Not wasting another moment, I jump from my hiding spot in the shadows and wrap my arms around his waist, slamming into him from behind and sending us both down to the ground. His shout echoes around the warehouse and I hear pounding footsteps coming down the stairs in response to his cry, but I pay them no mind. I’m here for the man on the ground in front of me.
Atlas’s dark eyes meet my own with surprise and something that looks an awful lot like excitement shining in them before he throws a punch, hitting me directly in the jaw.
“Finally grew some balls there, did you,mezza sega?”
The light turns on, highlighting Atlas in all his sinister glory as he raises up to land another punch. I dodge his fist and throw my own out, hitting him in his temple and sending him back down to the ground.
“You selfish bastard! Are you wanting to ruin her life?” My screams mix with the sound of my fist hitting him over and over again, sometimes on his arms where he blocks me and others on his face when I get a real hit in.
His legs come up to wrap around my waist, squeezing me tightly until he gets us flipped around and begins to rain his own punches down on my face. I don’t let up, though, sending my own fists into his ribs and laughing like a maniac when I hear one of them crack.
“ENOUGH!”
Atlas immediately drops his fists and scrambles off of me, standing up with his hands around his back and chest poked out like some sort of soldier. My arms are grabbed by someone I can’t see, and I’m dragged until I stand a few feet away from Atlas, watching as an older version of him walks down the stairs.
“Atlas, who is this boy?”
Atlas clears his throat, answering immediately. “This is Kortez Smith, an orphan from Saint Mary’s.”
Smith. I hate the generic last name they give us.
The man grunts and I keep my head held high as he walks over to me. His eyes are the same shade as Atlas’s, although his skin is a bit darker and coveredwith far less tattoos and many more scars. He almost looks familiar in this light with the shadows raining down on him like devoted followers. He looks like someone I’d want to stay away from.
And here he is standing directly in front of me.
“Why are you attacking my son, Kortez Smith?”
So, he is Atlas’s father.
I shrug, deciding if there was ever a time to break my no cussing rule, it’s now. I just hate Evie isn’t here to see it. “He’s an asshole.”
He laughs, turning to look at Atlas with a raised eyebrow before turning back to me. “That so?”
I nod.
The man turns back to Atlas. “This have anything to do with that pretty little thing we saw driving away in your car not too long ago?”
I see Atlas swallow, his eyes shooting to mine, and for the first time since I met him, he looks scared.
His father storms toward him, backhanding him across the face right over where I split open his jaw just a few minutes earlier. “Two months you’ve been on your own and you already defy me.” He leans back and spits right on Atlas’s cheek, “It’s sickening.”
His father turns back toward me, his eyes glinting with something I can’t place. “And you – you came to attack my son and protect this girl?”
I stay silent, grinding my teeth together at the responding chuckle he lets loose.
“You got the jump on Atlas, that’s saying something…” He turns around, looking at his son before spinning around to look back at me. “You know what, I like you. You got balls, kid.”
Atlas eyes grow wide as his father turns to the man on my left. “Bring him with us.”
The last thing I see before my world goes black isAtlas lunging for his father, and his father’s gun pointed at his chest.
Chapter 5
Eve
Age 29 – 10 YearsLater…
“Evie, we need to leave! I have court in the morning!”
