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Once I reach Jericho, I punch him square in the gut, catching him off guard. That's right, fuckface! I'm more lethal than you realize.
Air pours from his mouth when he bends forward, clasping his stomach in a rookie move. I aim to put my knee into his nose, but he reaches out as fast as lightning, grabbing my throat.
“That one was free,” he wheezes, gently squeezing my throat and constricting my air. “The next ones won’t be in your favor, Little Chaos. You can be mad. You can lash out, but violence against each other is never the answer. I’ve sworn to never in my life hit a woman. And I won’t. You should do the same.”
It’s a sobering thought when he forcefully pushes me back onto our large bed and crawls on top of me, keeping his hand around my throat. His body weight presses me into the mattress as I glare.
“You married me without consent. How am I supposed to feel?” I grit out, struggling against his hold. But Jericho is unmovable on top of me.
“It might sound cliche, but I married you for good reason.”
I blink several times. Actual sincerity sits in his eyes, shining back at me.
“Selfish,” Arrow coughs in the background.
Jericho growls in his direction. “You’re not helping, assbag.”
“Why?” I ask, grabbing his wrist when his fingers flex on my flesh.
Jericho licks his lips and inspects my eyes. “Would you believe that I did it for your own good? That I was protecting you against my father?”
I swallow hard. Gabriel Viotto. My monster and tormentor. I’ve always needed protection against him. But never had anyone in my corner offering it. Is Jericho sincere when he says he wants to shield me from him? He’s proven to me in my time with him that I can trust him.
My stomach drops. “Why would you need to?”
Jericho cocks his head. “Do you know why your mother sold you to my father?”
Yes. But I can’t exactly say it’s because I murdered an important man under him.
“Not exactly,” I mutter, watching the honesty cross his features. Nothing deceptive lives there, and my mind begs me to believe whatever he has to say.
“Your father was Corbin West…”
“Yeah, I know. What a deadbeat, too. He was never in my life. He may have been a billionaire, but I got fuck all. He left me with a drugged-out woman who could barely afford to take care of me. Then he died. End of story. He’s not important.” I shake my head at the thought of my selfish father never showing up to take me away from this shitty life or stepping up to help us financially make it.
“Journey, love,” he murmurs, leaning down so his forehead rests against mine and his hand finally moves from my throat, soothing my hair. “Your father may have been a deadbeat when he was alive. But after his death, he left you twenty million dollars.”
Hold the phone. Did he just say what I think he said? There’s no fucking way that my father left me anything. I didn’t even know him. Hell, I never met the guy. All I knew was his picture when my mom told me who he was. It was of her, him, and me as a baby in the hospital. Apparently, he hung around long enough to name me, but that was it. No money to help us out when we were in a tight spot. No dropping by to see how I was. My mom worked her ass off when I was younger.
“I’m sorry, you said twenty-m-m-mill-million?” I stammer through my words as my mind races a million miles a minute. “And what? Me? No way! Why…”
My face drops when I think about the year I learned my father had died. I was fifteen and saw his face on the news, featuring his twin sons, Seger and Zeppelin, in a few photographs, alongside another brother, who was way younger than them.
“That’s your dad?” Sunny asks, snuggling into my side as I lie on her bed with her, holding up my phone so we both can see.
“Yup.” I shake my head, swiping through the news article about him.
“Wow. You have brothers, too?” she asks with wide eyes, pointing to the twins as they hold a press conference, confirming the death of their father.
But I can’t bear to watch the footage without my heart breaking and jealousy consuming me. They got to live the good life in his massive mansion while going to some fancy prep school on the other side of town, rubbing shoulders with models, actors, and anyone else in the one-percent. While I’m here, fighting for my sister’s life. Or attempting to. She has a doctor's appointment tomorrow to hopefully get us some answers on why her health is failing so much right now. We know it’s her heart, but we don’t know the extent of what else is going on.
“I don’t need them, Sun,” I murmur, kissing the top of her hair.
She snorts. “Right. You just need me, huh?”
“Mhmm. Who needs rich older brothers who got to live it up with my dad?” I roll my eyes, slamming my phone down.
“No. That can’t be…” I shake my head as best I can, but Jericho clings to me, forcefully spreading my bare legs and settling his pelvis against mine. “There’s no way,” I gasp out, shock overtaking me.
