"So, when you say that she was vulnerable…"

"I mean she struggled to fight back her demons until she couldn’t do it anymore," he replied, clearly broken. "And those demons finally got the best of her."

"Don’t say it," I begged, clenching my eyes shut. "Please don’t say it."

"I have to."

"No." I shook my head, refuting his words.

"I want you to remember that she wasn't in a clear frame of mind," he hurried to explain. "The woman who gave birth to you adored you with every fiber of her being."

"Please don’t –"

"Your mom set the fire, sweetheart."

No.

No.

No…

"No!" I screamed, releasing the pain building up inside that felt like it was going to kill me.

48 Daryl

The front door slammed shut behind Molly, and I swung around to glare at my so-called family. ""Are you happy now? Did breaking that poor, innocent girl make y'all feel better?" I narrowed my eyes in disgust. "Y'all are sick. Fucking sick!"

"Daryl," Mom sobbed, covering her mouth. "I'm so –"

"Don’t say it!" I roared. "Don’t ever fucking say those words to me."

"Don’t talk to your mother like that, boy –" Wren began to say but quickly let his words trail off when I stalked right up to him. "Settle down, Daryl."

"Oh, I'm Daryl now, am I?" I goaded, beyond done with this man and his shit. "And you want me to settle down? Huh? Well then, why don’t you make me, prick," I seethed, before rearing my fist back and slamming it into his face.

"Daryl!"

The sound of bone crunching filled my ears and blood sprayed from his nose like a fountain.

"Just because I never hit you back didn’t mean that I couldn't," I hissed, towering above his hunched frame. "It just meant that I had something to lose. But now?" Sneering in disgust, I glowered at him. "You just took the one thing in life that I care about. So, you go right ahead and do your worst, asshole. Because you can't break me anymore than you just did."

"Pack your shit, boy," Wren growled, cupping his nose as it continued to bleed. "I want you out of my house."

"No fucking problem," I sneered, shaking with temper. "I wouldn't spend another night in this house if my life depended on it."

"Daryl, just wait a second," Mom began to coax, stepping between me and her husband for the millionth time since she brought him into our lives. "Wren doesn’t mean it. You're both hot. Just cool down and we can talk this out –"

"Like hell I don’t mean it, Trish," Wren spat, stepping around my mother and then roughly shoving past me as he moved for the sink. " Grabbing a towel off the draining board, he pressed it to his nose and roared, "I mean it this time. I don't give two shits how much you bitch and cry at me. I want him out!"