Darkness Before Dawn

Blake," he starts, my name rolling off his tongue in disgust. "Your father gave me some interesting information yesterday. Your father," he chides with a throaty laugh before pulling my hair back roughly and making me yelp at the pain. He walks me to the back door, pushing my chest into it with an elbow in the middle of my back. He turns my face so that the tip of my nose brushes the scar on his left cheek before he shifts and we're nose to nose. "Turns out...that I'm your uncle. Or that's what Liam wants me to think. Dumb fuck. We're gonna find out the truth, but I call bullshit. Liam wants to save his ass, wants to keep you safe, wants to screw me over as usual. We're gonna see how true that is when I call him now and make him listen to me splitting your face open like he did me. Let's see how much he likes to feel helpless."
    I gasp and screw my eyes shut as my chest heaves against the metal door. I open my eyes and turn my head slightly at the absence of the gun on my head and catch a sharp blade through my peripheral vision that makes me yelp and frantically turn the doorknob beside me. I push it open, letting it hit the rail beside it and scramble outside. I pray that my heels don't slow me down as I take the four concrete steps as quickly as my dress allows and begin to run with him on my tail. He yanks me back by the hair and presses the tip of the blade to my naked lower back.
    "Don't fucking move," he demands gruffly.
    "Please, Benny! Don't do it! Please!" I beg in a broken, dry sob as he walks me to the wall on the other side of the stairs. He pushes me onto it and holds the blade in place as I arch my back away from it. He places his ringing phone on the landing between the back door and the top of my head.
    When a man answers on the fourth ring, Benny tightens his hold on my hair, making me screech.
    "Liam! I'm here with your girl, Blake. I was just filling her in on the news. Figured I'd test out how true it is by decorating her face a lil' with this blade here. You remember when you did that to me, Liam?" Benny asks in amusement.
    I bring my hand out from under me to dry my tears and look at him in disgust as he talks on the phone, holding the knife close to my face with one hand and my hair with the other.
    "DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE!" Liam screams through the line.
    "Oh, but I dare, Liam. I do dare. You gonna take back what you said or wait until she's nothing but shreds?" Benny asks sharply.
    "SHE'S ALEX'S KID, BENNY!" Liam yells loudly. His admission makes my mouth drop open, and for a moment I wonder if the loud ringing in my ears is altering my hearing or if he really just said that. "CORY WAS PREGNANT WHEN I MARRIED HER!"
    "He was in jail, you piece of shit!" Benny yells back, the emphasis of his words spitting on my face. "Stop trying to get out of this one, Liam!"
    Benny positions the knife to the corner of my eye where my tears are running and he wipes them with the flat side of the knife, making me flinch.
    "Stop crying, girl!" he growls, narrowing his stark eyes at me as loud sobs rake through my shuddering body.
    "Benny! She got pregnant before Alex went to jail! He's gonna fucking kill you for this if I don't get you first!" Liam shouts over my sobs.
    I kick my leg up, trying to hit him and hoping to nail him between the legs, but he shifts and barks out a laugh. He looks at me with crazed eyes and pushes me down again as I struggle against him, trying to push off his heavy body. I kick again, making contact with his leg. He laughs as he pins me harder against the concrete.
    "You wanna do this the hard way, huh?" he asks through gritted teeth, turning my body to face him. From the corner of my eye, I can see his tight grip around the blade that he brings toward my face. I screw my eyes shut as I continue to struggle against him but await my impending punishment. A whimper, followed by loud sobs escape me when I feel the sharp blade meet my hairline.
    "Please don't!" I shout, my guttural voice a stranger to my own ears. "Please," I plead once more, feeling woozy when I smell the blood streaming down my face. I hear a shout from afar and feel the blade leave my face.
    My eyes pop open at the sound of ringing shots, immediately followed by the wind getting knocked out of me as Benny's body pushes fiercely into mine. I try to gasp for air before another shot rings off. Benny pushes into me again, driving me deeper into the wall. He languidly pushes his body away from me and turns around,