Page 2 of Rebellion of a Kingdom

The blood in my veins turns to fucking ice, how the fuck did they find us? I waste no time storming through the house until I reach Elle’s room. I head straight for her closet and push inside, popping the back panel to reveal the panic room I had installed. I punch in the code and enter, ensuring to close the door behind me. I tuck Cassie into the bed and then dial Elle on my phone. No answer. Fuck. I won’t let them have her. I can’t.

I open the safe and pull out the first gun my hand finds. I check it’s loaded and take one last look at my niece sleeping softly. I don’t know where my guards are or how long it will be until Elle comes home, but I can’t just stay here. The Donovan’s have already taken enough.

I feel a crushing sense of worry as I leave the panic room and lock her in. My heart pounding in my chest as I move stealthily towards my office, but as I'm near I hear footsteps coming towards me. Bracing myself, I push up against the wall, gun raised and ready to fire. I almost shoot until I see the familiar face.

"Peter!” I lower my gun, “I almost fucking shot you." I take him in, checking for injuries, he seems fine, but he looks startled and nervous. He’s only been with us a few months and so far, there hasn’t been any threats, so I guess I understand his unease. This is his first security job.

"Sorry, sir. Spitfire?" he asks using Cassie's codename.

"Secured in the nest,” I confirm while looking around. “How many?"

"Six, sir." His face is set in a grimace. He knows we’re outnumbered, but I can’t concentrate on that right now.

I nod my head. "Let's go."

We don't have to move far before I hear them. I look back at Peter. From the employment file, I know we are close in age. Right now, though, his youth is more apparent than my own. His discomfort with the situation is obvious. I can’t trust him with my life if he’s distracted. I signal for him to stay hidden and gesture that I will go first. I trust my own shooting to catch a couple of them off guard at least and then he can jump in and help. He shifts slightly on his feet before nodding. I don’t have the luxury of time to wonder anymore about whether he can handle this. I leave him behind and enter the main living area and come face to face with the last man I ever wanted in my home. Greg Donovan.

I don't hesitate in raising my gun and shooting the guy closest to me, clocking him right between the eyes. The silencer muffles the shot and I swing the gun to the left slightly as soon as he drops, giving me a clear shot to the fucking rapist piece of shit. I squeeze the trigger, but at the same time I am tackled from behind and thrown to the ground. My shot goes low, missing Greg completely and I fight to use my legs and flip the guy off me, giving me the upper hand. My victory is short lived, as I am quickly overpowered by the two men who join the fray. I manage to knock the guns from their hands, but one of them produces a blade and doesn’t hesitate in plunging it into my thigh and twisting it.

The pain is unreal, but I can't focus on my injuries when panic takes over as Greg Donovan appears above me. His men have forced me to my knees and rendered me to his mercy. How the fuck did he know to come here? How long has he known about Cassie?

Blood pours from the wound in my thigh, and hopelessness takes over. Even if chicken shit Peter waltzes in with the aim of a trained assassin, he would be overtaken by the crowd in this room. My only comfort is knowing that Cassie is safe, and Elle has the Rebels with her.

"Ah here he is, the man of the house.” Greg smiles like he’s really enjoying himself. He doesn’t even sound sarcastic as he says it. He’s sitting in the middle of the sofa with one arm stretched out across the back and the other palming a Glock. There are three men behind me and another two behind Greg. All of them ignoring their dead friend laying a few feet from me.

“What a pleasure to finally meet you, Zack. I'm sure I don't have to introduce myself." He preens at me as his hand curls around his gun. I’ve never wanted to kill someone more.

I am staring at the man who raped and tortured my little sister and he already has me on my knees and bleeding. This is not how I was trained, not how I imagined ever meeting him. I always thought it would be me overpowering him. If we were one on one, he wouldn’t stand a chance. I breathe through the numbness I’m now feeling in my leg from the blood loss, and stare back at him defiantly.

That feeling is soon squashed when Peter finally enters the room. Except the nervous kid I left in hiding doesn't come in guns blazing. No, the traitorous fuck walks in with a sleeping Cassie in his arms. No. No. No. Please no. What the fuck is he doing?

I scramble to move as Greg clicks the safety off his gun and aims it at me using it to gesture to one his men behind me. They move immediately, one of them kicking me to the floor so I’m on my back. He presses his foot onto the wound in my thigh and I have to grit my teeth hard to keep from screaming out.

“Peter,” I grit through my teeth. “Why? We trusted you.” I can barely get my words out, the shock of what I am seeing causes them to catch in my throat. My pants are coming quick and fast as the realization of what is happening settles in.

“He’s just returning my daughter.” Greg smirks at his victory as Cassie is placed in his arms. The worst fucking sight I’ve ever seen. His lips curl around the words ‘my daughter’ and my insides twist in disgust.

“I had no choice,” Peter starts with a tremble. “They took my sister--” he doesn’t get to finish his sentence before Greg puts a bullet in the center of his head. Again, the shot is quieted by a silencer, but Cassie still begins to stir, and I tremble at the thought of her waking to this.

Greg isn’t phased in the slightest by the murder he just committed, just like I wasn’t when I took down one of his men. The only similarity between us, I’m sure. He curls the arm still holding the gun around Cassie.

“Where were we? Ah yes, the returning of my daughter.” He says the words so affectionately, but they still sound like poison coming from him. “It’s about time I welcomed her to the fold, I’ve already missed so much.”

“I’m going to fucking kill you,” I spit out as the foot on my leg is pressed down further. I relish the pain as it means I’m still alive, still able to fight. The desire I feel to inflict violence on every single one of them outweighs any other emotion I could ever feel.

“Hmm, I can finally see the family resemblance,” he muses as he stands. He turns to leave before flicking his wrist at the guard pinning me down. “Dispose of the bodies,” he gestures to Peter and his dead man. Then looks at me adding, “Make him bleed slowly. I want Elle to come home to a nice little present before I bring her to join us.”

The last thing I see is my niece being carried away from her home before the bullet pierces my chest and blackness descends.

Chapter 1

ELLE

There is chaos in blood. Chaos in my blood. Fear, pain, regret, despair, death…. Blood. There is just so much fucking blood. It pours through my fingers as I desperately try to keep pressure on his wounds. He’s been shot. My brother and my savior has been shot. In our home. In our safe place. Right under our fucking noses.

There’s so much blood that it’s soaked through his once crisp white shirt, forcing it to cling to his skin. I can feel it pumping out against my hand as it spills its way out of his body, attempting to draw the life from him. It doesn’t matter how hard I apply pressure; the blood still continues to pour.

Fuck this is bad, so fucking bad. I hear Z’s voice in my head. Remember your training Elle. Panic is what will get you killed. How can I feel anything other than panic right now? My brother is bleeding out in my arms and my daughter is gone.

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