Page 30 of Tempted to Rebel

you let her die

you chose to save him

a DEVIL over your own mother

now its your turn

you cant save her

Our father was never what I’d callsane, but losing my step-mother was a tipping point that sent him careening off the side of a cliff. I nod toward Celia and finish giving the news. “He wants to kill you. He wants revenge.”

Celia’s mouth falls open. She looks at Rage, but he doesn’t console her or tell her that this is a joke. “I don’t even know him!”

Ruin scratches the scars on his neck and makes a garbled mix of sounds, ending on a whine that seems more canine than human. He tears at his clothes, ripping the turtleneck from his body and chucking it to the floor. Burn scars cover his torso from top to bottom, his flesh marred even further by deep scratches carved into his skin. Years have passed since the fire burned down our family home and scarred my brothers, but you wouldn’t know that by watching Ruin. It’s like he’s still breathing in the smoke, choking on the pain of his past. “He’s here,” Ruin whines, already scratching his chest and struggling to breathe.“It burns. Burns, burns, burns.” As Ruin turns in place to try and reach his back, I recognize the criss-crossing scars rippling across his shoulders from when our father lashed him for being a devil.

Our father may have thought Ruin was evil, but the true devil was inside himself.

Rebel latches onto our youngest brother and bands his arms around Ruin’s torso to keep him from hurting himself. “Easy, there,easy.It’s okay. You’re okay. Take a deep breath. There’s no smoke here, alright? Fresh, clean air. That’s it. Breathe.”

Celia watches the display with wide eyes, her gaze glued to Ruin’s body. “What—what happened?” she asks, her voice barely more than a whisper.

I close the distance between us, coming to a stop directly behind Rage. He’s blocking me from reaching Celia, but I’m fine with that—I don’t need to touch her when I can already feel her phantom caress in my dreams. I meet her gaze, and a thread of sorrow tightens between us. A part of her must understand, because there are tears in her eyes.

“Our father happened.”

“He tried to kill Ruin,” Rage swallows, “and ended up burning our mother alive instead.”

“And all of you,” Celia realizes, tracing a burn scar curving beneath the collar of Rage’s shirt. “That’s horrible.”

My lips curve into a bitter grin. “That’s our father. He’s a sick fucking bastard.”

Rage turns to face me, his eyes steely. “We’re going to kill him.”

It’s not a question—it’s a promise.

We’re going to kill our father before he can touch what’s ours ever again.

Chapter 11

Rage

Although we makeit back to the apartment without further incident, Ruin immediately locks himself in his bedroom. He won’t return until he’s blitzed out of his mind and keeping the flashbacks at bay. In the meantime, however, I make the executive decision to keep him and Celia together for the foreseeable future. If my dad is in town and going after Celia, he won’t miss the opportunity toalsotake out Ruin. He blames my brother for everything wrong in his life, which is complete and utter bullshit, but the man has problems.

We all do because of him.

Celia, on the other hand, doesn’t like my brilliant plan.

“I can’t stay here until you catch him!” She crosses her arms over her chest, Rebel’s hideous t-shirt riding up her stomach. “What the hell am I supposed to do,clean?” She makes a face like cleaning is the worst thing in the world. I find it therapeutic. “I have a job that I need to get back to, Rage. I have employees. I have a gala coming up!” Her voice ratchets higher with each responsibility she lists off. “I need to contact my clients and let them know that everything is still on track. They’ll think I’ve ghosted them and stolen their deposits. Ican’tlet you ruin my reputation.”

Here we go again with her precious reputation. My eye twitches at the mention of it. A person’s reputation shouldn’t dictate their entire life. “You shouldn’t care so much about your reputation,” I grumble, “because it’s not something you can control.”

“Like hell it is. I’ve worked hard on it, Rage. Foryears.” Her eyes narrow and she juts out her hip. “People actuallylikeme.” She glares up at me, all two hundred pounds of her glowing as brightly as the goddamn sun, and all I can think about is how fucking gorgeous she is when she’s like this—all fired up and ready to fight.

It makes me horny as hell.

My cock hardens within seconds, a swift reminder of how much Ineedto be inside of her. The thought of filling her up brings the afternoon’s events to the forefront of my mind, the doctor’s words echoing in my head.

A few days.

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