Breathless & Bloodstained (The Chicago War #4) by Bethany-Kris Read Free Book Online

else.
    “That doesn’t mean
you have to go out of your way to purposely hurt us, Joel,” Abriella said
calmly.
    “Why shouldn’t I?”
he asked. “My whole life has been nothing but stains of shame from our parents
and being dismissed by the man who helped to bring me into this world. They
raised me this way—they created me. And you expect me to give a damn about any
of you? When you make a monster, Ella, you don’t complain about having to live
with him.”
    Abriella swallowed
hard, taking in the hatred coating her brother’s every word as he spat them at
her. “I didn’t do any of that.”
    “You didn’t have
to.” Joel’s coldness was back in a flash, replacing the anger he had previously
shown. “You, like Alessa, don’t have the first clue of what it feels like to be
the unwanted one, to be the mistake, and the shame everyone tried to cover up.”
    Abriella held back
from shouting the truth of her own unknown paternity at her brother, but only
because she didn’t want to give him anymore ammo to hurt people with. He’d
already done enough of that.
    She finally
understood him, though.
    “You’re jealous,”
Abriella said. “That’s it, isn’t it?”
    Joel’s jaw
clenched. “No.”
    “Liar. You’re just
like the rest of us, Joel, a goddamn liar. And sad—a fucking pity . You
hate our mother for nothing more than the fact she birthed you instead of
aborting you. You hate me and Alessa simply for being alive. And you hate
everyone else because your behavior and attitude is so vile that they don’t
want to be anywhere near you. Deny it, Joel.”
    Between the three
siblings, Abriella was the tough one. She knew it, and so did her brother and
sister. She wasn’t afraid to speak up, step out, or cause a problem if need be.
She also wouldn’t let Joel push her around if she could help it. Their whole
life was nothing but Joel’s attitude and anger. Years and years of his verbal
abuse ripped out chunks of their family and left them bleeding on the floor.
    Abriella refused
to let Joel keep doing that to her. He had already practically taken her sister
from her given that she could only talk and spend time with Alessa when Joel
agreed. Her relationship with her parents was strained because of how awful
Joel treated them while refusing them any say in Abriella’s life. She had no
friends that she could turn to, no life of her own to control or live, and even
her choice to love was not her own to make.
    “If you want to
talk about making monsters, Joel,” Abriella said, keeping her cold smile in
place, “… then look no further from the one you’ve created in your own house.”
    Her brother stared
at her, and did nothing else.
    Then, very
quietly, Joel said, “Get out of my face.”
    He could dish it,
but he couldn’t take it.
    Abriella wasn’t
surprised.
    “I’m eating.”
    “No, you’re leaving .
I want you gone.”
    Abriella sneered.
“Be careful what you wish for, brother.”
     

     
    Grabbing her
messenger bag with her laptop and textbooks from the upstairs library, Abriella
sent off a text to her enforcer. It was her way of letting the guy know that
she would be leaving the house soon. She knew better than to simply skip out
with no notice, because the fool would report back to Joel in a heartbeat.
    Abriella wasn’t
interested in that nonsense.
    Once a day was
enough.
    Half-way down the
second floor corridor, voices from the upper level traveled down to Abriella’s
spot. Her mother and father, actually. Confused at why her parents weren’t in
their own wing of the Trentini mansion, she rounded the stairs instead of going
down like she had planned.
    Midway up the
stairs, Abriella was able to see over the top few stairs. Down the hall, her parents
stood toe to toe, with Sara backed into the wall and Peter barricading her
there with his arms on either side of her body. Tears streaked down her
mother’s cheeks, but Peter was quick to wipe them away.
    “I’m sorry,”