Hate me

Knox

Relief flows through me as I watch Aspen turn around and head toward the bus. 

After I’m sure she’s on, I peel out of the parking lot. Time is ticking and if I don’t get this shit over with now, it will be too late. 

Thinking quick, I head down the highway, deciding to make a pit stop at the house to make sure everything is still copacetic. 

Tying my stepmother up was the easy part. 

Tying up my father—who always has his gun on him—was a lot harder. 

However, there’s one place he doesn’t bring his gun. 

The shower. 

The look on his face when I opened the door and attacked him was like nothing I’d ever seen before.

Smiling to myself, I press my foot on the gas. 

It’s not over yet, though. 

I’ve sat back—biding my time for years—while waiting for the perfect moment to strike. 

But I had to be smart. 

Sure, I could have just killed him and let them drag me out in cuffs, but I’ve spent enough time in a proverbial prison cell. 

I needed to piece together the perfect plan that would give me the best chance to escape. 

Fortunately, one formulated once my father married Aspen’s mom. 

He did it as a punishment. 

Because no matter how much I insisted I hated Aspen, he knew the truth. 

The girl with the yellow ribbon meant something to me. 

Too bad for him his little punishment will end up being his downfall.

After parking down the street, I jog up to the house and run up the stairs to his bedroom. 

Aspen’s mother is still bound to the bed. She screams when she sees me, but it’s muffled due to the duct tape I placed over her mouth. 

Putting on a pair of black gloves, I walk over to her. “Don’t worry. It will all be over soon.” 

Had she been a better mother to Aspen, I wouldn’t have involved her, but alas, she’s a fucking cunt. 

I suppose I should be grateful for that though, because it enabled me to come up with the perfect murder. 

I glance at my father, who’s tied to a chair, looking more irate than I’ve ever seen him. 

Or should I say…murders. 

I amble over, double checking that he’s still secured. 

“I’m just waiting for one more guest to arrive before we get the party started.” 

My father’s eyes widen, and a rush of satisfaction swells inside me. 

The ball is finally in my court. 

A sinking feeling pushes through my chest. Not exactly. 

Because the knife—the one with my fingerprints on it—that I used to carve out my mother’s heart is nowhere to be found.

And I wouldn’t put it past the bastard to have left it with someone he trusts who will use it against me in the event of his untimely death. 

But still…Aspen’s on that bus. 

So even if I don’t make it out of this unscathed…I can take solace from knowing that she will. 

Whistling, I head back down the stairs. 

My aunt’s nurse should be gone by now, and my uncle will be turning in for the night. 

I find the spare key hidden in a plant outside. 

Dumbass. 

Everyone knows you shouldn’t leave a spare key under your mat or in a nearby potted plant. 

It makes it way too easy for people like me to break in. 

After closing the door behind me, I creep by the kitchen and sneak past the living room where my aunt Lenora is watching television. 

Surprise flashes in my aunt’s gaze when she sees me. 

The woman can’t move, let alone speak, but I press my finger to my lips, anyway. 

I’m not here to harm her…just her murdering, cheating, teenage-fucking piece of shit husband. 

Aunt Lenora swivels her eyes in the direction of the hallway, indicating Leo’s in his office. 

I mouth a silent thank you as I make my way down the hall. 

The way I see it, all three of them should pay, so I constructed a plan that will ensure they all do. 

The police will find my stepmother naked in bed with my uncle Leo on top of her. 

There will be a bullet in each of their heads. 

From my father’s gun. 

My father’s body will be found by the door of his bedroom, making it appear as though he interrupted his brother and wife while they were in the throes of passion. 

I have no doubt he’ll put up a fight about shooting himself with his own gun, but as he found out today when I yanked him out of the shower, tied him up, and dressed him in his work clothes again…I’m stronger than he is. 

My lips twitch as I pull my father’s gun out of my waistband and hold it out in front of me. 

I can’t wait to see the look of sheer terror on his face when he realizes I’ve got him by the balls and there’s not a thing he can do about it. 

However, everything I’ve arranged goes to shit the moment I open the door to Leo’s office. 

Because there’s Aspen…holding a goddamn knife to his throat.