My boys are dead.
The thought makes my stomach twist even more than the realization they want me. Not as their friend, not even as a lover, but as a plaything. A toy to use and then discard when the year is up.
"I..." The words stick in my throat like I ate glass. "I can't do this."
Panic wins over logic, and I'm moving again, stumbling toward the door on legs that feel like water. This time, the guard looks to Kade for instruction, massive hand hovering over what's definitely a gun under his jacket.
"Let her go." Kade's voice carries an authority that makes people obey without thinking.
The guard steps aside, and I practically fall through the doorway in my desperation to escape. He puts my phone in my hand at some point, but I don’t even remember taking it.
"Here, Princess. Catch," Jinx adds, tossing the bag full of stolen cash into my path like it's nothing to them. I almost trip over it. More money than any of us could have dreamed of ever getting our hands on once upon a time, and all they want is my suffering.
I grab the bag on autopilot as I bolt through the door like a rabbit escaping a den of wolves. I half expect them to try to stop me, but they don't.
But Kade's voice follows me into the darkness, confident and cruel and absolutely certain.
"She'll be back."
Chapter 14
TANK
The door slamsshut behind her and something in my soul fucking shatters.
Four fucking years of watching from shadows, following her social media like a pathetic stalker, memorizing every fake smile she plastered on for those charity galas. Four years of wondering if she ever thought about us.
Aboutme.
And now she's here, smelling like vanilla even through the leather and vents of my gas mask, looking like a fantasy I only have the audacity to hold onto in my dreams.
Washere. Now she's running away from us again like we're the monsters everyone else has always seen when they look at us.
My worst fucking nightmare.
My body moves before my brain catches up. She needs to know. Needs to understand that we never stopped—Inever stopped?—
"Don't even fucking think about it."
Kade's voice cuts through my movement, and I freeze. Not because I have to listen to him. But because the absolute certainty in his tone makes me want to put my fist through his fucking skull.
I turn slowly, and even through the gas mask's lenses, I know he can see the fury in my stare. The mask makes my breathing sound mechanical, menacing, but right now I want to rip it off and scream at him with the voice I don't have even if it means letting everyone see me in all my disgusting glory.
My hand twitches toward it.
"She's just freaked out," Kade continues, like he's explaining something to a child. "Let her run. Let her process. Again—she'll be back."
The snarl that tears from my throat is pure animal rage. Before I can stop myself, I'm moving. My hand wraps around Kade's throat and I slam him into the wall hard enough to crack the one-way glass. The dancers on the other side keep grinding, oblivious to me about to murder my brother.
"The fuck, Tank?" Kade grits out as I squeeze his neck until the cords throb. He doesn't fight back immediately, just stares at me with those gray eyes that have seen too much but somehow remain completely oblivious to what's right in front of him. "You think chasing after her like a lovesick puppy is gonna make this better?"
My free hand flies up to move in sharp, angry signs.You threatened her.
Kade chokes on a laugh. "You think she was going to just fall into our arms if I said, 'Welcome home, baby'? You saw the way she looked at us. Like we're monsters."
You acted like one!
"Bullshit." His hands come up to grip my wrist, not fighting, just holding. The burn scar on his left forearm flexes with the movement. "She traded our kingdom for amansion, Tank. For designer clothes and a senator stepdaddy. She made her choice and she made the wrong fucking one. Now she gets to live with ours."
