I bite my bottom lip.He has a point.He wouldn’t let me go.He’s made that clear.
Kai moves toward me before wrapping me under his arm and guiding me to the couch.I melt into his embrace, the fire inside me dulling with every breath.
I fall back onto the couch between Kai and Zion.
“You’re not just a pawn, Amirah.You’re one of us now, and we protect our own,” Kai says.
The corner of my mouth lifts.“What’s the grand plan, then?”I ask, feeling the love between us.
“We set up a meeting with The Brotherhood.A deal.Meet them at the docks.We tell them that we’ll trade you back in return for control over the docks,” Kai says, and I lean into his embrace.
“I’m in,” I say.
There’s no way my brother will give up the docks for me.I’m one person, and the docks are huge—a massive source of income from weapons and drugs for The Brotherhood.
And something else too.
Women are trafficked there.
I don’t know how, but surely if I have all these important men there together—Gage, Hazen, and Lucas alongside Kai, Zion, and Bear—I can convince them that we can stop this child abuse.And maybe then, in our common hatred ...we can find peace.
I’ll be the pawn in this war between our worlds.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Kai
The meetup is set for five o’clock.I’ve got all our men assembled as close to the docks as possible, knowing that The Brotherhood has done the same.If anything goes wrong, they have my approval to start blowing it all up.I hope it doesn’t come to that.Theyhaveto hand over the running of the docks to us.We have the perfect pawn, after all.
Every time I think about Amirah going back to them, it breaks a part of me that I don’t quite understand.This was the plan all along—to keep her as a pawn.To hold her captive and use her when the time was right, but now everything has changed.My stupid heart fell hook, line, and sinker for her.Life without her here won’t be the same, but setting her free doesn’t mean she won’t come back to us, does it?
That’s the question that’s been rolling around in my head.Will she ever come back to us?Does she want to?I’d like to think that she does.That this won’t be the end of everything between us.She’s always got a bed here if she needs it.That’s one promise I’ll give her.
I hate the thought of using her like this, trading her back to them like she’s a piece of property.But we don’t have a choice.I hope she understands.She agreed to it, so she must.It feels like she’s one of us now.I want to protect her, like I do my best friends.
I couldn’t save my sister or Freya.Now I’m handing Amirah back over.Maybe she’s better off back home with her family.But why does that crush me in a way I’ve never felt before?It’s as though every girl in my life has left.Now I’m the one handing her over.
I step outside, lifting my hood to cover my head.Bear, Zion, and Amirah are huddled around my car.Amirah is leaning back into Bear’s embrace.She’s got on her 18hood hoodie, and I want to take a photo of this.Of her with my best friends.She looks like one of us.Like she belongs here, and she does.
If you’d asked me all those weeks ago, I would have laughed at the idea.Who knew the princess of The Daring Brotherhood would fit with us?A bunch of misfits just trying to survive in this fucked-up town on the wrong side of the tracks.
Amirah looks over at me, the corner of her mouth lifting, and I can’t help but smile back.She pushes off the car and stalks toward me.Before I can take my next breath, she wraps her arms around me, and I freeze for a second before hugging her back.
She rests her head on my chest, her ear on my heart.I hope that this isn’t goodbye forever.That this won’t be the last time I touch her.
I press a kiss on her head, and she looks up.Her green eyes are glassy.Something passes between us—a farewell of sorts.
I’ve spent my whole existence hating her family, The Brotherhood, for what they did to my family.To my town.And now I’ve fallen for their princess.
She reaches up, planting her plump lips on mine, and I savor her sweet taste, groaning into her mouth.She pulls back, breathless.“Thanks for not killing me, I guess.”
I laugh.“Thanks for being a good captive, I guess,” I say, shrugging.
“Hurry the fuck up.We’ve got a deal to broker,” Bear yells.I look over, and he’s bouncing from one foot to the other.
If The Brotherhood really does accept our deal, and Amirah goes back with them, I’m worried about how Bear will react.He’s obsessed with her.Will he cause chaos and ruin everything?We have to take that risk.Having control over the docks will change everything for us.Give us some power back.A foothold.He’ll just have to trust that Amirah will return to us.
We all will.
