Diana’s breath hitched in her throat.

"For the first time in my life, my mom beat me," Kurt said flatly.

"She threw me to the ground and started hitting me, screaming that I was calling her a whore just like my dad did. I curled into a ball, crying and begging her to stop, telling her I was so, so sorry.

"Eventually, she realised what she was doing. She stopped, collapsed onto the floor, and pulled me into a desperate hug, sobbing that she was sorry, that she wasn’t like this. Once we both calmed down, she looked me dead in the eye and told me there was no other father.

"That the man she killed was my only father. Whenever I tried to bring up the DNA test after that, she’d dismiss it and tell me to never speak of it again."

Kurt’s arms around Diana’s waist felt heavier now, holding her close as he dragged up the darkest depths of his past.

"Eventually, the money dried up completely. At her absolute wit’s end, terrified of us starving, she resorted to the very thing my dad had accused her of.

"One afternoon, she brought a random stranger back to our motel room. She looked absolutely terrified. She pushed some coins into my hand and told me to go play outside for an hour.

"I was confused, but admittedly, I was terrified of irritating her or getting beaten again. So I left. When I came back an hour later, the man was gone. My mom was curled up in the corner of the bed, crying hysterically beneath a blanket. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

"There was a stack of dirty cash sitting on the desk. I walked over to comfort her, and she just wrapped her arms around me, weeping that everything was going to be alright.

"But time kept passing," Kurt’s voice hardened.

"And those ’visits’ from random men happened more and more often. With each passing month, she became more and more numb to it. Slowly, her personality twisted. Just like my dad, just the mere sight of me put her in an irritated mood.

"But unlike my father – who’d try to put on a brave face – she started using me as a physical stress reliever. She’d beat me regularly. And honestly? I just accepted it. Why? Because the brief moments right after she finished hitting me were one of the only times she ever looked truly happy or calm anymore.

"Then... came the day I turned eight."

Kurt felt Diana trembling violently against his chest. Her hands were shaking so much she could barely hold onto his fingers.

"One of her frequent visitors stopped me at the door before I could leave the house," Kurt said as his gaze clouded over with a dangerous, icy detachment.

"He looked at me, smiled this disgusting, greasy smile, and told my mom he’d pay extra if he could ’play’ with the kid, too."

Diana let out a horrified gasp as her entire body locked up in revulsion.

"I looked at my mom, fully expecting her to reject him, to kick him out, to kill him... to protect me. But she just stared blankly at the man. All she said was... ’Make it quick.’"

"Rosie..."

"I panicked. I begged her to save me, crying out for her, but she just turned her back. The man lunged forward, grabbed me and started tearing at my clothes. I fought with everything I had – I kicked, I bit, I struggled, and somehow, I managed to break out of his grip and sprint into the small kitchen.

"He chased after me. In pure survival instinct, I grabbed an empty beer bottle off the counter, smashed it against the sink, and held the jagged edge out, screaming at him to stay back.

"My mom walked into the kitchen and scolded me in a dull voice, telling me to put the glass down and stop causing trouble. The man laughed, completely unphased by me, and charged in again.

"But I was smaller. Faster. I ducked right between his legs as he lunged, and the exact moment he spun around to grab me again... I drove the shattered, jagged glass straight into his face.

"He collapsed to the floor, screaming in agony, but the adrenaline completely took over my brain. So I mounted his chest and just kept driving the glass into his face, over and over and over again, until he finally stopped moving. He was dead."

Kurt let out a long, slow breath. "I stood up, covered in his blood, and turned to look at my mom. She looked absolutely terrified of me. She started screaming, telling me to stay away from her.

"She started scrambling backward into the bedroom, throwing her hairdryer, the lamp, money, condoms, anything and everything she could reach at my head. I was confused, crying, trying to walk toward her to ask why she let him do that to me.

"When I finally got close enough, she slapped me hard to the ground. She mounted me and began beating me with terrifying ferocity, screaming that I was a monster. I couldn’t take it anymore, Ana.

"The pain, the betrayal, the madness... something in my head just snapped. I escaped her grasp, grabbed the bloody glass I dropped on the floor, and in a blind fit of rage... I killed her. The exact same way I killed the man.

"I was crying hysterically the entire time I was stabbing her... screaming at her, asking why she didn’t love me, why she would let him touch me. By the time the rage cleared, and my brain snapped back to reality... it was too late. She was cold. Dead on the floor."

Kurt let out a quiet sigh as the weight of the horrific tale finally lifted from the air.

"And then... just like she did one year prior, I took whatever valuables were on the stranger and my mom, grabbed a backpack, and ran into the night. I became a street kid. Picking brutal fights, stealing food and money, hiding out in alleyways and abandoned buildings.

"Eventually, a specific group of professional hitmen – or assassins, whatever you want to call it – picked me up off the concrete, took me in, taught me the difference between good and evil, and trained me to survive. And here I am. That’s my parents. That’s the scumbags they were."

Diana was trembling violently. The horrific tale of Kurt’s past was a level of darkness her own loving childhood memories could barely comprehend.

Sensing her distress, Kurt called out to her gently. "Ana? Hey... look at me."

Diana slowly turned her body around within his lap, fully facing him.

Her beautiful face was completely drenched in tears, her crimson eyes narrow and swimming with an intense breaking sorrow for the little boy who had been forced to become a monster just to survive.

Kurt offered her a small, tender smile and reached up to gently brush a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "Hey, don’t cry. It’s alright. It’s all in the past now. It’s over. I’m okay."

Not saying a word, Diana slowly raised her trembling hand as her delicate fingers reached up toward his face.

Unbeknownst to Kurt, a single, solitary tear had silently escaped his eye, tracing a slow path down his cheek. With absolute tenderness, Diana’s thumb reached out and gently wiped the tear away.

Kurt blinked, completely confused. He touched his own cheek and stared at his damp fingers. "Huh... look at that. I didn’t even realise I was crying, haha. Sorr–"

"Rosie!" Before he could say anything else, Diana lunged forward and threw her arms fiercely around his neck, burying her face into his shoulder.

She embraced him with every single ounce of strength in her body.

She let out a loud, unrestrained sob, weeping openly around his shoulder.

Kurt sat there on the sand, listening to the sound of the ocean waves crashing softly in the background, while Diana cried loudly as she spoke his name and apologised even though she had no reason to.

As he wrapped his arms tightly around her waist, holding her close, a genuine, deeply peaceful smile slowly spread across his lips.

For the first time in his entire, brutal life, he realised something beautiful. There was someone in this world who loved him enough, who cared enough, to weep for the scars he bore.

And as he held the love of his life in his arms, he knew right there that he would gladly burn the entire world to ashes before he ever let her go for another man. Or for any other reason.