Page 41 of Rebellion of a Kingdom

“What do you think is going to happen now?” Greg shot him, or one of his lackies did, wanted him dead, yet here he is, alive and well.

He looks at me, like he is gauging my reaction to whatever he is about to say, “I think this is far from over. I think that Greg will stop at nothing to have her.” We both know the her he is talking about isn’t Cassie. “I think he’s a fucking psychopath that needs to be executed.”

I laugh, I don’t know why, I just can’t help it and then he laughs too. “I never thought I’d have things in common with a girl's older brother.” I say and he laughs harder, wincing again in pain.

“Fuck, I needed that,” he adds when he finally stops. I smile again because I know exactly what he means. He moves to leave but stops first to add, “don’t stay up too late, the girls will have us up at the crack of dawn.” He says with a smile of his own and I nod as he leaves.

I finish up moving the presents one more time until I am happy with them, then take a drink of the milk and bite of cookie that Cassie left out for Santa before heading to bed. On my way back to the room I see someone pass in my peripheral heading down the hall towards the door. Instinct has me following before I can even think about it and when I round the corner, I find Asher reaching out to grip the handle on the front door.

“Going somewhere?” I ask and he startles slightly before sighing and turning round.

He’s dressed head to toe in black with a Glock secured at his waist and bag in his hand. I raise my eyebrows at him, and he scowls.

“I just have a couple of things to take care of.” He says hesitantly and I can tell he’s on edge. More so than usual.

“What and those things need doing on Christmas Eve night when everyone is sleeping?” I want to make sure he knows how stupid that sounds.

He snaps, “Yes, they do,” he moves to leave again before pausing and looking at me, “Do you wanna come with me?”

That is literally the last thing I expected him to say, but I take in his stance and attire again. The all black and the gun, the tense set of his jaw and his hunched together shoulders. Wherever he is going is somewhere dangerous. I give him a sharp nod, turning to run to my room, grabbing shoes, my jacket, and then a gun of my own, before heading back out to him. I follow him silently to one of the cars parked outside. We climb inside and drive away from the house. From our family.

We’ve been driving in silence for about twenty minutes, when I finally crack, “where the hell are we going?”

The corner of his mouth tips up in a cocky smile, “I knew you’d crack before we got there.” I roll my eyes, “we are going to pay some old friends a visit.” The way he spits the word friends tells me everything I need to know.

By the time we stop in front of a house just off of Riverside I can feel the tension rolling off him. Like it’s taking everything in him to hold himself back. I don’t recognize the house, so I wait for him to say something.

When he doesn’t say anything or even move, I ask, “whose house is this?”

He snaps his gaze from the house to mine, “inside that house live two men, two of my brother’s friends. Ken Andrews and Adam Kirkland.” Their names don’t sound familiar to me, so I still remain just as confused. Who the hell are they and why are we here?

When I don’t say anything in response he continues, “Kirkland held both her arms down in a vice grip, he held them so tight he left bruises.” His words turn my stomach, fuck I know exactly why we are here. “Andrews.” he laughs, “Andrews is the one who dragged me into the room after my father found me, the proud look in his eyes still knocks me sick. He said he was glad I had found out on my own and that Greg would show me the ropes. Andrews laughed every time she cried. I got there too late, it only lasted for a couple of minutes, but it felt like a lifetime. And I couldn’t do anything, nothing, but just stand there and pretend I was enjoying it. Now though, now I can do everything.”

The fire starts to burn in my veins, the tension pulsing through my entire body. I know why he’s here. I know why he invited me. Cloaked in black and armed with guns, ready to bring death on the men who hurt our girl. Vengeance happens tonight.

We move in unison as we exit the car and walk towards the house, both of us looking up and down the quiet street. It’s dark and deserted like the reaper himself cleared our path for us, awaiting the justice we are about to serve. I can tell that Ash knows exactly where he is going and that we aren’t just going in blind, because he pushes up towards a side door, quickly producing a lock picking kit. Fucking hell is everyone I know just a walking talking serial killer in the making? He quietly, and efficiently picks the lock, and gently pushes the door open.

I move in close behind him as we enter and we are greeted by complete darkness, but I trust Asher enough to follow his lead. We find both Ken and Adam passed out on the sofa with the soft glow of the television lighting up their ugly faces. I look to Ash and he is staring at them intently, like he can’t quite decide how to make them suffer. He grinds his jaw before looking at me and nodding.

We step towards them and I raise my gun, but Asher moves before I can pull the trigger and cocks one of them with the gun startling him awake. He shoves his gloved hand across his mouth to muffle his scream, but it still wakes up the other guy. He startles, but I aim my gun at his head to ensure he doesn’t move.

Both their eyes flare in recognition when they look at Asher and he removes his hand allowing the scum to speak.

“Asher, what the fuck man?” The one he hit says, but I can see the fear in his eyes already. He may be the youngest of the Donovan clan, but even I’ve heard the stories about the people who cross him. They disappear without a trace.

“Long time no see, Andrews.” Ash drawls in the deadliest tone I’ve ever heard from him. Which means the guy I’m aiming my gun at is Adam Kirkland.

“What the fuck, Donovan. Does Greg know you’re here?” Adam barks and I have to laugh, they really think they have an in with the heir to the Donovan name. I can tell from the look of the house they are staying in and their lack of knowledge about Ash, that they are exceptionally low on the food chain.

Ash smiles a sinister smile, “I will get to Greg eventually, but tonight is about you two.” He says leaning down to get in their face and I watch Ken gulp.

“Remember how funny you found it, Kirkland? How you laughed as the tears ran down her cheeks? How you begged Greg to have a turn?” He grits each word out with such wrath, yet his whole body is completely calm, like he is completely at ease doing this.

“Wait, this is about King?” Adam asks in panicked confusion. “Fuck you care about one of your brother’s whores for? Jealous?” He smiles thinking Asher will find it funny.

Asher smashes the gun into his face. “Like anything that disgusting piece of shit could ever do would make me jealous.” He grits at him as Adam coughs, spitting out some blood. “But you were jealous, weren’t you Kirkland? I remember how desperately you pleaded.”

“Look man, you saw how Greg was. She belonged to him, no one else. His plans for her changed as soon as he had a taste of her.”

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