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Prologue
Family.
A word that means so much to so many.
A word, that for a long time, I never really understood.
I had a mum, yes. A junkie mum who gave birth to me. She was my flesh and blood, and I’d loved her.We’dloved her, my brothers and me.
But it wasn’t enough.
She tried to be who we needed, but in the end she gave us up because life was just too hard, and she was too weak to fight.
She left us alone.
She cast us adrift with no anchor to keep us safe, with no notion of what it means to be part of a family filled with warmth, love and security. And just like the last stuttering beat of her heart, that dream of family was snuffed out entirely when my baby brothers were taken from my arms, screaming for their mum, and forme.
I mourned the loss of my family that day. I mourned the loss for weeks, months, years after her death. I never really got over it. Instead, I became secretly infatuated with the man whose blood runs through my veins. The man my mum had loved. The man that had caused my mum’s addiction, who broke her heart.
The man I now know to be the King.
The same man who bore a son as evil and as hateful as him.
The same man who uses kids to do his dirty work, to sell drugs and to inflict fear.
The same man who traffics girls for sex.
The same man who ordered the kidnapping of my friend.
The same man whokills.
He’s my father and Monk is my brother, but neither are my family.
We might share the same genes but that means nothing to me. That doesn’t make them family and it never will.
When my mum died and my brothers were taken from me, I never believed I’d find a family to call my own. But I did. Tracy became my surrogate mum. Bray another little brother. Eastern remained my best friend but then became so much more.
Then later, I found more family in the most unlikely of places and now I understand what the word truly means. Family is about the people youchooseto open your heart to, the people you can count on to have your back, to be by your side when shit gets tough. Family are the people who support you when you can’t hold yourself upright. Family are the actions of people who will do anything to prove you mean as much to them as they mean to you. Family are the ones who laugh with you, who fight for you, who fucking cry with you. Family are the people who break down your barriers, who embrace your scars and aren’t disgusted by them. Family are the ones who anchor you whilst the storm fucking rages, whilst the world around you crumbles to dust. They’re the ones who stitch together your battered and broken heart, making it beat again. They’re the ones who make you strong.
And now that I have a family, I will fight tooth and nail to keep them safe even if that means going up against my father and his son.
He might be the King. He might own a lot of people. But he’ll never own me and he sure as fuck won’t destroy what I’ve fought so hard to keep.
“Asia, you ready?” Ford asks me, drawing me back into the moment.
I grit my teeth and nod my head, ignoring the bead of sweat that falls down my spine, reminding me of the fear and danger we’re all in. “I’m ready.”
He glances at the rest of the guys, a determined set to his jaw. “We finish this tonight. No one fucks with our family and gets away with it.”
Stepping forward, he holds his arm out, his hand fisted. Eastern doesn’t hesitate, he places his palm over Ford’s closed fist and grips it tightly, a fierce look passes between them. So much has changed these past few months since I joined Oceanside and despite the dangerous situation we’re in, my heart swells with admiration, with joy at the loyalty they share now.
Next to place his hand into the circle is Camden. His split knuckles are still weeping, and beneath the swelling of his face I catch the darkness in his gaze and the need for revenge.
“You up for this, Cam?” Ford asks, concerned. The last few months have brought us closer, bound us together in an unbreakable unit. Camden gives Ford a look that cuts his question dead.
“No motherfucker is going to stop me, and if I should die tonight I will spend all of eternity making sure that cunt wished he’d never been born.”
Ford nods, grimacing. We exchange looks. Both of us fearful for him. If we survive tonight, it’ll take Camden a long time to recover. Perhaps he never will. Either way, we’ll be right there by his side ready to catch him when he breaks, and he will break. We all will eventually.
