Page 64 of Queen of Anarchy (Dirty Broken Savages 2)

Even now that I have an explanation, there are so many questions I want to ask. My mind reels with the heaviness of it. My sister alive. Her being married to Julian. Relief and horror and anger war inside me, spiraling out of control like a storm. I don’t know which one to settle on, they’re all such strong emotions.

Before I can pick a way to feel or ask any of the million questions in my head, the basement door opens again, and this time it is Julian who comes down.

His footsteps are heavy on the stairs, and he walks into the room with a patronizing glare. The smug look is gone, and he looks at Hannah—at his wife—like she’s no more than an annoyance to him.

It makes me want to back hand him across the face, but chained to the wall and still in pretty deep shit, there’s not much I can do.

“You’re not supposed to be down here,” he says to Hannah, eyes flicking over her.

His tone is even, and he doesn’t make a move to hit her or even get too close, but Hannah seems to shrink away from him all the same.

“I just—” she starts to say, and then cuts herself off, wrapping her arms around herself in something like a hug.

“I don’t care,” Julian snaps. “You know better. She’s my problem to deal with, and it doesn’t concern you.”

Every word seems to make her shrink even more, until she’s practically cowering away from him. Seeing her like this, cowed and docile, makes my heart hurt. I remember when she was bright and vibrant, when there was nothing better than the sound of her laughter, or watching her climb a tree just because she could.

She was never as reckless as I was—and am—but she wasn’t afraid. She wasn’t meek.

Whatever Julian has put her through, whatever Lorenzo did to her when I thought she was dead, it’s turned Hannah into someone I barely recognize.

“What are you going to do to her?” Hannah asks. Her eyes dart to me and then away, back to Julian.

He smiles at her, but there’s no warmth in it. It’s just a cold, dead smile, like she’s a stupid kid or something. “It’ll be okay,” he says. “I know she’s your sister. I recognized the resemblance between you when she came to see me with the Kings of Chaos.”

Fuck.

I could kick myself for going to his fucking fight ring with them, even though there was no way for me to have known that he would piece it together. Until today, I had no idea that Julian even knew who Hannah and I were.

“I would’ve been happy to leave her alone,” he says, putting on a look of remorse that I don’t buy for a fucking second. “But then she insisted on following me. So I had to do something. She’s too nosy for her own good, your sister.”

Hannah looks at me again, and there’s almost a hint of the look she used to give me when we were younger and she’d find me doing something dumb. Starting fights with people bigger than me, getting into scrapes, the kind of things I should’ve known better than to do.

It aches to see it, and I want nothing more than to wring Julian’s fucking neck and drag Hannah away from here. The guys would welcome her, probably, if I asked them to. They’d keep her safe.

Hannah would like Dog, and she’d be away from all this shit.

But it’s nothing more than a fucking fantasy, since I’m chained to the wall and Julian is between me and the exit.

“You won’t hurt her?” Hannah asks, straightening up a bit to look her husband in the eye.

Julian frowns, seeming annoyed by the question. “Of course I won’t hurt her. I’m just going to make sure she knows that following people is rude and unwise. We’ll have a chat about it, and she’ll be fine. Come back upstairs with me now. I’ll deal with her later.”

He puts a hand on her shoulder, and Hannah doesn’t flinch away. She doesn’t lean into him either, just stands there, looking like a fucking statue.

I can read the hesitation in her posture, see her resisting his order. Fear washes through me in a cold rush. I don’t know as much about Julian as I knew about his father, but I know him well enough to guess that it won’t go well for Hannah if she tries to protect me in this moment. If she insists on staying down here or refuses to go with Julian, I don’t know what he’ll do to her.

I can’t let her get hurt on my account.

“It’s alright, Hannah,” I say, speaking quickly. “You can go. Please.”

I don’t bother to hide the desperation in my voice on that last word, allowing some of it to seep through in my tone. Hannah’s gaze flicks between me and Julian, worry filling her familiar blue eyes.

I’m not sure if she believes his promise or not. Honestly, I’m not sureIbelieve it. I wouldn’t put it past him to kill anyone he needs to in the name of “business,” but I can’t tell if he considers me someone who falls into that category. I can’t tell if his word means anything, especially considering the dismissive way he treats Hannah.

“It’ll be okay,” I add, as if saying the words enough times will make them true.

She chews her lip, hesitating long enough that I can feel Julian start to get impatient. His fingers twitch lightly, and my stomach sours, bile rising up my throat. If he hits Hannah right now, while I’m chained to the wall and unable to help her, I don’t know what I’ll do.

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