I cut Frank off before he can finish his tirade. “I’m offering you a chance to get out of this unscathed. Walk away now, Steven, and I give you my word, I won’t come after you or your criminal organization.” Silence descends for a second before Frank, Kellan and my father all laugh. When Masen moves to come to me, their laughter dies off instantly. Carnage doesn’t move to stop him, that is what I respect most about him. Just because I’m a female, he doesn’t take it upon himself to try and protect me or save me from making mistakes. He allows me to lead and when I need help, he knows I will ask for it.
When Masen reaches out a hand to touch me, I smack it away and glare up at him. Hurt shines in his eyes but I feel nothing for him. He chose his side and allowed me to take the fall for the heinous crime he committed, all because he wanted to go pro. Our father helped him pin the blame on me so his son’s shining new career would make him look good in the press.
“Don’t you ever fucking touch me,” I grit out.
“Stop this, Toren,” he urges. “Come home and we can fix this. You have no idea what you are getting involved in and that cocksucker Devlin?—”
“Keep his name out of your fucking mouth. Xaden has nothing to do with any of this,” I hiss.
“He has everything to do with this!” he roars. I don’t tremble or even recoil from the harsh tone of his voice, I just stare up at him and wonder how I never saw my brother for who he truly is—a coward and a fucking disgrace. Masen isn’t the man I thought he was. He isn’t my protector or my white knight. He is just a fucking sheep, doing everything his shepherd tells him to. I see it now, the hold my father has over him. Masen has always wanted to please him. Steven always favored my brother over me and didn’t do a damned thing to try and hide it unless we were in public. It never bothered me growing up because I had Masen and he was enough to fill the void, but not anymore.
No longer do I look at him and see my savior, all I see is a monster. I didn’t realize I had put him on a pedestal until the night my memories came back at Xaden’s father’s house. I can never look at him the same again. Xaden may have tricked me into bed and used me to get back at my father, but he never lied to me. All Masen has done is lie through his perfectly straight fucking teeth and the urge to punch him in his lying mouth is overwhelming. The sheer thirst of bloodlust is consuming me.
“No. You did this, Masen,” I snarl, hatred lacing each of my words. I watch as my brother's face morphs from remorse to plain anger and I relish the sight of it. The mask he has worn is finally gone and now I am looking at the real monster. He is our father’s son. The perfect child molded into the foot soldier Steven Kellar wanted.
“You’re on the wrong side, Tor. He clearly fucked the common sense out of you.”
“No, he just fucked the devil into me,” I clap back. Disgust is plain to see on his face. I ignore my brother as I look over at my father and Frank. “When the time comes and all the carefully crafted walls you built around your castle come crumbling down, just remember I was gracious and offered you a chance to be free and walk away.”
Anger radiates from my father as he scowls at me. Truth be told, I want him to hate me. I want his anger directed at me, to push him past his breaking point. He tried to destroy me and failed, but unlike him, I won’t stop until there is nothing left for him to latch onto.
“Get the fuck out of my house and never come back. You are no longer part of this family.” Kellan snaps his head toward my father in surprise but I'm not. I knew this was coming and hardened my heart in preparation. “As far as I am concerned you are nothing but collateral damage and that cocksucker Devlin’s whore. I will bury you with him once I wipe that motherfucker out and take his town from him.” Steven flicks his gaze to Carnage and shoots my friend an evil smirk. “Then I will be coming for yours.”
Carnage just snorts and nods. “Oh, I would love to see you try, old man. You may think you know who I am, but you really don’t. I was named Carnage for a reason and I long for the day I get to show you why I suit the name perfectly.” Carnage grips my hand and begins to lead me out of the room.
“You don’t want me as your enemy, little sister.” The deathly calmness to my brother’s tone has me pausing and peering back at him over my shoulder. He looks like an unhinged animal. I’ve never seen him in this way and honestly, it makes what I have to do so much easier. I guess I never truly saw the real him under the mask he wore. He is vile and cruel.
“You’ve always been my enemy. I just didn’t know it until recently, brother.” I answer in a cold tone void of all emotion. Hemay have won the battle I had no idea I was fighting but mark my fucking words, I will win the damned war if it is the last thing I fucking do.
CHAPTER SEVEN
XADEN
“Please, I swear I didn’t do anything.” I twist the blade in his side and relish in the sound of his pained scream sounding out around the empty warehouse, his blood coating my hand. I love the feeling of it on my skin. This motherfucker is dealing with my pent up rage from seeing that little bitch this morning. I had planned to hunt that cunt down after I destroyed her brother and father and cemented my place as the head of Somerset and Stormsend.
I am the Don of the Cosa Nostra now, and it’s my job to lead my family and finally end the war between the two towns that my piece of shit father was too gutless to do. Instead of thinking about the people we were supposed to protect, he chose greed. He wasn’t satisfied with just ruling Stormsend and Somerset, he wanted more, and in the end it led to me killing him because of what he took from me.
It should have been me that died that night.
I’m living on borrowed time.
My sister was the one who was born for this role, she was a leader and knew how to think outside of the box and get shit done. All I know how to do is kill. I was my father’s greatest weapon and I hated it. I wanted to get the fuck out of thisplace and never look back. Never take another life or inflict excruciating pain on another human, but it looks like that was a fucking dream because the more I kill, the harder I crave it. Hearing the screams and pleas of mercy from my victims is the only thing that shatters the vortex of pain I live in daily.
For those short hours, I am a god. I choose if they live or die and in those minutes I feel something other than nothingness.
I’m not a shell, I’m a monster seeking vengeance against those who tried to wrong me. I get to alleviate some of my anger and thirst for blood. I can function clearly for a few hours afterward.
“He’s dead.” Cas’s voice shocks me out of my rage induced numbness. I look at the fucker I was torturing and groan.
“He died too fucking fast,” I snarl.
Caspian snorts and shakes his head. “You worked too fast and didn’t take your time. You are rushing these fucking kills and not gathering the intel we need, X.” The tinge of aggression in his tone sets my blood ablaze and I hunger for him to push me further. Cas is a good fighter and I know if he was strapped to a chair he would take a lot longer to kill than any of these other fucking weak pussies.
“Are you challenging me?” My tone is filled with longing and hunger. He knows I have been itching for a good fight and someone worth my time and skills to interrogate.
He shakes his head and scoffs. “I’m not your fucking enemy, Xaden!” he snaps angrily as he pushes off the far wall and stalks toward me with a purpose. Caspian Vought is a big motherfucker. He is a formidable sparring partner and can hold his own in any fight, but he and I both know if it came down to it, I would fight harder and dirtier than him and would win.
Cas stops when there is an inch of space between us. “I’m here to help you. I’m not your enemy, brother, so stop trying to make me one!” He grips the front of my shirt and pulls me inuntil our foreheads touch. “I’m with you, Xaden. I’m not fucking going anywhere. I will have your back and fight by your side through this war.”
