CHAPTER 58: PARK OF SECRETS... (3)

**The Chapter contains scenes and concepts of violence that may not sit well with others. Please read with caution!***

’What is he talking about?’

Shelby took a couple of steps back. Her mind still refused to accept the reality in front of her.

"Da- I mean, James, please, what is going on? When did I trick you into doing anything? I don’t understand anything going on here."

Shelby looked genuinely confused. She was so startled that she could not form coherent thoughts at all.

While she looked to be feigning ignorance in James’ eyes, his anger skyrocketed.

He approached her steadily and stood right in front of her.

James clenched his fingers into fists and stared at the innocent-looking girl in front of him.

She looked so vulnerable that he wanted to take her away and ’protect’ her from the whole world.

"You look too beautiful for your own good," he whispered and pushed a whisp of hair out of her face.

Shelby stood her ground and stared back at him. She did not say anything. Throughout her short eighteen years of life, she had heard that phrase so many times that it seemed to have lost its meaning to her.

’He is my father. Step or not. I shouldn’t take his words out of context. I should really stop listening to Ava because my thoughts would have gone to those unnecessary things if she had not planted ideas in my head.’

James caressed her cheeks, and she shied back feeling her skin prick,

"I am not role-playing, Shelby, I w-"

Shelby blocked out the words coming out of James’ mouth and stared at him like he was an alien. She was disgusted with him, and it showed on her face.

His words got stuck in his throat, and the anger that he had managed to curb broke out just as Shelby stepped away from him.

She turned so that she would not see his face.

"I’m going to pretend as if I had not heard anything you had said. Even if you are not blood-related to me, you are married to my mother and have a child with her..."

Her voice took on a tinge of coldness, but she still avoided looking at him.

"I would like to believe that you had a momentary lapse of judgement and this was all some prank or a dream of a sort. I will never mention this again, so please just leave!"

James looked at her side frame and could not get over the humiliation that her words had suggested.

’Did she just call me a pervert? Who does she think she is?!’

He stomped away from her, back down the lone path that had brought them to the secluded part of the park. He went all the way back to his car and sat back in his driver’s seat. Rolling up the windows, he screamed out all of his frustration.

"Aaahhhhhhhhh!"

"Everything went down the drain. How would I face Clara at home now? How did Shelby even reject me? The same man who provided for her and her mother when they were in need. Did she dare to do that? Does that mean she has a boyfriend of a sort?"

He asked himself bitterly and then answered his own question, "Noooo.... That can’t be,"

He thumped his hand on the steering wheel several times, but nothing alleviated the feeling of shame he felt from how Shelby had spoken to him earlier.

"With that level of beauty, she probably sleeps around! Maybe that is what she wants!"

He alighted from the car again when he had calmed down a bit and brought out a pack of cigarettes.

The butts drooped at the speed of light. This did not help, so he went to his last resort. He casually looked around, making sure that he was alone. He reached back into the car and brought out a white substance, then spread out a small piece of paper on the car bonnet; James then put some of the white powdery substance on it and sniffed it.

’Ah! Now that is more like it!’

He repeated the sniffing a few more times and then straightened up. His mind was now crisp and clear! This calmed him down enough to make a somewhat rational decision afterwards. He pocketed the rest, lit up another cigarette and then headed back down the same path, still smoking it.

He saw Shelby still where he had left her, looking still as beautiful as fuck!

James rushed at her and pounced on her.

"AhHHh!" Shelby screamed, resisting with all her will. But Shelby was just petite and smallish for show. She had unbelievable strength acquired over the years. She fits more into the bill of ’don’t judge a book by its cover.’ She pushed James off of her when she realized his intentions.

However, she still did not understand his actions.

James’ mind, clouded with the drugs he had sniffed, pushed him over the edge. He pushed Shelby, making her back hit a huge tree under which they stood, and then he followed with a few slaps.

Shelby tasted blood in her mouth and whimpered as tears flew down her face freely.

James did not end there; he continued slapping her, left then right, until his hand hurt, and then he stopped, stepping away from her.

Shelby still did not understand what she had done wrong to deserve it.

"W-hy?" She cried out.

James, who had taken a few steps from her, turned back to look at her leaning against the tree for support.

Shelby took a few steps forward, tears running free and fear clouding her eyes.

It happened so fast that she had no time to react. He lunged at her, and she saw a glistening flash, and then James shoved something into her stomach.

She stood there in disbelief as he pulled it out. Then she realized.

’He stabbed me....’

James lunged the small knife forward once again and stabbed her ruthlessly, a smirk and a satisfied smile forming on his face as he pulled it out once again.

*********

Thank you so much to all for your votes and comments! I hope we can keep it up ^_^

Support the author by reading only on Webnovel :)