Page 50 of Shattered Empire (Shattered World)

“I always knew there was a mentally unstable psycho lurking just beneath that ridiculously naïve façade of yours.”

I snorted.

“If I’m a psycho,” I told her, “you made me so by murdering my husband. The one man who cared for me.”

“Oh please.” Her voice echoed around me, full of pity. No remorse to be heard. “Libby and I cared about you far longer than he has. We were always there for you.”

“You weren’t there for Libby, were you?” It was a low blow. Really low, but I was angry, and angry, rage-filled Ava didn’t make the best decisions. “Had her believing you were off at college this whole time. Where were you really, Kenzi? Learning to be Christian’s lapdog?”

“Shut your fucking mouth, Ava,” she hissed. “You don’t know anything about what I’ve been through.”

“And you turned a blind eye to everythingIwent through,” I shouted back. “Pretend all you want, Kenzi, but you always knew more than you were letting on.”

Silence greeted me. I doubted it was because I hit a nerve. More likely she was—

“I did.” I froze at the sound of her voice. Her hot breath on the back of my neck. “But do you honestly think I could have done anything? My father was a monster who didn’t need me and sent me away the first chance he got. But you? The whore’s daughter? You might not have been treated as precious, but he wanted you. He was obsessed with you.”

Snarling, I yanked on my gun, but it was too late. Kenzi had it in her hand and pointed at the back of my head before I could say “fuck you.”

“I’ve learned some tricks, big sis,” she mocked. “Don’t make me use them on you.”

I scoffed. “You’re not the only one with tricks.”

If she thought I was going to let her take me to Christian or kill me, she was about to get a reality check. As soon as I felt her body shift, I twisted out of the way of the gun. Kenzi hadn’t had a physical grip on me, and it was easy to duck out of the way of the barrel. I gripped the wrist holding my gun and twisted it over quickly. The move threw her off balance, and she dropped my gun onto the hay-covered floor.

Spinning around, I swept her legs out from under her. She landed hard on her back with a groan. With lightning-fast speed, she recovered, flipping back to her feet like a ninja. Where the fuck had she been? League of Assassins? Training with Oliver Queen?

Her gaze on me was askance. I smiled at her and winked. Kenzi hadn’t expected me to be able to go toe to toe with her.

Bitch didn’t know I’d leveled up.

“I don’t want to hurt you, Ava,” she cautioned as we circled one another. “There’s a lot that needs to be explained.”

“I’m not letting you take me back to my psychotic brother,” I hissed at her. “You’ll have to kill me first.” I paused and shrugged nonchalantly. “Or I’ll kill you.”

“Really?” she huffed. “You’d kill your own sister?”

“You stopped being my sister the moment you killed the man I love.” I growled and lunged at her. My arms wrapped around her waist in an attempt to tackle her. I was slightly bigger than her, but I could feel the muscles beneath my grip. She wasn’t the only one who had underestimated her opponent. Using my momentum against me, she wrapped her arms around my upper chest and rocked backward even faster as she let us fall to the ground.

Fuck.

Kenzi bucked her hips when we landed and sent me crashing over her head in a heap.

That hurt like a bitch.

Taking advantage of my momentary disorientation, she grabbed one of my arms and twisted it painfully behind my back, driving me facedown into the ground.

“I didn’t kill him.” Her words were a mere breath against my ear.

“Liar!” I roared, my head snapping back to catch her in the face. Kenzi yelped, loosening her hold on me. She rolled onto her back, clutching her nose for a second too long. Her moment of weakness was my time to strike. “You taunted me!” Getting to my feet, I landed a kick to her side. Kenzi grunted. The force of my strike sent her rolling onto her stomach. Another kick, but this time she was ready.

Reaching out, she snatched my ankle in her grip and pulled. The move sent me careening to the floor on my back. She was on me, straddling my waist as she delivered a blow to my left side.Ow. I hoped I still had a spleen after that shot.

“There’s more at work here than you know,” she wheezed through her broken, bloody nose. The droplets of blood dripped down her face onto my chest. “I’m not your enemy.”

I spat at her.

“You weren’t there!” I snapped, bucking my hips to dislodge her. It didn’t work. I needed to distract her again. “You blamed us for killing her, but you weren’t there.”

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