“I was harsher than normal with my punishment,” he says as if he regrets his actions. He doesn’t. I wish I was the kind of person who could kill without guilt. King needs to die. His hand moves against the side of my face and I flinch before I can stop myself. King grins.
The bastard.
“I’m going to lay down, King. I’m not feeling well,” I say quietly, avoiding his cold eyes.
“You’ll have to learn, Rory. Ryan has to grow strong. He can’t do that if you coddle him.”
“I’ll make sure Ryan grows strong,” I answer him, but I doubt my brother understands what I’m saying.
“I’ve missed you around here Rory.”
“I’ll see you at dinner,” I tell him, then walk around him, only wanting to leave. He reaches out and grabs my arm.
“Make sure Ryan is dressed appropriately.”
“I will,” I tell him. King stares at me a few moments and then finally lets me go. I walk away, closing my eyes—just grateful for the escape.
In my head I’m plotting. I need a way to contact this Agent Lodge without my brother finding out and then I need to take Ryan and get as far away from King as I can get. There are only two problems with this plan.
I need to do all of this really quick and I have no earthly idea how I’m going to do it….11Rory“Did you have a good day today, Ryan?” King asks him once we’ve settled at the table. I have my hand under the table, wrapped around Ryan’s much smaller one and his little fingers tremble underneath my hold.
“Yes,” Ryan mumbles.
“Is that how you address me?” King asks, and I squeeze Ryan’s hand. He looks at me, his eyes large and round, fear and panic in them. Those are emotions that should never be on the face of a child as young as Ryan.
“Yes…fa…fath...er,” he says stumbling on the word. His tiny grip gets so tight it cuts off my blood flow.
“That’s better,” King says and I decide in that moment that maybe I could kill him and live with it. “Now, eat up. I have a surprise for you,” King says, clapping his hands.
Fear hits me. King’s surprises are never good.
“What is your surprise, King?” I ask before I can stop myself.
“Rory, always so impatient. It’s one of your biggest faults. Father always said so,” King delivers with a smile. He thinks his words will hurt me… maybe. They don’t. I’ve come to terms with how purely evil my family is and I did that a long time ago. My biggest regret is that I underestimated my brother. I didn’t have any idea what kind of master manipulator he was.
Who rents billboards to help lead their prey where he wants them to go?
It stings, it burns inside of me that I fell in line with everything King wanted. It burns that I helped him get to Ryan and to Noah. Noah was right not to trust me… and I didn’t even know it.
I give him a tight smile and shrug my shoulders—as if to say father was right. I figure that’s a better response than telling him our father could fuck off and rot in the grave that King put him in. That response might cause a repeat of the other night and my body can’t handle it. I have to get Ryan to safety. He’s all I have now and he’s depending on me.
“Since you’re so anxious, I think it’s safe to give Ryan my present now,” he says.
“Wolf,” he yells.
Suddenly Wolf appears in the doorway. God, I hate this man. Seeing him again, brings a fresh wave of pain. I do my best to lock it down. It’s not easy when Ryan leans into me.
“That’s the man who found me before I got to your house. He slapped me when I started screaming for you,” Ryan says with a whisper that is full of fear.
“Bring me Ryan’s present,” King orders Wolf. Wolf looks at him and then back at me and Ryan. There’s something in his face that tells me I should brace myself—not a warning so much as frank disbelief. He nods his head as if to say that it doesn’t really matter to him and then he leaves the room.
“You’re part of my world now, Ryan. It’s never too early to learn the importance of making your own rules and how to build an empire where nothing can touch you.”
Ryan doesn’t answer, but his eyes dilate and go so round that it must be painful. I’m not even sure he understands what King is saying—partly because my brother is a moron and mostly because Ryan is only five.
My breath catches when Wolf comes back and he’s dragging a woman behind him by the hair on her head. She’s in torn jeans, no top just a black bra that covers small breasts. Her skin is pale white and weathered. There are a few tattoos on her skin, but they’re almost as dull as the skin itself. She’s got dark hair, though I can’t be sure of the color because it’s plastered and wet. I think maybe from sweat, because her skin is clammy and covered also. I gasp before I can catch myself when I hear Ryan.