The Unspoken Vow

Chapter Nineteen

-TW-
The following chapter contains explicit content; described violence, language and mentions of sexual harassment. The topics listed above may be harmful or traumatizing to some readers. Reader discretion is advised.
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Nyah

        It's been two days since Ivan left and I was beginning to feel uneasy. He didn't tell me how long he was gonna be gone for but how long should business trips take anyway? From time to time, though, my worries have been eased by his text messages.
         I missed him so much already.
         The library's construction started as soon as they confirmed the design I wanted and I was impressed by how fast these people worked. They were already nearly done with the base and it's only been a day of building.
        Now, I was on the way home from the lodge after confirming paint colors and other exterior designs for the library.
        I parked my car in the driveway and stepped out, smiling at the gleaming vehicle. It was still taking a bit of time for me to get used to the fact that I now owned my dream car.
        I noticed another car parked on the other side but didn't recognize it and my heart fluttered at the thought that maybe Ivan was already home.
        I rushed to the house, but it was dark and quiet. Maybe he was asleep?
        As I went up the stairs I heard muffled voices then a loud crash and Eliana's scream.
        I rushed to her bedroom, shoving the door open to find her on the floor, the side of her forehead bleeding and tears flowing down her face.
       Her eyes widened when she saw me, then sobbed harder, letting go of the knife in her hand.
       "What is it Eliana?" I asked her, kneeling down beside her, holding her shaking body against me. "What happened?" I asked, thinking the absolute worst and her eyes strayed behind me and I followed her gaze, my heart skipping a beat at the sight of my father standing, holding his hand against a gushing wound on his shoulder, his face swollen, nose bleeding.
        "I had to do it, Nyah, I'm sorry, he touched me. He did things- I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." She sobbed, burying her face in her hands.
         I look at the knife she discarded, then my father's body in the corner, his laugh a low rasp and his smile glinting with blood, the memory of Eliana's tattoo, the Medusa one on her hip and all the odd instances that equates to this.
        It all clicked into place.
        "I'm sorry," she cried. "I'm so sorry, Nyah, I'm sorry," she kept repeating over and over again and I could only stare at the knife as the realization set in. Why the fuck was she apologizing? He hurt her. He did more than that. Much more and it fucking broke me.
          "Please don't apologize, Lia," I whispered through the tears that flooded my eyes too, wiping them away. I stood up and went to where my father stood, unable to move from the wound on his shoulder.
         "What the fuck did you do to her?" I ask him in a low drawl.
         "Nyah..." he started. "So naïve, so stupid. How could you even be surprised your dumb, whore of a friend was practically asking for-"
         I punched him in the face before he could continue what his worthless mouth had to utter. My actions were controlled by pure, blinding anger. There was no thought to what happened next, the punches landed, each and everyone cracking against bone and blood covered my hands.
        I grabbed the nearest thing I could take, a glass vase, and hit him with it over and over again. My ears were ringing, I couldn't hear anything and all I could see was red.
        He couldn't put up a fight any longer, and he fell to the ground, his face covered in his blood but that didn't fucking stop me, I kept hitting him with all the anger I felt towards him. All the pent up emotions I had to keep to myself that built up over the years suffering his cruelty, was all unleashing with every hit, every cracked bone and every splattered blood, lifting weight off my shoulders. Weight that was dragging me down for years without me even realizing, because I was so fucking used to how evil he was capable of being. His inhumane treatment of others that I became blind to how truly horrible he was.
        I hit him again and again until somebody grabbed me by the arm and hauled me away, my back hitting a hard surface. The glass jar falling to the ground and shattering, the sound bringing me back to reality.
It was Ivan, I could tell from his scent and I collapsed against him, my hands shaking so badly and I was crying and screaming at the man that I was so ashamed to share blood with. The man that I refused to believe helped put me into this world.
       Ivan pulled back, turned me around and held my face in his hands, searching my eyes. He wiped my tears away, his jaw clenched hard.
      "What did he do?" He asked, his voice lethal, his hands roaming over my body, searching for any sort of injury but he would never find the one that hurt the most. My heart was broken and continued to break at the thought of everything my father did to Eliana.
      I looked at Eliana and found that Malachi was beside her trying to soothe her, his brows furrowed and his hands clenched.
      "Ivan," I mumbled. "My father," I sobbed, angrily swiping at my eyes. How the fuck do I tell my husband that my father sexually assaulted his sister? "He's known for..." I stammered, trying to get the words out. God, I felt pathetic, I couldn't even look him in the eyes. "I didn't know he would do that to Eliana-"
      As realization dawned on him, his eyes darkened and his attention went to my father who was coughing up blood. How the fuck was he still alive?
      He let go of me, nearly making me lose my balance and grabbed the man by the throat. I didn't realize Ivan's strength until then; he lifted him off the ground and slammed him against the wall, all with one hand.
Once, twice then over and over again until he went still, eyes closed shut, blood on the wall, blood on Ivan's hand, blood everywhere.
     I have never felt fear and satisfaction at the same time before but now, that feeling grew strong with the realization that he's dead. My father, the devil of a man, was dead.