Page 192 of Chasing Hope

I’m going to be sick again.

Whoever is dragging me away from Marcus has no warning before I’m turning to the side and spewing the contents of my stomach once more, the tears streaming down my face mixing with the vomit.

It was her dad all along.

The one man who was meant to protect her above all else.

I’m a wild caged animal that’s been released, a predatorlocking on to its prey, and nothing can snap me from the red haze clouding my vision. The blood pouring down Marcus’s face isn’t enough to soothe the pain. Nothing is.

I want him fucking dead for what he did.

“Dude, what the fuck?” Caleb barks in my ear.

I don’t have time for him, don’t have time for anyone but Evie in this moment.

Flinging Caleb off me, my lip curls back in a sneer as he moves to restrain me again. “Don’t fucking stop me!”

Caleb raises his hands in the air, eyes wide with shock and something close to terror at seeing my anger completely unleashed. My hands shake at my sides as I look around, my eyes rolling as I spot Serena kneeling by Marcus. I keep going though, trying to find—there she is.

Relief comes through when I spot her, albeit only a fraction.

Because she’s standing with her arms wrapped around herself, hyperventilating.

I don’t think she’s even noticed herself that she is. She’s far gone, pupils blown as she remains fixated on Marcus, and I know it’s paining her to do so but it’s as if she can’t rip her gaze away, as if she’s afraid of what he will do once she does.

As the tears pour down her cheeks, a thousand thoughts float through my mind, yet one sticks and repeats until it has me striding back to Marcus and ignoring Caleb as he tries to calm me down.

I stand over him and Serena, spitting at her, “How could you fucking choose him over her?”

She lifts her head to mine, revealing her wobbling lip and glassy eyes.

The movement has my resolve snapping. “How?” I roar again at the woman who saved me growing up.

Caleb grabs me by my forearm. “Hey! You’re out of fucking line, Valenti.”

Shoving his chest with all my might, I point my finger in his face. “You have no idea what you’re fucking talking about.”

Caleb is in my face in a second. “Because no one will fucking tell me!”

“It’s nonsense, Caleb. Nothing but rumors.”

Serena’s words turn my body to stone. Turning to her slowly, the look I send her way has her paling. “Rumors?” I say, deathly quiet.

A whimper from behind me, from my precious girlfriend, has my heart splintering for her, at the pain I know that one sentence from her mother caused.

Scratch mother.

She is no mother.

Bending down, I get right in her face, keeping my voice so calm yet full of venom. “Your husband raped your daughter for over ten years and I am going to make both your lives a living fucking hell for what you both put her through.”

“I did no such thing?—”

“One more word out of your mouth and I’ll happily sit in a jail cell for thirty years if I can look back at the memory of smashing your fucking head in.”

I’ve never screamed like I’m screaming now, have never lost my mind like I have now. But nothing could calm my temper in this moment.

My thoughts are running rampant as I straighten, my disgust evident as I stare down at Serena and Marcus on the ground. There isn’t enough fucking blood pouring from him. But I try to take a steadying breath anyway before going over to Evie to soothe her.