Page 33 of Rebellion of a Kingdom

No. No. Please. Not again.

The first thing I remember is that Zack is gone. He's dead. The grief slams into me all over again and suddenly I don't want to open my eyes anymore. I don't want to wake up and exist in a world that my brother no longer breathes in. But I have to. My brother may be gone, but my daughter isn't. She is still here somewhere, and I need to get to her.

I know the Donovan’s want me alive, want me as a fucking Donovan, but I know them too well. I know they don’t really care about my wellbeing or her’s. I know Greg is beyond help and his sick twisted mind knows no bounds. Wanting me as a wife is just another way, he thinks he can torture me again. I think of the soulless smile on his face as he fucked me, the bruising grip on my arm from his buddies and the stench of blood filling the room as I tried to block it all out. I was helpless then, didn’t have the power to fight back, the will, but I’m not the same girl I was back then.

I hear a door open, and I know it's time to fight again, I'm so tired, so weak, but that won't stop me. I can't let anything stop me. I have come too far, gotten so close. It's time.

I force myself to open my eyes and the unfamiliar room confuses me. It is not what I expected at all and that is when I register that whatever I am lying on is comfy and warm. Nothing like the last place I was in when I woke up from a drug induced haze. Guess I hold more value to the Donovan's now, no longer a whore for sale, but an heir producer. I want to laugh, but I don't have the energy.

I move to roll onto my side and am pleasantly surprised that my body obeys my mind's intent. That surprise ends when I lock eyes with the last person I was expecting.

"Ash?" I scrunch my eyes closed and then open them again to clear my blurry vision until it's back to normal, yet it doesn't change what I'm seeing.

"Yeah, Hells Bells, it's me." He smiles a relieved smile as he stalks towards me and drops to his knees at my bedside.

I'm so confused, "Where am I?"

He sighs, "We’re at a safe house."

His answer does nothing to ease my confusion. The last thing I remember was going to the Donovan estate, did I make it there? I’m almost sure I did. How did I go from there to wherever I am now?

"How? Why?" My words come out a little slurred as the effects of whatever's in my system continues to flow.

“We had to take some precautions so they could go get Cassie.”

I gasp, “What, who?" I’m in full on panic mode right now. Is he even serious?

“Everyone. Marcus, Jace, Lincoln, Logan. Max and his team. They've all gone to get her.” He delivers the words casually, but I can see the undertones of panic in his tense shoulders and clenched jaw.

I force myself up and my fear allows my rapid movements, even against my body's protests. "They can’t do it alone, they're gonna get themselves killed.”

He laughs, “Oh, kinda like you were, you mean?” I can tell from the bite of his words that he is angry with me, but I don't have time to deal with that right now.

“Greg doesn't want me dead!” I snap loudly and it hurts my head.

He doesn't back down, “He isn’t stable enough to know what he wants!" He yells back at me. It's the first time he has ever raised his voice towards me, but he is past caring, as he continues."He never has been. My brother is a fucking psychopath that would have relished in having you again and yet you were about to walk right back into his fucking hands.”

I feel the tears on my cheeks, but I ignore them as I force myself to stand up, "of course I would, he has our fucking daughter Ash!"

“You don’t think I know that? That I haven’t been suffering with that truth every fucking day!” He screams back, “I know more than anyone what my family is capable of.”

"Told you she'd be pissed." Another voice cuts into our argument and my legs almost give out when I hear it. It can't be.

I turn around and a shocked cry bursts out of me as I say his name in disbelief. "Zack?"

He smiles from the wheelchair, "Miss me, Sis?"

My legs move before I can even tell them to, like my body has taken over everything and I find myself in front of him in a second as I launch myself at him. He grunts as I throw my arms around him and sob into his chest.

When I remember his injuries and register his grunt I try to pull back, "Oh my God. I'm sorry."

He hugs me tighter to him, "Don't be, the pain of your hug is a very welcome one indeed, sweetheart."

The word sweetheart molds around the shattered pieces of my heart like it could piece them back together in one swoop. A word I never thought I would hear again from a voice I never thought I would hear again. My lungs burn as my heart races faster than I have ever felt, I think I could go into shock, but Zack begins to rub his hand up and down my back, like he knows I need the comfort. He’s here, my brother is here.

I don't know how long we stay in each other's embrace, but I do know it could never be too long. Not when I know what it feels like to think I had lost him for good. I don't want to ever know that feeling again for as long as I live.

I pull back and look him over, checking every inch of him like I can't believe he is really here. When my disbelief still doesn't subside, I choke out one word, "How?"

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