I grind my teeth. “There isn’t anyone other than the cops I can call. Not without a formal claim.”
“That’sbullshit.” She scoffs. “There’s always another way.”
I can’t help it, I flinch.
My entire life I played Pops’ games. He wanted a calm, sweet daughter—one he could mold into his ideal woman. Sloane was too wild, too head strong to be it. Maeve was his heir and off-limits. But me? Out of all his children, he could make me into his perfect daughter—hisfavorite.
It did me no favors to do it. But it kept me alive.
And Maeve knows what I’ve done for this role.And she hates me for it.
She hates what I did—what I endured to survive. Everything I did, and didn’t fight against. I’m not even sure how she found out.
“You don’t want to get into bed with Bruno,” I murmur, voice tiny, switching gears. “You would never want that on your hands, Maeve.”
“You don’t know what’s on my hands.” She scoffs. “You don’t know what I’veenduredto make this clan what it is.”
Killian saddles up next to me, a steady presence in the rising tide of Maeve’s anger.
“No.” I sigh. “No, I don’t know.” She has her secrets and I have mine.
“How could you?” She stands, looking from the reaper, then to me. “Not all of us let others take the fall, while we sat on a tainted pedestal.”
Another flinch.She’s proving her point.
“Right.” I snort, temper flaring to combat the swirl of sorrow in my gut. I ignore how my hands shake, how hard my heart hurts at her casual dismissal. “Because you’re the picture of the perfect sister? You’veneverprotected us. You sold Sloane off to Lex for an alliance and now, you’re thinking of doing the same tome. Just for this fucked up family.”
She glares, eyes going black. “Everything I’vedoneis to protect you.”
“And if you decide?—”
“And if Idecide,” she cuts me off and my jaw cracks, throat tight with tears as she continues, “to use you as a bargaining chip, then Iwill. If I want to auction you off to the highest bidder, I will. You are a daughter of the clan and only what I need you to be as yourCaptain.”
My heart pounds in my chest, breathing rapid and erratic. Everything feels tight and my throat closes in on itself. Coughing, the beginning signs of a panic attack rise inside my chest and I try to inhale. But my lungs stall, and my breath catches.
I’m trapped—suffocating under her control. Just like I was with Pops. Just like I was at school. At the hospital, I was stuck to all those wires. Trapped…
“Maeve,” Killian interrupts, drawing her attention away and I grip his forearm, nails cutting him deep. I need something solid as I exhale, wrestling my mind and my panic under flimsy control. “Not the time, Princess.”
She wrestles with herself, jaw working as if to say more, but her mouth snaps shut. Whatever she wanted to say is lost to the silence and I exhale shakily, again. Slowing, that tightness in my chest, in my throat lessens, and Killian gives me one sure nod. He’s coaching me without words. I inhale and blow out a breath in the silence.
At least I have one friend here.
Finally, she licks her lips, controlling her ire. “Regardless, it’s my choice to make.”
“Yourchoice? This is my life you’re talking about.” I cough. “I’ve already been given my decree. Pops already said?—”
“Pops isdead,” she snaps. “And with him, his decrees.”
“So, you’re just going to change what he instituted?” My eyes water but I fight back the tears.I can’t let my anxiety get to me again.“I sacrificed for this, Maeve. I fought to get this decree. This is mylife.You can’t give me to that monster.”
“We’re all pawns, kid,” she says, shrugging and whatever hope I have, breaks. She’d sell me off because to her, her family is nothing. The only thing that matters is the clan.
Why did I expect something else?
Blinking back tears, I elbow Killian. “Talk to her, Killian. You know as well as I do, aligning with Bruno will hurt the clan more than help us.”
He shrugs, sliding his hands into his pockets. He seems relaxed, but he’s staring Maeve down, eyes unreadable. “It’s Maeve’s show, Coli. Her rule. What she says, goes.”
