Amos stares at his wife with sick satisfaction gliding across his blood-spattered face. I rip the tape from his mouth and yank out the rag. “Got anything to add, you piece of shit?” I rip his boxers to shreds, leaving him shivering and naked and exposed.
“I won.” He smirks. “Arlo will never love a savage like you. I don’t care what blood flows through his veins. He’smy son. You can do your worst, Manning, but it won’t matter. You can’t eradicate fifteen years of me loving him and him loving me. I did Arlo a favor selling his whore mother overseas and wiping out her family. But the biggest favor I did him was keeping you away. You have too much of your father’s tainted blood in you. You were never capable of being the father Arlo needed. The father I became for him. So, go ahead, do it. Kill me. It will only cement his hatred for you forever.”
“Liar!” someone yells from behind, and ice replaces the blood flowing in my veins.
My eyes meet Athena’s, and I see the same shock staring back at me. Our heads whip around at the same time, and she screams “No!” racing past me to get to her brother, but it’s too late, and we’re too far from him.
“I hate you!” Arlo roars before pulling the trigger.
ChapterForty-Two
Athena
The shot is on point, and it rips cleanly through Amos’s forehead, leaving a nice, neat bullet hole. His head falls back, and his glazed eyes stare vacantly at the ceiling. I can’t even be mad I didn’t get to torture him because my every thought is consumed with Arlo.
My brother drops to his knees as I rush toward him. The gun slips from his fingers, clattering loudly on the patterned tile floor. I sink to my knees in front of Arlo and pull him into my arms. He falls lifelessly against me with dried tearstains tracking down his cheeks. I hug him close, pressing kisses into his hair as I fight tears. I didn’t want this for him. I didn’t want him finding out the truth like this. And I never wanted him to shoulder this burden.
It should have been on Drew and me. We wanted to do that for him.
I’m rubbing his back and dotting kisses into his hair while the others swing into action around me. Calling in a cleanup crew and deciding how to cover it up so no one ever finds out what Arlo did. My brother is numb in my arms, and I’m really starting to worry when a sob flees his mouth, and his arms finally go around me.
Drew is there to prop me up from behind as Arlo falls apart, clinging to me with a desperation that stabs holes in my already fragile heart. His agonized sobs speak of untold pain, and I silently swear to do anything and everything to help him get through this. Fuck everything else. The only thing that matters is my brother.
Drew is a silent comfort standing guard over us as all the men finally exit the house giving us some privacy.
I don’t know how long we stay like that, but when the cleanup crew arrives, I know it’s time to leave.
“Arlo.” I rub his back as I gently ease him off me. My shirt is soaked with his tears, and more keep falling from his eyes. “We need to go.”
“Don’t leave me,” he says in a hoarse tone. “Please don’t leave me.”
“Never.” I smooth my hand over his hair, wishing I could take his pain and alleviate his suffering.
But like I told Drew, Arlo will have to do the heavy lifting.
Drew’s arm extends, and he offers his hand to his son.
The tears stop flowing as Arlo looks up at Drew, his gaze running over his features, before lowering to the offered hand.
My heart is in my throat as I watch father and son. Drew is wearing his emotions on his face, along with a lot of blood, but I like he’s not hiding who he is from Arlo. There is no shielding my little brother from the evils of the world any longer. Not after today.
A messy ball of emotion sits on my chest as Arlo takes Drew’s hand. Drew offers me his other hand as he helps us both to our feet. I clamp a hand over my mouth as father and son stare at one another. Arlo is almost as tall as his dad though not as broad. Their eyes are a carbon copy of one another, and they have the same shape face. Seeing them together like this, I don’t know how I missed the resemblance before.
Guess if you’re not looking for something you don’t see it.
A lot like me with Beast. Deep down, my subconscious knew he was Drew, but I didn’t connect it until I was ready to process it.
Just like I knew deep down I was sabotaging my mission on purpose because I’d had enough, and I’d finally found someone worth risking it all for.
“Are you really my dad?” Arlo asks.
Drew nods. “Yes. I only found out a few days ago.”
Arlo looks at Drew and then me, and the look of vulnerability on his face guts me.
“It’s okay,” Drew says as Arlo leans into my side. “We don’t need to talk about anything tonight. I just want to get you two somewhere safe. Somewhere you can clean up, get something to eat, and try to grab some sleep. Everything else can wait.”
I smile at Drew, squeezing his hand. I know what I told him, and I meant it, but I don’t know if I have it in me to stay away from him right now. He still needs to deal with his shit, but I think he needs me as much as Arlo does, and I want to be there for both of them.
