The Lies You Told Me

Chapter 22

Kai's POV 

Katana left me standing in the flowering garden, and I raised my hand to wave goodbye, but she'd already left. 

I sat on the swing, replaying our kiss. It was magical. It had felt like a swarm of butterflies, their wings fluttering against my lips. The warmth of her lips was still making my skin tingle. I smiled. A wide, goofy, happy smile, and I let out a little laugh. I spun around in the flowers from joy, before realising how stupid I must look, and started to walk inside, the smile still plastered on my face.

Katana's POV

I smiled to myself as I walked through the gardens. I'd never allowed myself to get close to anyone, but I felt safe when I was with Kai. When we kissed, I felt the caterpillars inside me explode into butterflies, and fireworks scattered themselves over my lips where he touched them.

I soon reached the house, a smile still stretching across my face. As I was walking to my room, I heard a noise from one of the utility rooms. I pressed my ear up to the door, and heard strangled screams. Shoving the door opened, I froze as I saw the scene before me. 

My mother was tied to a wooden chair, a gag over her mouth, and Dante was standing over her. With a scream, I realised he was beating her with his fists. She had a bruised eye, and blood which was starting to dry into her ash brown hair. 

"What the fuck Dante?" I screamed as I threw myself between them, trying to protect my mother. Dante didn't stop, and began hitting me instead. I grabbed his arm, but he pulled away, and hit me in the ribs. He threw me to the floor, kicked me out of the way, and went to hit my mother again. I swept his legs from beneath him, and he fell on top of me, briefly winding me. I choked on my saliva, and tried punching Dante to escape, but he didn't move. 

My mother was still tied to the chair, so couldn't help me. I was stuck. Dante had started punching my chest, and I groaned, gasping for air. I tried to wriggle out, but Dante was stronger than me, and could easily hold me down. He had trapped my arms between his legs, so I couldn't reach my weapons. I looked up, to see him pulling out a knife. He pulled it up to my neck, and laughed, an evil glint in my eye.

"I can finally get rid of you, you little bitch. Then I'll just have Yelena to worry about. And she won't be much trouble."

The blade dug into my neck, ripping the stitches that Kai had carefully sewn. I let out a scream, and just as I was preparing for the worst, the doors burst open to reveal Kai. He jumped onto Dante. It wasn't enough to do any damage, but the surprise gave me a minute to roll out from under Dante. I grabbed the knife, threw it at him, hit his arm, then quickly untied my mother as Dante recovered from the pain, before Kai grabbed my arm, and the three of us ran out of the room. As we turned the corner, we slowed down so we could catch our breath. 

"Momma! What happened? What was Dante doing to you?" I leant over to my mother's and gave her a hug, before wiping away some of the blood from under her eye.

She sighed, and flinched away from my fingers as I brushed over a cut.

"Dante... I think he was drunk or some... He was saying something about taking over our family..." 

"Shit." I looked over at Kai. "He's not just going for me and Lena. He wants to kill all the girls." 

 "Kitty, mind your language." I rolled my eyes, and laughed a hollow laugh. My mum had just been hit by her own son, but she was bothered about my language.

 I froze, as I realised something.

 “Bee and Val. I have to go. Kai, look after her.” He nodded, and turned back to my mother, and began dressing some of the cuts.

 “Kitty, dear. I don’t think… This isn’t anything serious, is it? I think Dante was just drunk. I’m… I’m sure he didn’t mean anything by it.” I sighed, exasperated, and looked up to the ceiling in despair. My mother was nice. Too nice. She never saw the bad in anyone, even if it was staring right at her. That’s why she never said anything to my father.

 “Momma, he just beat you up. He’s tried to kill me, multiple times. Can’t you see? He’s just like father.”

 I turned, took a deep breath, and went to find Bee and Val.