Page 42 of The Broken Queen
He was over me, while pushing me into Gio’s arms.
My eyes trailed over to the ceiling of my loft, seeing a few faded glowing stars still clinging to my ceiling. Gio had promised to always be my sky, my way back. He promised to always look for me, and yet I felt so abandoned.
I was so hurt by their actions. I couldn’t simply forgive Gio and act as though Kingston didn’t exist. I couldn’t love Gio and not still want Kingston. It was all connected to each other, and I hated that Adrian had left me to this fate. To them.
He’d delivered me back to the tragic beginning that I had so desperately tried to escape. My humiliating crush on two brothers who merely pacified my attention because they just had time to kill and didn’t mind keeping me as a secret. I wish I would have been wise enough to realize that’s all I would ever be to them.
A secret and then a regret.
I pulled a pillow into my chest and stared at the dark ceiling until my eyes burned. Eventually, light crept through a crack as my bedroom door opened and my dad gently peered inside.
“Dad?”
He rushed over to my bed and pulled me into his arms. “I’m so sorry, honey. I’m so fucking sorry.”
He rocked me as he sobbed into my hair, obviously processing the information he learned about how I had to kill my own flesh and blood.
I didn’t resent my mother. I never would. I had seen her silent battle over my training and all the things required of me my wholelife, and even that time she angrily confronted Scotty. She even risked her life to defy Scotty.
It was my father I struggled not to resent.
He was supposed to be my protector, and he’d placed me in the hands of my uncle, a murdering, backstabbing liar. I was shaped, formed, and molded by the same monster who created him. He should have known better, and yet he risked me anyway.
I was tired of being gambled upon. Merely a game of odds and how well I’d survive if I beat them. I refused to play any more games for him or Scotty. I was done.
I wanted to break, but as my father sobbed, I realized I’d done enough breaking.
Now I was angry.
Really fucking angry.
Chapter 16
Kingston
Someone was knocking on my makeshift door. It was made of barnwood and a flimsy piece of shit, to be honest. He could just push on it hard enough and come inside, but he was trying to be polite.
“Come in!” I called before returning to the duffle bag on my bed.
My brother walked in and scanned the spare space like usual. There was a twin-sized bed with a threadbare blanket, a small dresser, a rug, and a space heater. Gio decided to lean against the dresser, crossing his arms while he inspected all the things left on the bed.
“Where are you going?”
I gave him a quick glance before turning to grab my extra ammo.
“Not sure yet, maybe West.”
He turned with me while I grabbed an extra pair of boots I’d brought over from the house. “You’re leaving again?”
I wasn’t staying to watch him win over Presley, or the way the two of them would inevitably fall back in love. I was strong enough to let him have her, but I wasn’t strong enough to allow him to have her in front of me.
“Yeah. I’ll talk to Henry about taking over my place in El Peligro, don’t worry.”
Gio scoffed, “Kingston, I don’t fucking care about El Peligro. Why are you leaving?”
He wasn’t that dense, so I didn’t answer him. He would get there on his own eventually.
“This is about Presley?”
