[Currently being rewritten and updated chapter by chapter]
Book One in the "Hard Love" series.
It's hard being knocked down. And it's even harder getting back up.
Thalia Carter grew up on the south side of Chicago with a dead-beat dad and never real...
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"Get off of him!" I shriek. Tears are rolling down my face. My dad's fists are flying in raw and unfiltered drunken rage and I can see blood splattering everywhere. Grant grunts and tries to push him off, but it's no use. He's taken too many blows to the face, and looks like he'll lose consciousness at any moment.
"Shut up!" he bellows. "You would seriously fucking leave me—your own family—for him, this scheming piece of shit," he spits out in disgust.
I never knew where his hatred for Grant began, but it only ever grew stronger as I became more attached to him. There was no changing his mind.
"Dad!" I run up and pull his arm back mid-swing just in time to get an elbow to my face. I stumble backward dazed and grab my face, feeling a thick liquid trickle down against my lip. He just hit me, but he acts like he doesn't even notice, focusing on his hatred for my boyfriend.
My dad puts his hand around Grant's throat to hold him in place, squeezing tightly, and looks back at me. "You stupid girl. Can't you see that I am trying to protect you? He wants to tear us apart, and you're letting him."
"Dad, you're killing him!"
"Thalia," Grant rasps. My dad tightens his grip on his neck.
"Shut up!" he screams and throws another hard-hitting punch. I stumble back as if I'm the one who was hit as I hear bones crack. "Don't you dare speak to her."
He fishes in his pocket and pulls out something shiny that casts a glint in his eye and Grant tries for the last time to push my dad off of him. "I should've done this ages ago."
"Dad, no!" I scream, lunging forward for his arm. But it was too late. The folding knife was embedded in Grant's stomach, causing blood to seep through his shirt. "No," I sob and shake my head. I run over to catch Grant as he slides down the wall but instead of catching him I fall with him, struggling to breathe right alongside him in my horror.
Dad steps back slowly, his face showing nothing but annoyance and the anger I've grown accustomed to over the years. "I'm sorry it had to come to this, Thals. You should've gotten rid of him while you had the chance."
"What are you talking about?" I scream. "You didn't have to kill him! He never did anything." All he ever did was love me, and it cost him his life. I hold his head in my lap and look into Grant's deep brown eyes. They flutter slowly and he tries to speak before coughing in pain, groaning and wrapping his arms over his stomach protectively.
"It's okay, it's going to be okay," I tell him, but we both know that's not the case.
"I have to go," my father says.
"What?"
"I'm sure the police will be here soon, and that-that's not good." He shakes his head, not remorseful in the slightest. If anything, he looks worried for himself. "Don't worry Thalia, someday I'll come back for you and your sisters. Just stay put. You don't get to leave me, too. We're all going to be together."
