Damned and Cursed (Book 6): Broken Home Read Online Free

her husband in their most private moments the night before.   How?   Through the window?   How long had he been spying on them?
    Byron tried to pull out another drawer.   It got stuck, and he violently shook the dresser from side to side until it worked free.   Items on the dresser fell to the floor, and the display of anger and force made Elizabeth cling closer to her mother.
    "Mommy, what's he doing?"
    "What are you looking for?" Janet asked, trying to keep her voice steady.   "Please—"
    She jumped as well as he flung another empty drawer across the room.   It crashed into the wall, leaving a hole where the corner struck it.   Elizabeth cried freely and hugged her mother's leg.   Janet could do nothing.
    "Your clothes are a joke," Byron said.   "Do you actually go outside in this shit?"
    He raided the closet next.   He tossed their clothes behind him and searched every corner.   Elizabeth bawled, and Janet dropped to one knee to hold her.   The youngest daughter trembled as sobs racked her little body.
    "It going to be okay," Janet said.   "Don't be scared, sweetie.   I'm right here."
    Byron shook his head as he studied the mess he made.   Their bedroom was in shambles.   A few holes were in the walls, clothes scattered everywhere.   He'd emptied the nightstands and flipped them on their sides.   He even pulled the mattress off the frame and haphazardly threw it on the floor.
    "Is that what being a parent is all about?   Lying to the little shits?   Hey, Elizabeth."   The child looked at Byron through a hand over her eyes.   He leaned down to speak directly to her.   "It might not be okay.   You might live until you're one-hundred, or you might die today.   No one really knows, certainly not your Mommy—"
    "Don't talk to my daughter," Janet said, turning Elizabeth away.   "You just deal with me."
    "Hey, that hurts," he said, sneering.   "I was going to finish it off with some really cliche shit, like So live life to the fullest now , or something like that.   But hey, whatever, if you want to be so negative, that's on you."
    Byron clasped his hands together and stood upright, searching around him.
    "Well, looks like it's not here."
    "What?!" Janet snapped.   "What do you want?"
    "A nap would be nice.   Let's go check the kids' room."
    "No, please.   Don't go in there.   Leave that room alone."
    Byron gestured for the door.   When Janet didn't move, he forcefully grabbed her by the wrist.
    "Like that room is clean now," he said sarcastically.   "Destroying that room would probably improve it.   Get moving."
    Elizabeth had seen enough of a man other than her father touching and grabbing her mother.   She stepped forward from behind Janet and punched Byron in the stomach, and followed her attack with a kick in the shin.
    "Stop touching my Mom!"
    "Elizabeth, don't!"
    Janet grabbed her daughter and forced her to step behind her.   She looked into Byron's eyes, fearing his reaction.   His gaze was dark, angry, but a playful smile danced on his lips.
    "I'm impressed," he said, speaking directly to Elizabeth.   "That's good.   You have to fight for what's yours, kid.   But you have to be careful about getting pulled into a fight you can't win.   Your mom understands that, which is why she's behaving, and you have to do the same thing."   He leaned down and stared at her.   Elizabeth didn't back away an inch.   "If you do that again, I'll cut off your pinky.   Got it?"
    Byron followed them back into the hall.   They walked the few feet to the girls' bedroom, and were ready to step inside when there was a noise downstairs.   Janet recognized the sound of the sliding glass door in the kitchen opening and closing, and her heart sank when the quick, energetic footsteps made their way across the first floor.
    "Mom!" Sarah shouted.   "Where are you?   Is it okay if me and Mark get our bikes and—"
    She stopped talking when she made it to the bottom of the stairs.   She looked up at