Page 77 of Wicked Riddles & Bitter Heartbeats

“Everything is clean upstairs?”

James nods. “Yeah, we’re good.”

“Great.”

We’ve taken it upon ourselves to handle the trafficking situation in Paris. Though we’ll never entirely rid it of the problem, we’re handling a good chunk of it. We have the girls to lure the men out, who lead us back to their “safe” houses. We infiltrate and kill. We make the news, but no one seems to care. And not only are we ridding the world of these scum, we’re saving people, which is also kind of cool.

I’ve lost count of the number of women we’ve freed already, but I’d be lying if I said I cared. Yes, it’s cool, but it’s not why I’m doing this. I’m too selfish to put myself in this situation for other people. I’m doing it for me, because even though I can say I’m happy, I’m still a killer at heart. That’s never going to change.

“Oh, that guy got back to me. About our father?” James says as we make our way out of the room and toward the back door. The girls are already over there waiting.

“And?”

“Nothing.”

I huff out a laugh. “Maybe we really are the devil’s children.”

James barks out a laugh. “Yeah, maybe.”

Finding our father isn’t as important as it was last year. Yes, I’d like to know, but I’m fine not knowing. The information I have is good enough. It’s settled a lot of things in me. Besides, I don’t think finding him is going to do us any good. He can’t do anything for us, and there aren’t any questions he’d be able toanswer. He was never around. Though, I guess it’s possible he could tell me why I was given up, because I still don’t have a solid answer to that.

James has a theory though. It’s plausible.

Our mother got pregnant from our father and knew she wouldn’t keep it from the beginning. She didn’t know she was pregnant with twins. I came out, she got rid of me. When he came out, she thought it was a sign. James said she talked about signs a lot, though that could have been the drugs talking.

It’s possible I’ll never have an answer to that question, but like the shit with our father, I don’t think it matters anymore. I’ve made peace with a lot of shit in my life.

When we make it back home to our quiet town of Rambouillet, we pull into the driveway and go our separate ways. I was lucky to find this piece of land that already had two houses built on it. One is much bigger, and so that’s where James and Violet live—just not together.

Lilah said she wanted a small, intimate place to live, and so we took the smaller house toward the back. We’ve done a lot of updates to it, decorated it the way she wants, and it has a very homey feel to it. It’s comfortable. Much better than the house I was living in before, and a million times better than all the foster homes I lived in. They tried so hard to make their houses feel like home, but it was all fake.

This is real.

James and Violet don’t live together, exactly. They’ve split the house into two and have their own space. Though, I think it’s only a matter of time before they’re fucking and then living with each other.

When we step inside, Lilah takes my hand and leads me to the bathroom in the far back of the house. It wasn’t here when we first moved in, but she insisted it get built to look just like the one we had. It overlooks our backyard, which isn’t as big asthe one at home, but it’s even more beautiful. The tub is bigger, which gives us more room to mess around in. Plus, we put a drain on the floor around the tub to help with all the water sloshing out since Lilah likes to fill it up to the very top.

I get the bath going while she gets undressed. It takes forever to fill up, and so while we wait, I fuck her again.

“Fuck, Atticus,” Lilah groans, wrapping her legs around my hips. “Your cock feels so good.”

I pull her closer to the edge of the countertop, needing to go deeper. Her hands go around my neck, nails digging in as I slam into her.

“You feel so fucking good, Kitten.”

I kiss along her neck and shoulder, sucking on her skin and leaving marks. I still never tire of seeing them there.

“I want you to come,” she whispers in my ear. “Come for me, Atty.”

With a growl, I fuck her harder and give into the pleasure instead of holding it off. I grunt out my release, cum spilling out of her and landing on the floor. I drop to my knees and clean up my mess while making her come. Her body shakes and trembles, and she nearly falls off the counter where she’s sitting. By the time we’re done, the tub is nearly full, so I lift her up and set her in the water before climbing in after her.

She hums happily, getting comfortable between my legs. We sit in the quiet, staring out the window at the darkness that lies beyond. The darkness that has somehow become a comfort to me and no longer an enemy. I’ve won this battle, and I have my kitten to thank for it.

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