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Chapter 10

To my relief, Zylen drove relatively fast and safe. I gave him the directions to my house and as soon as he parked haphazardly in front of it, I sped out of the car. I shouted a quick thank you to Zylen, but he was already behind me.

"What are you doing? I can take it from here. Thanks for the ride." I jammed my key into the front door and twisted, opening it.

"I'm not leaving you and your Aunt alone with a drunk, possibly dangerous man."

I didn't have time to ask him how he knew Daniel was drunk as I raced up the stairs. "I have really good hearing. Plus your volume was loud." He answered my unasked question.

I opened Aunt Sarah room door with a force that should have separated it from its hinges. Daniel sat on her bed, a glazed look in his eyes. I immediately spotted the bottle of whiskey in his hand. When he spotted me, he raised the bottle to his lips and took a swig, his eyes on me the whole time.

"There you are, my wonderful daughter. You don't mind me calling you my daughter, right? Because you are my daughter, Aura." He tried standing, but failed miserably.

"You can go now." I told Zylen.

"No way," He retorted.

Aunt Sarah walked in with a cup of coffee served with a scowl. "Daniel, put that bottle away. You're embarrassing yourself." Her eyes zoomed in on Zylen. "Who's your handsome friend?" She gushed.

"Now is not the time, Aunt Sarah," I sighed. "Why is he here?" I pointed at my sperm donor, because that was all he was.

She gave a shrug. "He showed up at the door. I wasn't going to leave him out in the cold."

"Well, you should have," I snapped.

"Aura!" She chastised, giving me one of her signature death glares. "Regardless of what you think of him, he is still your father!"

"No, he isn't! I can't believe you're taking his side! Since when do you love him more than me?" It was at that exact moment when I came to the realisation that I sounded exactly like my mother: the constant need for affection, always speaking ill of Daniel. And as terrible as it sounded, I wanted to be nothing like my mother.

"Of course not, Aura! You always come first. You know that. But it's time you stop making him feel bad. It's time you start accepting that Kira was to blame for her own problems!"

Maybe it was the fire coursing through my veins. Perhaps it was the scent of whiskey filtered through my nose ridiculed the fact that I didn't want that bastard in my house. Whatever it was, I knew I wouldn't be able to go back. Because my hand lifted, almost like it had a mind of its own and flew across Aunt Sarah's face.

The sound of my palm against her cheek echoed through the large room. The pain in my hand filled me with a distorted sense of pride. I wanted to hurt her as much as she hurt my mother's honour. In front of Zylen, no less.

Zylen grabbed me and glued me against his chest. "Let me go!" I screamed. "How dare you! How dare you talk about her that way? And all for that piece of trash?" I looked over to Daniel, who had fallen into an alcohol-induced sleep. Un-bloody-believable.

Her hand hadn't left her cheek, but she didn't back down. "When I find something untrue with what I said, I'll let you know."

That was it. "Let me go, Zylen! Let me go!"I shouted, kicking and punching him, trying to get out of his hold. "Let me go!"

I felt myself being lifted off the ground. I continued landing weak punches on his muscular chest, but to no avail, his grip on me didn't loosen.

"Please, let me go. I won't do anything to her." I promised. He looked at me hesitantly, but pulled away from me.