Page 29 of Twisted Empire

I kissed the top of her head. “It’s okay,” I replied. “I was just worried. Waking up without you like that felt like my worst nightmare come true. All this shit… it’s making me fucking crazy.”

“I know,” she said, snuggling further into my arms. “Me too. I can’t wait until it’s all over, and it’s just us. No more hiding. No more worry.”

“I promise we’ll get there somehow. Until then, I’m gonna keep you safe. You know that.”

“Yes. Thank you,” she murmured, another blush coloring her cheeks.

I tipped her chin back, planting a gentle kiss on her lips. “I swear to fucking god, Tatum, I won’t let anything happen to you. I’ll never let anyone hurt you again.”

She smiled. “I know.”

Her eyelids fluttered a moment later, and I let her put her head back on the pillow. “You should try to get some more sleep,” I said. “You look exhausted.”

“I am.” She yawned. “I slept for ages last night, but I’m still so tired.”

“You’ve been through a lot.”

“So have you.” She tugged at my shirt. “You should get some more rest too.”

She was right, but I couldn’t do it; couldn’t close my eyes again until I knew she was truly safe. Instead I sat up and watched her doze, stroking her soft skin as her chest rose and fell in deep breaths.

She mumbled something unintelligible a moment later, moving one hand to rest on her stomach.

“You okay?” I asked before realizing she was only sleep-talking.

I sighed and looked out the back window of the van. We were surrounded by a thick ring of trees and bushes, and we were right in the middle of nowhere, but it still wasn’t secure enough for my liking. I needed to get Tatum somewhere where she could feel totally free and protected. Somewhere no one could touch her. She deserved better than a fucking mattress and a few boxes in an old van, especially while she was pregnant.

I just wished I could fucking think. I’d only had two days to plan out her escape and get all the necessary gear, and that hadn’t left me with any time to decide what to do afterwards. I had no idea where to go. No idea what to do. Every time I thought of something new, I immediately realized all the problems that could arise from that idea, all the reasons it could be dangerous. It felt like a deep black well was suspended somewhere beneath me, waiting for me to slip and fall in.

I was used to throwing money at situations in order to fix them, but I was playing in a totally different league now. I was a fugitive, along with my girl, and I couldn’t use my name or my family’s influence for anything. I had to do the complete opposite and avoid everyone and everything I once knew, or else the society would find and destroy us.

The thought of losing Tatum to them made my guts churn all over again.

I turned back to look at her, my gaze falling to the small hand resting on her lower abdomen. I wondered if it was just a totally random movement, or if she’d moved her hand there instinctively in a protective gesture. We hadn’t had a chance to properly discuss the baby yet, so I still wasn’t sure how she felt about it. I knew she was freaked out, but that was as far as it went.

I put one hand on top of hers, resting it on her stomach as a cold feeling of guilt and regret swept through me. I felt fucking terrible for putting her in this position. Six months ago, she was a promising student at a top college with a bright future ahead, but all of that had been cruelly stripped from her because of me, and now she was pregnant before she even had a chance to turn twenty. Surely that wasn’t what she envisioned for herself when she used to dream about her life and all the possibilities it might hold.

Even if I saved her, I still did all those horrible things to her in the first place, and I couldn’t take that back. I let my father buy her from her parents because I wanted her. I let Crown and Dagger take her and imprison her, all for me, and I put that baby in her at the Lodge when she was still a captive slave.

My fault.

I gritted my teeth. Christ, how could I ever think that anything about the society was normal? How could I be so blind to believe the women at the School and Lodge were anything but terrified captives?

I knew people tended to see exactly what they wanted to see, but still, I should’ve known something was wrong. It seemed clear to me now that the vast majority of women would never sign away all their rights to a group of sadistic bastards like the society, even for one year and all the money they could dream of, and yet for so long I thought it sounded totally reasonable and legitimate. I was a bona fide idiot.

I suppose I was raised to believe it was all normal, though. My father first took me to the Lodge when I was only thirteen or fourteen, to show me what lay in store for me if I chose to follow in his footsteps. Back then, I worshipped the ground he walked on and blindly trusted everything he said, so when he told me his version of reality—that the girls at the palatial mansion were all willing escorts—I had no reason to question it. It seemed like every man’s dream come true: beautiful women everywhere, all desperate to serve, happy to fulfil every single fantasy.

It was literally too good to be true.

Fortunately, my eyes were now wide open, and I wouldn’t let history repeat itself. If Tatum wanted to have this baby, and it turned out to be a boy, I would make sure he wasn’t raised like me. I would teach him to respect women like they fucking deserved, and while he might want to play the field when he was young, I would make sure he kept his heart open for when he met his very own dream girl. I wouldn’t let him close himself off out of hatred like I once did. I wouldn’t let him dream of torturing and enslaving a woman like I used to do so often.

Tatum stirred again, and I leaned down to kiss her forehead. Even in her sleep, she looked nervous. Hunted. Edgy. I couldn’t stand it.

I wouldn’t.

One way or another, I would find a way to take down my father’s twisted empire, along with all of Crown and Dagger. They were nothing but tapeworms in the guts of the world, and I would strip away everything they had, burn it all to the fucking ground, bury them under dark piles of rubble until they were too crushed and broken to surface ever again. Then I would make my own empire with Tatum by my side. My lover, my confidant, my equal. My queen.

And just like that, the penny dropped.

I knew exactly who we could turn to for help.

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