hit my kids… but Sierra doesn’t love me anymore. Apparently, she loved Cleo more, and that’s against the rules.
“You hate me?” I repeat, laughing as I force her to look at me again. “Really?”
“You hurt Cleo!” she shouts, sobbing harder, and I turn to look at the girl Luke left with me. The child that finally made him call me son, give me the Greene name… and then I remember the child she carries.
My child.
“Casey.” I call out to him, but he already has his eyes on me, holding tight to Skylar who’s practically limp in his arms.
“Yes, Daddy?”
“Go get a knife from the kitchen. Sharpest one you can find,” I say, tilting my head to where Cleo lies. “You’re going to save your newest brother or sister.”
“NO!” Sierra screams, and I wrap my hand around her throat, squeezing until she sputters. Several of my kids moved forward, but they all freeze as I look at each of them.
“You need to do it now, Casey. Cleo deserved to go in the ground, but the child she carries is innocent.” I settle my gaze on his, watching the flicker of concern leave his face just before he nods at me.
“Okay, Daddy.” Turning, Casey pushes Skylar into Heather’s arms, but the girl doesn’t fight. She’s just staring at Cleo, tears rolling, but her face is empty.
Sierra drags her nails down my arm, so much sharper than Richter’s were, and she draws blood again. I hiss from the sting, looking at her again as I wrap both of my hands around her throat. “Are you fucking kidding me?” I ask, laughing bitterly. “You hate me? You want to be with Cleo? That’s fine, Sierra. You can abandon us today too. Go be with your sister.”
There’s no sound leaving her lips anymore, but I can feel her fighting, trying to twist away, so I shift over her, straddling her stomach so she can only kick uselessly.
“I don’t know what to do, Daddy,” Casey says, holding a knife as he kneels at Cleo’s side. He’s already lifted her sweatshirt, the swell of her belly rising high, and I try to remember everything I read. Just in case one of the kids got stuck and I had to make a choice.
But this choice is easy.
“Cut her open, low down on her stomach, but don’t push the knife in too far. We don’t want to hurt the baby if it’s still alive.”
The older kids are all silent as Casey makes the first cut, and I swear I see Cleo twitch, but the wailing of the little ones distracts me. It’s like nails on a chalkboard, and I growl as I put more weight on Sierra’s throat, feeling the bones grind and then there’s an odd little pop against my palms and she stops moving. Her eyelids flutter closed, but I keep my hands where they are.
“Someone make them stop screaming,” I say to the kids standing around watching Casey, and I feel my temper fraying further. “NOW!”
Brinnah and
