Killing Me To Love You | ✓

[ 36 ]

Inaya's POV

Dominic's afraid of his father. I didn't think he'd be afraid of anyone...

In my social work field, I've seen and met with kids who were deathly afraid of their parents, whether it was the mother or father they were afraid of.

Those kids' behaviours can vary. There are some kids who become shy, quiet and keep to themselves, while others become violent, dangerously rebellious and dominant. They like spreading the fear in others that they felt themselves.

Does that sound familiar?

I hadn't seen Dominic since last night. The house has been extremely quiet. A lot of the times I can hear him on the phone, pacing around the house, yelling and screaming at Lord knows which poor soul. But since last night, it's been pin drop silent.

It makes me sort of uncomfortable. Somehow, I found odd comfort in the horrible loud noises.

I take a seat in the living room closest to the main door and cozy up on the couch with my hot chocolate. The weather's been really chilly and the house can get cold sometimes because I'm sure it's hard for the furnace to heat up the whole house in a short time.

"Good morning, Princess!" Angela greets me, almost making me tip my hot chocolate over from getting scared. "Oh, sorry about that, sweetheart! I didn't mean to scare ya."

"It's okay, Angela. I've missed you! I didn't see you at the party."

"I'm so sorry. I was all over the place and by the time I wanted to see you, Benny told me you left." She tells me.

"Awe, that's okay. How are you?" I ask her.

"I'm great, how are you doing? Did you enjoy the party?" She grins.

I try to make sure my smile doesn't falter. "Yes! I haven't been to a party before where it was so fancy. It was nice."

"I saw you dance with Gabriel. He's a sweet boy." Then, a smirk appears on her face. "I also saw you with Dominic. That was a breath of fresh air."

My cheeks begin beating up.

"You're the cutest!" She laughs.

I offer her some hot chocolate and she settles down on the couch beside me.

"Angela..." I decide to ask her about Dominic's father. "You don't have to say anything if it's not your place but... Dominic's father..."

"Ah, you met him already? I heard he was in town." She sighs.

I nod. "He came by last night."

"That man... that man is something else." Angela shakes her head in disapproval.

"Dominic looked... afraid of him." I say.

"I would be too if he treated me the way he treated Dom growing up." She says.

I stare at Angela.

"Dominic was horribly abused by his father after their mother wasn't in the picture anymore. His form of abuse wasn't just verbal... my God, the poor child." Angel explains. I could tell it was making her sort of uncomfortable.

I gulp, I couldn't imagine what she's talking about.

"All the forms of torture, he'd basically use it on Dominic to 'tame' him. That didn't go so well because now Dominic is... well, anything but tamed."  She frowns at the thought.

She's right. I don't know what kind of outcome the father was expecting. Angela wouldn't specify the type of torture or how Dominic was abused.

I'm sure it's not her place to tell me but thinking about using a child to test out mafia-proof torture methods makes me sick to my stomach.