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“I want them, my brothers. I want their happiness and safety.” I shrug.
She nods. “I know. I gotta ask, though, how did you meet them?”
“Kenzo is my brother. We met Garrett at one of his fights when he was a professional, we stayed in contact, and when he went underground to earn more money, we started working with him. We ran into Diesel one night when he was chasing someone. He was working as a hired assassin back then, the thing he was good at, but I could see how lost he was in his eyes. It brought us all together. We had the money, our father’s money, and we had plans. Plans that needed more than us, and we just found them one day and became family. Been inseparable ever since,” I explain.
She sips her coffee, moaning, and I shift to adjust my hard cock. “Is Viper your real last name?”
I laugh then, I can’t help it. “No, we took it after my father died. We never wanted his name nor to have any of our success resting on his surname. We took Viper, because when you back a snake into a corner, they are more dangerous than anything. We had all been backed into those corners. By family. By grief. By money. We were all vipers…and now you are too.”
“Me?” she scoffs, shifting, making her shirt gape further.
“You were backed into a corner and came out stronger. This might not be the life you imagined, but you’re making it work, you’re using what you have. You are smart and strong, you’re a Viper,” I insist, leaning towards her, pressing my knuckles to the counter.
She perks up then, almost laughing. “It’s sure as shit better than my father’s name, the rat bastard.”
“Didn’t you change yours to Rich’s last name, the man who owned the bar?” I ask, genuinely curious, since there is only so much you can learn online and from rumours.
“Always researching, huh? Yeah, I did, I did it for his birthday, though it worked for me as well. A final cutoff from my family who did nothing but hurt me. But not him.” She seems sad now, so I reach across and cover her hand. She stares down at it, probably unused to comfort, but she doesn’t pull away. “I suppose you know he died?”
I nod, and she sighs.
“He was a good man, a very good man. He did some bad things in his past, but that never bothered me. My father has a clean record, always seen as charming to others, yet he was a monster. Rich was seen as a monster, but he cared for me more than anyone ever had. He helped me study and finish school, start a life, and have a job and a roof over my head where I could sleep without wondering…”
“Wondering?” I prompt.
“Wondering if I would be woken up by mean hands.” She shrugs, unashamed.
“He beat you.” I already knew this. “My father did too.”
I don’t know why I’m telling her this, other than the pain in her eyes as they level on me—the embarrassment and anger there calls to me. It makes me want to tell her, to help her understand that we aren’t so different. I need something stronger for this talk, though, so I turn around and pour us both two fingers of scotch and pass it over. I toss mine back and lean against the worktop, steadying myself by gripping the counter hard. She waits patiently, rolling the glass around in her hands.
“He was a bastard, but I’m guessing you know that by now. He was rich, powerful, and charming. Everyone loved him or wanted to be him. He made his millions by tearing down weaker people and stepping on them. But at home? He was even worse, he was fucking evil. He hated us, especially Kenzo. He thought him weak because he loved, because he laughed. I had to protect my brother. I know he hit him sometimes when I couldn’t save him, but for the most part, I took every blow, every whip, every beating. I stepped between him and my mother, not that it made her love us more. Kenzo always hoped she would take us and leave him, but I knew better. She was weak, which is horrible to say because I did love her, but she was weak. She needed his money to survive, and she would never leave him out of fear. Not even to protect us.”
“Ryder—” She shakes her head, and I smile sadly.
“It is okay, Roxxane. It’s in the past. I’m telling you this because I want you to know it doesn’t matter where you come from—from the dumps or skyscrapers—evil is still evil. We might have bled onto marble floors, but we still bled, and if I could go back, I would do it all again. I would take every thrashing stoically.”
“Why?” she queries, frowning.
I look around. “To be here with my family. I paid a high price, but now it’s all worth it. I’m surrounded by the best brothers, even when I forget sometimes, lost in the numbers and business. I have everything I always wanted.”
“Always?” she mumbles, and I regard her then.
“Always,” I whisper, meaning her as well. The love of a good woman, one strong enough to survive us, to survive me and the monster my father created in me. Placing the teacup aside, I feel the desire to reach for her, but I don’t know how. I’m not as loving as Kenzo, I’ve never even had a relationship. My father ruined it for me with the way he treated my mother…I think the only reason I’m letting Roxxane so close is because I have no choice.
She started as a business deal, one I couldn’t avoid, and now I can’t get her out of my head or my cold heart.
But she gathers that bravery again, slips from the stool, and marches around the counter, only stopping when she’s in my arms. I wrap them tightly around her, wondering how I’ll get her to stay here forever. All thoughts of business fade from my mind as those grinning eyes peer up at me.
How such a small person can hold such strength astounds me. She could have let her abuse and her father break her, she could have stopped fighting. She could have stopped even when we stole her, given in and withered away. Instead, she thrives. Diesel is right—Roxxane lives for danger, for stress and dark times. It’s when she is most herself. I wonder if she knows that. It’s probably why she decided to run Roxers, to feel that hit every night.
The one Diesel finds in flames, Kenzo in gambling, Garrett in fighting…and me in deals, in winning and manipulating people. But I’m the one being manipulated here, and I don’t think she even realises it.
Reaching up, I cup her face, searching those eyes that hold me prisoner. If only my enemies knew that to get us all, to kill us…all they would need to do was take her. Hurt her. It would destroy us.
When the Vipers do something, we do it hard, and Roxxane? She hasn’t been here but a week, yet she is already intertwined with us, so essential to our lives. She has changed us, made us love, and made us angry. Yet here, with her in my arms, is where I finally take a deep breath, my hand shaking against her cheek in fear. What if I am too like my father?
What if I hurt her?
