The room was suffocating. The air was thick with unspoken words, emotions swirling beneath the surface. Michael still had Daddy pinned against the wall, his grip on the man's collar unyielding. Daddy's breath came in shallow, ragged gasps, his face flushed with both rage and fear. The boy stood back, watching intently, as the tension in the room reached its peak. This was the moment, the point of no return.
"You've always been good at hiding, Robert," Michael said softly, his voice dark and low. "But hiding won't save you anymore."
Daddy's eyes burned with fury, his hands still clenched into fists, but he didn't fight back. Not yet. It was as if he was waiting for something—or someone.
The boy couldn't help but smile at the unfolding drama. There was something deeply satisfying about watching Daddy, the man who had always been so untouchable, so in control, reduced to nothing more than a helpless shell of his former self. He was finally paying for his sins, and the boy had no intention of letting him off the hook.
"Tell me," Michael continued, his voice full of mockery. "Do you remember what you did to me? What you took from me?"
Daddy's jaw tightened, his eyes narrowing with a mix of defiance and regret. "You don't know anything," he spat, his voice hoarse. "You never did."
"Oh, I know more than you think," Michael said, his grip tightening. "And now it's time for you to remember. Time for you to pay the price."
The boy took a step forward, his presence still cool and detached. But inside, his heart was racing. This was it—the moment everything would change. Daddy was about to face the consequences of his actions, and the boy was right in the center of it all.
"Let him go," the boy finally said, his voice calm, almost too calm. He watched as Michael's eyes flickered toward him, his expression unreadable.
"What?" Michael asked, his tone laced with disbelief. "And why would I do that?"
The boy smiled, stepping closer. "Because I said so."
Michael's smirk faltered, just for a moment. He looked at Daddy, then back at the boy, as if weighing his options. Finally, with a slight grunt, he released Daddy, shoving him away roughly. Daddy staggered back, catching himself against the wall, his face still flushed with anger and confusion.
"You think you have control here?" Michael sneered, his eyes narrowing. "You think you're in charge?"
The boy didn't flinch. He met Michael's gaze with a calm, almost eerie confidence. "I don't need control," he said, his words chilling in their simplicity. "I just need you to remember who's in charge now."
Daddy was breathing heavily, his fists still clenched, but he was too rattled to speak. The boy could see the cracks in Daddy's armor, the cracks that had been there all along, waiting to be exposed.
"Let's get one thing straight," the boy continued, his voice low and measured. "You're here because you made the mistake of thinking you could walk away from your past. You can't. Not now. Not ever."
Michael was silent for a moment, his gaze flickering between the boy and Daddy. Then, with a wicked grin, he turned his attention back to Daddy. "You think this is over, don't you? You think you can just move on, forget about everything you did. But I've been waiting for this moment, Robert. Waiting for the day I could make you pay."
Daddy's eyes flashed with anger, but there was something else in them, too—a flicker of fear. For the first time, the boy saw the vulnerability in Daddy's eyes. The walls had cracked completely, and the man who had once been so powerful was now a shadow of his former self.
"What do you want from me?" Daddy asked, his voice shaky but defiant.
Michael's smile widened. "I want what's mine. I want you to feel what I felt. I want you to know what it's like to lose everything."
The boy stepped forward, his eyes narrowing. "And that's where you're wrong," he said softly. "You can't make him feel what you felt. Because he's already lost everything. Everything that mattered. And now, he's just a shell of a man."
Daddy's eyes flickered to the boy, a look of surprise in his gaze. But the boy wasn't done yet. He could feel the power shifting, the game changing, and he wasn't about to let Michael take it all.
"Let's talk about the past," the boy continued, his voice cold. "Let's talk about the secrets you've been hiding, the ones you think no one knows about. The ones that brought you here."
Michael's smirk faltered, just for a moment, but it was enough. The boy had struck a nerve. He could see it in Michael's eyes. The past was coming back, and it was about to destroy them all.
"Stop," Daddy said, his voice barely a whisper. "Stop this. You don't know what you're doing."
But the boy didn't listen. He couldn't. This was too important. This was everything. He had to make Michael understand that he wasn't in control anymore. That the boy held the power now.
"You don't get it, do you?" the boy said, his eyes burning with intensity. "You never had control, Michael. You never did. Not when it mattered."
The silence that followed was deafening. Michael's eyes flickered with uncertainty now, and the boy could see that the power had shifted. He wasn't just watching the past unravel. He was part of it. Part of the twisted game that had been set in motion long ago.
"You think you can just come back and claim what's yours?" the boy asked, his voice rising. "You're nothing. Just a ghost from Daddy's past. And we're done playing your game."
Michael's eyes narrowed, and for the first time, the boy could see the anger bubbling to the surface. But it was too late. The game had already changed.
The boy smiled, his lips curling into something dark. "Now, we're playing by my rules."
To be continue...