Page 24 of Fatal Vengeance

I’ll miss my mom every day of my life, but I won’t stop living because she’s not around.

Griffin rubs my arm soothingly and Genevieve gives me a sad smile. She pushes a hand through her hair, muttering, “Okay, that’s good. I’m really not good at this sister thing yet, so I don’t know if I would have been able to bring you back from the brink, but fuck, I’d have tried.” She finishes with a breathy laugh and then looks up at Griffin. “Thank you for being there for her. You’re my favorite. The other two are a bit on the ruthlessly dangerous and psycho side for me to trust them just yet.”

Much to my surprise, Griffin barks out a laugh, hugging me even closer to his side. “I’m hoping to be Prudence’s favorite too, but don’t tell Creed and Ash. They’ll probably team up and gut me in my sleep.”

I roll my eyes with a laugh, because no, they would not. Asher is in love with Griffin and Creed would never hurt me by taking Griffin out of my life. But it’s nice to see the easy joking between one of my guys and my sister. It makes me think that maybe this isn’t all that weird and one day we can have a totally normal family dynamic. Raise our kids together, vacation together, and bicker over dumb shit like sisters do.

I’d really like that.

“What’s the third thing?” I ask, trying to steer this conversation back on track so I can hurry up and grab a giant cup of coffee. I’ll need it if Asher is in one of his moods out there. Even with this supposed truce and that heated kiss neither of us has talked about, I'm expecting carnage. Asshole Asher is never going away, whether we get along long term or not.

Genevieve’s face falls right along with my stomach. I steel myself for bad news, but there’s nothing that can prepare me for the words that tumble from her lips.

“Um, okay. Don’t freak out. I have security cameras, so I know there's nobody here now, but,” she begins, her voice a false calm that grates on me. She looks from me to Griffin and back, and then blurts, “There was a… gift left at the door for you.”

I could pass out. If it weren’t for Griffin’s firm grip on me, I just might have.

“You really should have led with that,” I croak while my face drains of all color and my hands begin to shake.

They got too close. We could all be dead right now… And yet we’re not.

So what new sick game are The Celestials playing now?

17

Asher

I never truly understood the way Creed explained his ‘colorless void’ when he’d slip into rage. Not until today. It’s not quite the same for me, though. There aren’t shades of gray. No white. It’s a complete fucking blackout.

It’s bad enough that my skin has been crawling and itchy since bringing Prudence home from Serene Acres yesterday. She was so shattered on the floor of her mom’s old room, and it took everything in me not to start slaughtering the staff there. They all failed Irene, and in turn, they failed Prudence. Somehow, The Celestials got in there and killed an innocent woman and then made it look like a suicide, and that alone is enough to have me in a piss poor fucking mood.

But add on the fact that I found the package at the door addressed to my pet, knowing in my gut that it was from The Celestials? Oh, and let’s not forget the truly sinful sounds Prudence was making from the bedroom with Griffin and Creed while I was already in a full-blown panic and trying not to rip her from their arms just so I had eyes on her…

It’s not been a good fucking day and I might just level this cabin to the ground in my rage.

So far, I’ve managed not to actually break anything, much to Genevieve's satisfaction, but my control is slipping and my palms are bleeding from my nails digging into them repeatedly.

When Creed comes striding out of the guest bedroom, a smug grin on his face, I shove to my feet from the dining table and snap, “Pack your shit. I’m getting Prudence in the car. If you and Griffin aren’t ready in five fucking minutes, I’m leaving both of you here.”

His brows furrow, worry and confusion lighting his eyes, and he stops walking a few feet from me. He looks back down the hallway, probably itching to get to Prudence from the worrisome tone of my voice. “Genevieve said you were pissy about, um, the orgy in there that I swear did not happen,” he muses slowly, a little teasingly, as he looks back at me. “You’re really that put out that you weren’t invited in, man? You could have just knocked. I don’t give a fuck about sharing.”

I roll my damn eyes so hard I might have a stroke. With a sneer, I point down at the box on the table that I haven’t dared to open yet. “Fuck your orgies. This is serious. Prudence had something hand delivered sometime in the middle of the night, and we both know who it’s from, so we need to get back on the road and run again.” I start to pace, a hand fisting my hair because the bite of pain is helping me keep my head. “God-fucking-dammit, I thought this recluse cabin was safe enough, but now I’m thinking we need to go to fucking Canada to get away,” I mutter angrily, more to myself than to Creed.

If I didn’t feel… what I do for Prudence, I swear to god, I’d just ditch her and let my father and the rest of those sick fucks have their fun. I could manage the guilt if it meant I wasn’t living life on the run for the rest of my days. But since I’m apparently not as much of a cold-hearted asshole as I thought and I’ve gone soft for the feisty redhead down the hall, I can’t bear the thought of leaving her behind. Even if she weren’t in life-threatening danger all the goddamn time, I couldn’t leave her. In fact, I’m going to win her over and prove that I’m a better man than the bullying fuck she saw me as, but I don’t really have the time to even worry about that now that a new threat has quite literally dropped at our door.

Without a word, Creed’s face shuts down, turning into a mask of rage that matches my own, and then he stalks forward and reaches for the box.

I’m not proud of myself, but I smack his hand away like I’m scolding a child. It reminds me of the playful fighting we used to have when we were kids, where Creed was always getting himself into shit and I had to play the big bad cousin who scolded him, even when I was in on his schemes half the time. Honestly, I would have laughed at the two of us and the memories flooding me right now if this were any other situation.

Creed rips his hand back into his chest, shooting a scowl at me, and snaps, “The fuck is wrong with you?”

I breathe out a laugh that is all too hysterical and twisted, gesturing to that damn box. “For all we know, it could be a fucking bomb, Creed. Or fuck, body parts! So don’t touch the thing. Grab your shit, grab Prudence and Griffin. Hell, grab Genevieve too. Toss her over your shoulder if you have to, I don’t really fucking care, but we are leaving right now.”

“If it’s a bomb, don’t you think we should know about it?” he asks quietly, cautiously, eyeing the cardboard box with the appropriate amount of fear now. Thank fuck.

“No,” I mutter, pinching the bridge of my nose to rid myself of the headache I can feel coming on. “I don’t want to know how close we all came to dying, if it is. And I don’t want to freak Prudence out any more than necessary, so don’t tell her about this. I just want to get on the road.”

Creed’s brows creep up as he gives me an incredulous look. He leans a hand on the table, so fucking close to the damned box that I almost snap at him to back up. “I’m not keeping a single thing from her. She’s in this fight right along with us, and she has every right to know about the moves being made against her. And you know what, Ash? Fuck you and your shitty fucking secrets. I know you and Griffin are keeping something big from us; I can read the guilt all over your face every time you look at Prudence. I’m done with secrets, man. You should be too.”

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