Page 37 of Pray for the Damned

“Only one of us was listening, though.” I shrug. “I don’t know why Dad ever sent us considering the future he had set up for us.”

“It’s what Mom wanted,” he says quietly as he turns away from me.

He’s right, of course. Our mother was a devoted Catholic, which still blows my mind considering she ended up married to the literal devil. Her dying wish was that Emmett and I would know religion, but only one of us took it seriously.

“You didn’t answer my question,” I point out.

“Yes, murder is against the commandments.” He cuts me a look. “But God is forgiving. I’ve repented for my sins over and over again, and I have faith that I’ll be given access to the Holy City when the time comes.”

I roll my eyes. He sounds like he’s fucking brainwashed.

“Just because you don’t believe doesn’t mean it’s not real, Kade.”

“And just because you do, doesn’t make it real either.” I flick my eyes around the quiet street. I fucking hate that she lives in this part of the city. The number of times a tweaker has almost stolen my bike in the last eighteen months since I started spending a significant amount of time here is wild even to me, and I’m a career criminal.

“What do you want?” he finally asks.

“I want to know what your plans are for our girl.”

“She’s notourgirl,” he snaps.

“She is from where I’m sitting.”

“For her to be our girl, she would need to know that you exist. Which she doesn’t.”

“We can change that.”

His body tenses, and he turns to face me, anger rolling off him in waves. “Why are you doing this? Is it because I want her? Is this some kind of fucking sibling rivalry to you? Because Waverly is important to me, and I won’t have you fucking with her because you want to fuck me over.”

“Good to know finding religion hasn’t made your ego any smaller.”

“Kade,” he warns.

I sigh and turn, matching his position as I take him in. I’ll admit, after so many years of having nothing to do with one another, it’s kinda weird staring at another version of myself like this. But I’m not too big of a man to admit I miss my brother. There was a short window in our childhood where having a twin wasn’t a constant competition, where our father wasn’t training us to kill people, where we just got to be best friends.

“It may have started that way, but that’s not how it is anymore. I was intrigued by the woman you were obsessed with, but I quickly understood why you were so enamored by her, which is why I never told Dad I saw you that night helping her over the fence. I could have gone after her and handed her over.”

“But you didn’t,” he says quietly.

“No, I didn’t. By that point our relationship was in tatters, and I didn’t think there was any way of coming back from it. But I knew for a fact that if I did that, if I outed you and handed her over to God knows what fate, there would be no hope for us.”

Emmett considers me for long seconds, his face a blank mask that gives nothing away. “How long have you been following her?”

“A long time,” I admit. “At first it was to keep an eye on you, make sure you weren’t doing anything stupid or anything that would get back to Dad. But after a while, I couldn’t keep my distance from her either.”

“How did I never see you?” He murmurs the question to himself.

“I was careful,” I admit. “I had trackers on you so I knew when you were around and when you weren’t, and those were the times I took my chance to watch from the shadows the way you did.”

He nods slowly, and I hold my breath as I wait for him to tell me to back down. To leave Waverly alone and let the two of them ride off into the sunset, but it doesn’t come. “Tell me about Dad.”

“His team has grown since you left, and he’s expanding throughout the US and into Mexico and Canada if the price is right.”

“What about the Savage brothers? They can’t be happy he’s cutting into their market.”

“I don’t think they are, but they haven’t made a move yet. More than likely, they’re biding their time, but Dad’s men already outnumber them almost ten to one, so they may be running out of time.”

“What does he think you’re doing in New York?”

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