One too Many

Chapter 39

Dominic

The air in the room thickens, as if the world outside could no longer exist the moment Samara decides to speak.

I can see it in her eyes, the weight of what she's about to share. Every inch of her body seems to shrink as she gathers the strength to open her soul.

The vulnerability in her posture is palpable, and I feel it in my gut like a punch. I want to reach out, hold her, stop her from going down this painful road, but I know better than to interrupt her now. She needs to do this. She needs to speak her truth.

Samara exhales deeply, the sound like a prayer escaping her lips.

"I... I wasn't always who you know me as," she starts, her voice shaking, the words barely escaping her throat. She glances up at us briefly-our eyes wide with concern, but I see something else too: regret. Fear. As if we'll see her differently after all the secrets tumble out. "I had a different life. One full of darkness."

I can feel the tension building in the room. My brothers have all gone quiet, waiting with bated breath. I see Asher's jaw clenched, his hands twitching like he wants to reach out and shield her from the words she's about to say. lan's eyes are hard, focused, but there's a flicker of uncertainty behind them. Cale is breathing shallowly, like he's afraid this revelation will break her beyond repair. Cole looks like he is fighting not to just grab her and shove her inside his heart so she is protected forever.

But it's not the reveal of her pain that worries me. It's the toll it will take on her. She's already been broken and pieced back together so many times; I don't know how much of her can survive the weight of this truth.

"I had a full family," she continues, her voice distant, as if she's not talking about herself anymore. "But not a family like yours." She pauses, shaking her head as if dismissing the thought before it has time to take root.

"My father was involved in the skin trade. He bought women and sold them. He bought my mother and he kept her. And... I was born. There was no love, no affection. Just ownership."

I feel my chest tighten, and I catch the look in lan's eyes-pained, angry, and ready to tear down anything that's ever hurt her.

"My mother... she couldn't protect herself. She couldn't protect me or my brothers. I wasn't just her daughter- I was a tool. A thing to be used, abused." Her voice cracks, and she presses a hand to her face as if she could stop the tears from escaping. "I watched her fall apart every day. I watched my father beat her. I watched him break her. Break me."

I'm on the edge of my seat now, and the others are too. She's barely holding it together, and I can see the strain in every word she speaks.

"My brothers," she whispers, looking down at her hands, clasped together tightly in her lap, "Oscar, Oliver- they were just babies. And I... I couldn't let them go through what l went through. I protected them. Took the hits for them.
I kept them safe. I did everything I could, even if it meant becoming less of a person."

She exhales a breath, shuddering. "I didn't go to school. I couldn't. My father wouldn't let me leave the house. So l taught myself. Everything I could. Anything to protect them. I became... I became what I had to be."

I can feel it in my chest now- a deep, gnawing pain. I want to reach out and pull her close, but I know that she's not done. She needs to get this out. I need to let her.

"I'm so glad I was able to keep my brain intact. By the time I was fourteen, I was capable of things that most adults couldn't do. I taught myself a lot of things. Good and bad. Knowledge was a weapon I didn't know I needed. I taught myself everything you can imagine. I even taught my brothers. We lived like that for years, in fear, trying to get by every day without losing each other." Her voice drops to a whisper.