AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He will guard his baby girl, no matter what.
She is to remainunsullied, no matter my title or rank in this world.
I know exactly what he would think about our current adventure.
Savvy isn’t even supposed to be at the house—and my heart sure as shit isn’t supposed to thunder whenever we’re in the same space. But today’s a special day: my baby brother is gonna be born. And Savvy carries as much respect for the rules as I do.
“Are you prepared for what’s gonna happen to you if we’re caught?” she questions, though she stalks the hall as eagerly as I do. Her steps unhurried, but without hesitation. Her long blonde locks, tied in a half-up, half-down style, dangle forward because of her enthusiastic stance as we tiptoe along the thick carpet runner. “Your dad is gonna kill you, Lix.”
“Nothing bad will happen as long as we don’t get caught.” I change our grip and slide my fingers between hers, drawing her closer.
She’s a dopamine hit I can never get enough of. The nearer she stands, the higher I feel. The more she smiles, the more powerful I am.
She’s a drug, manufacturedonlyfor me. Dangerous. Addictive.
And so fucking intoxicating, I already know I’ll be keeping her.
“Come on,” I murmur, the cries of a woman echoing from the end of the hall.
Usually, my father would have men standing outside each door. Their backs to the wall, their fingers pressed to the trigger like they expect the boogeyman to jump out and get them.
But it’s a busy day. Doctors have been in and out since yesterday morning. Nurses have been on-hand around the clock, helping the woman through the delivery of a son. She screams a lot. Cries out in a language I don’t know.
“Felix,” Savvy hisses. “My dad’s in there, too. If he sees me?—”
The guttural scream of a woman I’ve never met, whose name I don’t even know, slams into the hall and twists my stomach in knots.
As Timothy Malone theSecond’sson, I’ve witnessed things most other sixteen-year-olds haven’t. I’ve watched men beg for their lives, and I’ve pulled the trigger when I was ordered to. I’ve cut a man’s tongue out, and kept my own mouth shut when other soldiers buried a body in a shallow grave. I’ve fucked women, and I’ve been fucked by women, even when I didn’t really want it.
But this is the life that has been chosen for me. This is the world I was placed in.
It’s not so bad, really.
“Felix!”
I spin at the deep growl of another man’s timbre. Another boy who was never given a chance to be a boy.
“What the hell are you doing here?” he demands.
Tim is only older than me by a year, but he’s taller by a few inches. And so, staring up at him now, I sweat under his intense gaze, swallow the lump in my throat, and bring Savvy around to stand at my back.
“The baby’s coming today,” I manage, straightening my spine and elongating my body. I’m a bad motherfucker. If I don’t act like it, I’ll die before I get a chance to rule. “Cato?—”
“Is none of your fucking business.” He reaches out with fast hands and grabs the front of my hoodie. “He’ll flog you if you’re caught up here.” Then he looks over my shoulder and snarls at Savvy, “And he’ll fuckyou. You both know it.”
My temper spikes, flooding my veins with adrenaline. Not at the thought of taking a beating from a man who seems to enjoy handing them out, but because the threat of my father fucking the girl I’ve sworn to protect isn’t out of the realm of possibility.
Savvy could be thirteen, or thirty—it wouldn’t matter to the man who created us. Especially now that Cato is nearly here and the woman giving birth to him is no longer useful.
Once that kid is out, he’ll be looking for his next victim.
“Get her out,” Tim grits. While my mind sticks on images of myfather fucking Savvy, my brother tugs on my hoodie and snaps my eyes straight back to his. “Outside the gates. Now.”
“Fuck you.” Youth makes a man stupid, I think. Impulsive. A little bit dumb. Because that’s the best comeback I have as I tear his hand off my sweater. “He won’t touch her.” I lift my chin, but I jerk the girl closer so I feel her breath on the back of my neck. “He wouldn’t dare.”
“Wouldn’t he?” Tim’s forest-green eyes dance with mirth, cruel and taunting. Because if we don’t laugh… at this point in our lives, we might actually go insane.
“That girl in there,” he points straight over my shoulder, “isn’t even eighteen yet, Lix. Maybe she’s getting close to it, but we both know he doesn’t give a fuck about consent or age.” He drops his hand and looks down at me, the way older brothers have looked upon their siblings for a lifetime. “You’re an idiot if you think bringing Savannah here is okay.”
