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One
A diamond is only a lump of coal until, given enough pressure, it becomes something people would pay thousands, if not millions, of dollars for.
My whole life, I’d been protected.
I was intimately aware of both my father's indifference and his brutality, but most of the time, my brother, Bourbon, took the brunt of it.
He also made sure that my work in the mafia was focused on the business end of things.
I’d seen plenty of tortured but only witnessed a few people killed. When I’d killed, it had only been in self-defense.
And, I’d been in love.
It was the kind that stole my breath away, the kind that lived with grandeur in my heart, making the clouds float about my head and the world swell with music.
It had been bigger than life itself, and I was so alive with it that nothing else existed in my life, except for her.
And even after she died, stopped breathing in my arms, I was protected still from the truth.
Naive. Useless.
I was as worthless as a lump of coal.
As I sat on the plane, watching my brother comfort the woman who reminded me of the woman I’d once loved, my chest burned with anger. Even in their anger and grief, you could feel the devotion and tenderness pulsing between them. They genuinely loved each other.
I tapped my fingers on my thigh, wrenching my eyes away from them, and instead stared out the window into an endless blue sky. There were no clouds, only a nothingness beyond, much like how I was feeling inside.
As soon as Bourbon revealed the family secret, that my pieceofshit father had been raping the love of my life in my home, only suites down from my own room, I’d taken it out on anything inanimate within reach.
I’d punched, kicked, screamed, letting out all the rage. The wrath of my fury was born and now, it was building inside me like a trapped animal. Focusing on my anger would give me strength to pull out my gun the moment I saw my father and blow his brains out.
I knew killing him would change something inside me, tear any innocence remaining and turn me into one of them.
Like a useless piece of coal, this world was going to burn me up, turning me into the ashes of what was once a human being.
But my humanity didn’t matter any more. All that mattered was my revenge.
Torian finally landed the plane we’d confiscated from Dimitri's old crew, the man Rose had killed, her own revenge enacted, and I waited impatiently as it made its way down the runway. Once it turned into our private hanger, I immediately stood up and glared out the window. I was anxious to see my father's face before I killed him.
He was waiting for us on the tarmac, with a cold and stiff stance. He had a new woman by his side, someone who wasn't my mother.
Because he'd gotten her killed too.
The new woman was young and pretty and probably a whore too.
I just hoped I didn't get too much blood on her pretty, pink dress.
As soon as the stairs lowered, I rushed down them, my hand going to my back, where my gun was tucked.
Before I even stepped onto the runway, I was shoved to the ground, a heavy weight on top of me and my arms pinned behind my back.
"Mr. King has requested no weapons be allowed when you greet him," a low growl from Benny, one of his loyal guards, sounded behind me. I grunted as a knee dug into my back and my face smashed into the hot concrete by a hand on my head.
"Please, Coulter. Don’t hurt him. He has my sister."
I lifted my eyes to stare into Rose's gorgeous face. Her troubled green eyes filled with concern.
"Get off him."
