Chapter 4 The dress.

The force with which my bedroom door banged open was enough to rip me out of my thoughts. I jolted upright immediately, my heart lurching against my ribs as my eyes blinked rapidly to adjust. The moment I realized who stood at the doorway, every trace of vulnerability vanished beneath a wave of anger.

My fingers hurriedly wiped at the tears clinging stubbornly to my cheeks before brushing away the mucus beneath my nose. “Frank,” I rasped, my voice rough from crying. “What are you doing here?”

Without bothering to answer immediately, Frank strolled further into my room as though he owned every inch of it. His eyes wandered lazily around the space before settling on the underdresses neatly spread across my bed.

Panic flashed through me. I rushed over, gathering them into my arms before shoving them protectively behind my back.

A crooked smile stretched across his face. “Why are you hiding them, sis?” he asked, amusement dripping from every word. “I’ve seen them already.” His eyes gleamed mischievously. “Might even have a few samples with me.”

My stomach turned. I glared at him with every ounce of hatred I possessed, wishing, not for the first time, that a person could be burned alive by a look alone. “Say whatever you came here to say and leave, Frank,” I snapped, turning away to shove the dresses into my drawer with trembling hands. “I don’t have the patience for you today.”

He merely hummed to himself, rocking lazily on the heels of his boots before carelessly tossing a glittering dress onto my bed. The fabric shimmered beneath the afternoon light. “Wear this,” he said. “You’re coming with me.”

I spared the dress the briefest glance before looking back at him, completely unimpressed. “I’m not wearing that.”

His head tilted slowly, the playful expression disappearing from his face as something darker settled in its place. “I wasn’t asking for your opinion, sis.” His voice came out dangerously calm. “You will wear that dress, and you’ll be downstairs in exactly one hour.” He turned as though the conversation had already ended.

The anger that had been simmering inside me finally boiled over. I snatched the dress from the bed and hurled it as hard as I could.

It struck the back of his head before sliding to the floor. Silence filled the room. Frank stopped walking. Then, painfully slowly, he turned around. The fury on his face made my stomach knot instantly, but it was already too late to regret it.

“Take your stupid dress and get out of my room!” I shouted, my voice echoing through the walls. “I’m not wearing it, and I’m sure as hell not following you anywhere!”

He stared at me for one long second before beginning to walk toward me with terrifying calm. Every instinct screamed at me to run. I stumbled backward, my eyes darting desperately around the room until they landed on the pair of scissors resting atop my dresser. Before I could even reach for them, his hand shot out, wrapping around my throat with crushing force.

My back slammed against the wall as his fingers tightened around my neck. Air vanished from my lungs almost instantly. “Why…” he growled, his face inches from mine, the sour smell of alcohol clinging to every breath he exhaled. “…why do you insist on provoking me every single time?” His grip tightened even more. Tears flooded my eyes as I clawed desperately at his wrist, digging my nails deep enough to break skin. Thin streaks of blood appeared beneath my fingers, but he didn’t even flinch. “I keep trying to be a good person,” he hissed through gritted teeth, “and you insist on throwing my kindness back in my face.”

I forced myself to meet his eyes despite the darkness creeping into my vision. “You…” I choked out between desperate breaths. “…you will never be a good person, Frank.” My voice shook, but I didn’t look away. “You’ll always be evil.”

Something snapped inside him. His eyes darkened until they looked almost black. “Oh, really?” he murmured, lowering his face closer to mine. “Then let me show you just how evil I can be, sweet sis.” His grip became almost unbearable. My vision blurred around the edges. “If you are not downstairs in five minutes wearing that dress…” He paused deliberately, watching panic bloom across my face. “…I’ll go straight to your father, and I’ll personally make sure he never walks again.” My entire body froze. “And after that…” His smile returned, colder than before. “…I’ll make every single day you spend inside this house a living nightmare. Do you wanna test me sweet sis?.”

Tears spilled freely down my face now, born equally from terror and the desperate need for air. I struck weakly against his arm, every movement slower than the last. “Do you want to test me?” he asked again, his voice almost gentle. I hated myself for it, but I shook my head.

Dying would’ve been easy. Leaving my father alone with him never would be. “Frank…” I gasped painfully. “P-please…”

He squeezed one final time before throwing me backward. My body crashed violently into the dresser, knocking picture frames onto the floor. I collapsed to my knees, coughing so hard my chest burned while precious air finally flooded back into my lungs.

"Five minutes,” he warned coldly before walking out, leaving my bedroom door hanging wide open behind him.

I remained there long after he’d gone, sliding slowly down the dresser until I was sitting on the floor. My entire body trembled uncontrollably, whether from fear or rage I couldn’t tell anymore. Hot tears streamed endlessly down my cheeks. Every time I wiped them away, more replaced them. I was exhausted, exhausted by Frank, by this house, by constantly living beneath someone’s boot. I hated that everyone seemed to think they had the right to break pieces off me whenever they pleased. But I had no one. No mother.

No friends willing to stand against him. Just myself… and my father lying unconscious in a hospital bed, completely unaware that the daughter he loved was barely surviving. If I gave up, there would be no one left for him. Somehow, that thought hurt even more than the bruises already forming around my neck.

It was foolish of me to think Frank could ever invite me somewhere for a good reason. Knowing him, I should have realized whatever awaited me would be every bit as unpleasant as he was. The party was being held aboard an extravagant yacht owned by the father of one of the wealthier students in the town, a celebration for graduating college that had quickly become the talk of the town.

Frank claimed he had business to attend to there, though I neither knew nor cared what kind. All I wanted was to show my face long enough to satisfy him and disappear before he found another excuse to make my life miserable. The shimmering dress clung to me far more than I liked, making me painfully self-conscious with every step I took. But funny enough, I was the most dressed and covered. Girls my age and older moved with bare chest and barely thin material covering their asses. 

The music, the expensive perfume, the dry humping and make out sessions weren’t my scene at all. It never would be.

I quietly slipped toward the quieter side of the yacht, resting my hands against the polished railing as I counted the minutes until I could finally leave. My thoughts were interrupted when two stunning young women wandered over beside me, completely absorbed in a conversation that sounded far too interesting for either of them to notice I was standing there.

I tried listening in, if only to distract myself from the storm brewing inside my head, but I regretted it almost immediately.

They were gossiping about some guy from the engineering department, laughing over things I had absolutely no interest in hearing.

Rolling my eyes, I tuned them out and let my gaze wander across the crowded yacht instead. That’s when I spotted Frank.

My brows furrowed. He wasn’t laughing or drinking like everyone else. Instead, he kept glancing over his shoulder as he approached three girls and a guy near the bar.

His hand disappeared into his pocket before discreetly passing something small into each of theirs. It happened so fast most people wouldn’t have noticed. I did.

Every hair on my arms stood on end. Whatever he had just handed them wasn’t innocent. The group exchanged brief looks before slipping toward the darker, quieter end of the yacht. My stomach tightened. Without wasting another second, I pulled out my phone, switched on the camera, and quietly followed after them. If I could catch Frank red-handed this time, maybe I’d finally have something strong enough to bury him for good.

Just as I reached the darker end of the yacht, my phone vibrated in my hand. I frowned, ready to ignore it, until the caller ID flashed across my screen. St. Mary’s General Hospital. My heart lurched.

“Nurse Mandy?” I answered immediately, my voice already shaking.

There was a brief silence before she spoke. “Lisa, darling… it’s your father.”

My grip tightened around my phone. Every sound around me seemed to disappear. “W-what about him?” I whispered, too terrified to ask the question burning inside me. Is he dead?

“You need to come to the hospital,” she said gently. “He’s awake… and he’s asking for you. We don’t know how long he’ll stay conscious.”

Tears blurred my vision instantly. My father was awake! Frank, his threats, whatever he was doing on this yacht—it all stopped mattering. My father came first. Without a second thought, I shoved my phone into my purse, turned around, and ran. Nothing was keeping me from him.