Beautiful Nightmare (Dark Dream 2)

No one had the right to enter these walls and disrespect me or mine.

Lucian just blinked at me, boredom filling every inch of his face.

“Get. The. Fuck. Out,” I growled, shoving him with my good hand. “Why are you even here?”

“Carter texted us,” he said, blandly, checking his phone as if I was utterly unimportant. “He said you wanted to reconcile. Is that not true?”

“You think I’ll just get over the shit you did to me?” The words shot out of me like blood from a bullet wound.

Another lazy blink as he lifted his inscrutable gaze to me. “I didn’t do anything.”

A bitter, barking laugh. “Okay, you want to follow that logic, asshole, we can do that. You did nothing. You ignored me. Shunned me. Set the example for everyone else to do the same. You think Leo and Carter would’ve done that without you? You think the girls––” My voice fucking cracked, but I surged on. “You think Eva and Sophia would have done that? Daphne? Lizzy?””

“So you were left out,” Lucian shrugged. “Worse things have happened to better people.”

Through the roar of blood in my ears, I saw Carter adjust uncomfortably and heard Leo murmur something to Lucian about backing off.

“Left out?” I mocked. “Yeah, I was left the fuck out of the bond you all share, forced out because Bryant beat me until I agreed to beat Carter. One time, I buckled to the pressure and hurt one of our family. One fucking time. But you hurt me every day after that. I didn’t get it before, I didn’t get it until last week when our dad put a bullet through me for disobeying him, but emotional neglect and abuse is still abuse. You want to pretend you didn’t take part in that, you’re fucking delusional. Now, get the fuck out of my house, Lucian. The next time I see you, you better fucking run, because I’m a grownass man and I won’t be bullied ever again.”

My chest was heaving by the time I finished. I wasn’t used to speaking so much, so passionately, and it had taken more out of me than the hour-long boxing session I’d just had.

In the silence that followed, Walcott started slow-clapping.

Henrik and Ezra followed until the sharp rap of hands meeting filled the air.

Giddy, relieved laughter bubbled in my too-tight throat.

These men were my men.

I didn’t need these assholes because we shared half of the same blood.

“That was a good speech,” Carter said, stepping forward to clap me on the shoulder with a genuine smile. “Didn’t think you had it in you.”

I shrugged off his hand. “You don’t know me. We made a deal to work together, but I’m rethinking it. Why the fuck did you bring these two here?”

Carter’s playfulness transformed swiftly, easily into a soothing a smile. “Because they want to reconcile with you as much as I do.”

I glared at Lucian, who only raised a cool brow, and then at Leo who winced slightly.

“You weren’t the only one hurt, little brother,” Leo told me, his eyes stale with old pain. “Bryant’s given all of us a lifetime of pain. You don’t want to be bullied anymore? Thank fuck, because neither do we. We’re moving on without him. Together.”

“How can you expect me to trust this? Suddenly, after years of distance, you want to hold fucking hands and sing kumbaya?” I demanded. “What the fuck’s changed?”

“We grew up.” Leo put his hands in his pockets. “We gained a different perspective.”

“They’re happy now.” Carter snorted. “Hell, they’re also both happily in love, now. Don’t you know love changes people, Tiernan?” His tone was gently mocking, but his eyes were too shrewd as he stared at me, as if he had a direct line to my heart and who laid claim to it.

I wanted to make light of his words, but how could I? Loving Bianca and Brandon had set off a chain reaction of life events and emotions that I was still reeling from every single fucking day.

Leo rolled his eyes at Carter, then stepped closer to me. “Come on, Tiernan. I know there’s been bad blood, but we’re honestly here to make amends.”

I crossed my arms over my chest even though it pulled at my wound. “I don’t hear any apologies or see any fucking flowers.”

Walcott snickered.

“You want an apology?” Lucian asked, his eyes suddenly flashing. “What if I want one from you? You’ve been working for Bryant and against us for years. Should I list the ways you’ve helped him? Should I unlock the closet hiding all the skeletons?”

“I did what I had to survive,” I told him. “I won’t apologize for that. I didn’t have the luxury of being the first-born incumbent to Morelli Holdings; the heir or the spare. I was just the hammer.”

We glared at each other, the energy crackling so palpably the hair rose on the back of my neck and arms.