Page 5 of Revenge of a Queen

“She wasn’t a good sleeper when she was born and the only thing that would settle her, is if I told her stories,” she shrugs. “I didn’t really have anything to say that wasn’t about us.”

“Us?” I cut her off with a mocking laugh, “What fucking us is that Elle?” I snap at her throwing my arms out as my rage continues to take over.

“Marcus,” Asher growls.

“Don’t even fucking start with me, Donovan, you fucking backstabbing piece of shit!”

“River, please,” Elle pleads.

“I bet you just fucking laughed at me, didn’t you? I trusted you both, and you paid me back by sneaking around behind my back and lying.”

“Brother,” Lincoln's voice pleads with me, “remember what I said, remember who the real enemy is.”

I laugh, “Oh I remember, brother,” I spit back at him. “You told me to trust her, to be there for her. All the while you were in on all her secrets. Guess it’s a day full of betrayals, huh?”

“You need to tell him, Elle,” Lincoln says pleading with her, but her eyes remain on me.

“Tell me what, Linc? About who I can and cannot trust, think I can work that out for myself.” I am so furious I can’t even think straight, I need to get out of here and away from all these liars.

“Marcus,” Elle tries again but I cut her off ignoring the desperate and pleading look on her face.

“No, the one thing I know about this town is that you can’t trust a Donovan, and from the looks of things, this house is full of them,” I bite back at her and her face immediately changes. She no longer looks desperate or pleading. No, her face changes entirely, completely shutting off her emotions to me.

“You were right,” I continue, “I should have stayed away from you and trust me from now on I’ll listen,” with that I turn and leave the room without looking back.

I should have taken her up on every one of her warnings, she told me time and time again she didn’t come back for me, that we couldn’t be together. I was just a fucking blind asshole unwilling to listen. Well, message received, little traitor. Loud and fucking clear.

Chapter 2

ELLE

For the second time in this shitty town, my life has been blown up. The first, I never saw coming, the second, I have been trying to avoid since the minute I got here. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. What the hell do I do now? Should I have told Marcus the truth? No, that would have been stupid. No, not stupid, suicidal. The boy who stole my heart when I was five is now a man whose job it is to protect people from the Donovan’s. How would he feel if he knew the only person left, he cared about had already been ruined by them? They already took Michael from him, it’s better he thinks I chose them over him, rather than that they took me too. I might not be dead like his father, but they killed something inside of me that night. The only reason my heart continues to beat is because I got something even bigger from them in return, my daughter.

I watch him walk away and force myself to be a shell, burying the pain until I feel nothing. An empty void of no emotions. I have done it before, and I can do it again. It’s as easy as breathing for me. The room is deathly silent, and I can hear Cassie's voice filtering in from the dining room, as she happily chats away while eating her lunch. The innocence of children always astounds me, she has no idea the carnage that has just been left in her wake.

“Does someone wanna enlighten me to what the fuck just happened?” Jace's voice breaks the cold tension of the room, and I have to huff out a laugh because if not, I might just break down. Another innocent soul tangled up in this mess. I won’t bring him into this, I don’t know why Lincoln brought him here, they must have been together when I called, and he rushed over here without thinking. That's the only explanation I can think of.

I glance at Jace and swing my gaze between him and Lincoln who is staring at me tight lipped. I can tell by the look in his eyes that he isn’t happy with me. He has always wanted Marcus to know about Cassie and now he does, he thinks I should have told him everything. Maybe I should have, but Marcus pretty much said it himself, he sees me as a Donovan, he was never going to listen to what I had to say.

I remain just as tight-lipped as Lincoln because the last thing I need is another Rebel in on one of my secrets, while their leader is left out in the dark. I look to Asher who is staring at me, when he realizes I am not going to say anything, he does it for me.

“It doesn’t concern you,” he snaps as he swings his gaze round to him.

“Oh sorry, Daddy, are you in charge now?” Jace growls back at him, sarcastically, but it's far from his usually playful tone, he’s pissed off at me too. Well join the fucking club, pretty boy.

“Careful now, Conrad,” Asher responds. I can tell from his flat, smooth tone that he has gone to his dark place, and things are about to go south fast if I don't step in.

I jump to my feet, “Look, pretty boy, I’m sorry Lincoln dragged you here,” I say looking pointedly at him before turning back to Jace, “but this doesn’t concern you. It can’t concern you, but I need to know what you saw here today, won’t leave this room.”

His serious glare at me shatters. I can tell straight away that I’ve hurt his feelings. He stands abruptly shaking his head, “I really thought you knew me better than that, princess.” He turns to leave, smoothing is long hair behind his ears, when I call out to him.

“Jace,” I say a little desperately, but come up short trying to find more words for him.

He stops without looking back, “Your secrets are safe with me, princess. I never rat on my family,” his tone almost makes me break. I want to tell him, I want to pour out my secrets until he drowns in them, but Marcus needs him more than I do. He is the only one who didn’t betray him in his eyes. We all watch him leave, and then I sit back on the sofa and take a deep breath.

“What the fuck happened, baby girl?” Asher says, taking my hand in his, like he can sense I need the comfort, even though I can tell from his voice he hasn’t left the dark place. He sees this as a new threat to Cassie. It will be a miracle if I can pull him back from this ledge. He is always doing everything in his power to keep Cassie hidden and out of his family's hands. Now that two more people know of her existence, he is going to be worse than ever, especially when those two people are South Side Rebels.

I blow out another breath before I try to explain how this happened, where do I even start? “He was here when I got home, or he followed me,” I shrug. “I’m not totally sure. All I know is I went to get lunch for everyone with Zack, and when we got back and started unloading the car Marcus appeared.” I scrub my eyes over my face, “He thought Zack,” I pause and my nose scrunches in disgust at just thinking about what Marcus thought, “He thought that Z and I were together.”

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