Merciless (Toxic Ties & Bitter Lies #1)

Chapter 1

COLTON

I paced the hospital corridor, my trembling fingers barely keeping my phone steady as the dial tone rang out again.

Dad wasn’t picking up. Granted, it was one in the morning, and he was exhausted, but he knew the importance of keeping his line open.

We had been alternating shifts for the week, ensuring Mum was never left alone in the palliative care unit, despite her being unconscious for the past two days.

I had been dozing at her bedside, the dull beep of her monitor lulling me into a space of semi-awareness, when her nurse entered. Charlotte was my favourite, always doing that little bit extra to make sure Mum was comfortable and well taken care of.

Did it also help that she was attractive and of a similar age to me? Sure, that didn’t hurt. But most precious of all was her caring nature. She was born for the role of a palliative care nurse.

When Charlotte finished checking over Mum, her expression slowly dropped in sympathy as she shifted forward to squeeze my shoulder. She whispered soft words about Mum’s breathing patterns and how they had grown more erratic. Then her voice just seemed to drown itself out.

My world tilted sideways, my thought process delayed and disjointed. My gaze bounced around the clinical room, falling onto each point in turn as I tried to make sense of the situation.

How does a twenty-year-old only child make sense of his own mother’s impending death?

“You should call your dad in, Colton.” Charlotte continued, but I could hardly hear her over the roaring in my ears.

It didn’t matter anyway. Dad still hadn’t picked up, despite my pressing his number repeatedly.

Panic steadily took over, knowing he was probably in a deep sleep, due to the countless hours he had spent at the hospital.

Charlotte caught on to my anxiety, tracking the silent tears streaming down my face.

“I-I don’t know what to do,” I said, utterly defeated. “Who do I choose?”

I was in an impossible position. Do I leave my mum and risk not saying my final goodbyes? Or do I cut my losses with Dad, knowing it will destroy him if he isn’t here to spend her last minutes together?

“You live just down the road, don’t you?” Charlotte asked.

“Yes, but—”

“Go. I’ll keep an eye on her until you get back.”

“I-I—”

“Your mother is strong. There’s no way she will leave without having her boys right by her side. That’s all she would ever talk about when she was awake. How much she loves you both. It’s okay, Colton.”

I couldn’t help it as I crashed into Charlotte, squeezing so tightly that her jasmine scent got caught in my nose. “Thank you.”

“Go.”

The streets were deserted as I sped down the laneway, turning a five-minute drive into two.

I didn’t bother switching off the ignition, racing towards the front door with urgency.

When I looked back on that monumental moment, there were signs—subtle warnings that I didn’t have the capacity to decompress.

The extra car parked on the street out front… The sensual music echoing through the walls… The subtle light illuminating from the kitchen window…

Either way, I doubted it would have made a difference. Because as soon as I walked through the entrance of my childhood family home… I wanted to burn that place down to the fucking ground.

On the kitchen bench sat my mum’s best friend, Nikita, completely naked. Her eyes were shut tight in contrast to her legs that were split open to accommodate my dad, who railed into her dusty old cunt.

My eyes were burning—fucking on fire. But I couldn’t look away. Shock and disbelief kept me rooted in place, witnessing the disgusting display firsthand.

It was like watching a bad, low-budget porno made for people who got off on saggy tits and performative, geriatric moans that sounded like they were on the verge of having a heart attack.

Then my dad’s ugly white ass clenched together, his desperate moans alerting his near end.

Oh no, can’t have that. There was no way I was going to let him get a happy ending when he had just destroyed my fucking innocence and faith in him as a husband and a father.

No. Fucking. Way.

Rage swept me forward until I was pulling on his roots, hard. As his head snapped backwards, his body soon followed, which was the perfect momentum for my fist to connect with his face. Over and over again. I let the emotions freely run through me. I let myself go.

Blood. Screams. The shattering of glass.

Everything happened so fast, yet it felt like a lifetime.

When I finally came to, my chest was heaving as I stared down at my father—now stranger—crumpled on the floor, cradling his injured nose that pissed ruby red.

His eyes were wide in shock, the stark blue bleeding into my own, and I let him see it all—all my hatred.

“Clean yourself up and get in the fucking car!” I spat. “It’s time.” By my tone alone, he knew what I meant.

That was when the harpy slut decided to open her mouth. “Colton, I’ll come and—”

I raised a finger. One solitary finger, still painted in my father’s blood.

“You will not set one foot in that hospital. You will not come into my mother’s room. You will not pretend to be her friend when she takes her final breaths.”

“But—”

“If you come anywhere near my mother, I swear, I will fucking kill you.”

Silence grew heavy as Dad rose and caught her attention. In that one look, they had a whole conversation, a secret language that had my heart tearing apart at the seams. I knew that stare, had seen it countless times growing up—between my parents.

God, he had replaced her. My sick, dying mother. He had betrayed her.

“You’ve got thirty seconds to get in the car, William, or I’m leaving without you.” Dad flinched at my using his first name. He’d lost the privilege to be addressed as anything else.

I turned for the door, leaving the two assholes behind to sort themselves out. But before I passed the threshold, I left a final warning for Nikita. “Get out of our house, you homewrecking whore, and never come back.”

As soon as he sank into the passenger seat, I took off. I didn’t want to waste another second on that man when I could have been with my mum.

I shouldn’t have gone back for him. He didn’t fucking deserve to be by her side.

“The only reason I’m letting you come is because of Mum.

That’s it. You will walk in there and make her last moments memorable.

I don’t care if you have to lie through your fucking teeth.

Hold her hand, pretend like you care, act your fucking ass off so she’ll believe you. Better yet, so I believe you.”

“I don’t have to lie, Colt… I’m losing the love of my life,” he said, all sad. The man even had the audacity to shed a tear. I wanted to punch him again. “Son, about what you saw—”

“Don’t fucking call me that. I want to focus on Mum.”

My father quietly nodded, knowing he had no other choice.

I pulled into the hospital car park and practically sprinted to the entrance. Once we were secluded in the elevator, I stared him dead in the eye and gave him my instructions.

“Remember. Act like you actually care about your dying wife.”

“I don’t have to act—”

“Could have fooled me. You’ve been playing the grieving husband perfectly. Tell me, William. How long have you been fucking your wife’s best friend?”

His face drained of colour. “I-I don’t think this is the time—”

“Mm. That’s what I thought.” The elevator doors pinged open, and I raced to Mum’s room. Just as I latched onto the door handle, I gave him one last glare, my tone dropping dangerously low. “I’m sure this next performance will be your best, William. Don’t disappoint me.”