“I still can’t believe our own father did that,” Wyatt said. “I don’t want to believe that not only of him, but others who wanted to sell and use kids themselves. Those auctions were a huge success. We grew up on that money.”
“I know. Are we still in the process of locating the children that were taken?” Owen asked.
Gabriel’s family, his closest friends, all looked to him for guidance. “I have some contacts right now, working to resolve our family’s shame. Until then, I want to make the Dentons suffer.”
He stared at the casino. The Dentons should have wiped out every single Colton instead of allowing them to live. Gabriel wanted them to pay for ruining them, and in a way, destroying their lives. Maddox Denton had ruined Gabriel’s life before he’d even been born. He, Emma, Wyatt, and Owen, all had to deal with the shame of their family because the Dentons made sure they couldn’t run from it. For Gabriel, the death of all of his family, his family’s allies had actually been a good thing. They were all monsters, and the world was better for them being gone. They had all died, giving him the chance to finally take over. What they didn’t know was that their father had promised he would never ever get the chance of being the head of the Coltons’ empire. None of them knew the truth.
For Gabriel, he knew why he’d been saved, and not killed when he should have been. His brothers and sister didn’t understand the lies he’d told as to why he lived. He had been allowed to leave. Old man Denton had stared at him down the barrel of his gun, and been unable to pull the trigger. He’d whispered Maddox’s name, and there had been a great deal of anger in that word. Still, Gabriel knew the truth, and as for his siblings, they had all been spared because they were under the age of eighteen. The Dentons held it as a point of honor that no child under eighteen should be killed. Emma had been lucky, as she was five weeks away from turning eighteen when they were wiped out.
The other element of their survival that his siblings didn’t know about was the money that the old man told Gabriel to take, to keep, and to have a life. The old Denton man had wanted Gabriel gone so no one knew his weakness. Maddox Denton had fucked up many years ago, and Gabriel was the living, breathing proof of that, and he wanted to take that knowledge to his grave.
“Why make them suffer?” Emma asked. “The more I think about what we’re doing, the more I don’t see what good it would actually do. Our family and all of their associates are monsters. We’re monsters.”
“Retaliation,” he said. “They thought we were weak, which is why they’ve left us alone. That I don’t accept.” Gabriel stared across at the casino, and knew the rage inside him wouldn’t be eased. His brothers and sister didn’t understand. They never would.
There was only two ways for the Coltons in this world: de
ath, or to fight, destroying their enemies, and creating a new path for themselves.
****
Ruby giggled as Oliver tickled her. They had been together for the past two days, and she didn’t want it to end. The real world would be calling soon, and with it their responsibilities.
“Stop,” she said.
He had already made it up to her with regards to the pain from her first time. They had decided to stay in, ordered Mexican food, and spent the whole night making love, and fucking. They even had the porn channel on to see if they could keep up.
“I’m not stopping.”
Oliver attacked her ribs, and she bit his arm, trying to get him to stop. He wouldn’t let her go, and it was all too much.
His cell phone ringing made them both pause. “We knew our silence wouldn’t last forever.”
She pouted but sat up, waiting for him to finish his phone call.
“What? When?”
The panic in his voice made her turn toward him. He was running his fingers through his hair. “She okay?” Seconds passed. “Fuck. I’ll be there right away.”
He hung up the phone, and turned to her.
“What is it?” She was worried.
“Someone tried to take Tamsin from school. They broke into the playground, and tried to snatch her. If it wasn’t for her guards, they would have succeeded, too.”
“Oh my God, did they capture whoever tried to take her?”
“No. He got away. The kids are all being interviewed, and the guards are as well. It happened so fast.”
“What about Tamsin?”
“She’s scared. Clearly shaken. This is the first time anyone has actually tried to take a kid before. Even a Denton kid. I need to get over there. This is completely unheard of.”
“Yeah. I can imagine.” She picked up the piece of paper that they had been working on for the past few hours, before they got distracted. “Anyone here you think could be responsible?”
“No, and that is what scares me.”
“Why?”