Page 42 of Rebellion of a Kingdom

Ash grits his teeth at his statement, but before he can react, I shoot Adam right in the stomach. His words setting fire to my fucking rage.

Asher does laugh now, sadistically, and loud before doing the same thing to Ken Andrews. Then shakes his head looking at me, “who knew you could be so much fun.” His grin is infectious considering where we are and what we are doing.

He opens the bag and pulls out a little saw and my eyes flare wide. What the fuck.

Both the guys are gurgling in pain as the blood pours from their stomachs. Ignoring them, Asher quickly secures both of their wrists with cable ties, before injecting them with some shit that makes their bodies stop moving. I can see from their eyes they are still awake and aware, but completely fucking helpless. Asher steps back admiring his work and then he pulls out two little plastic bags. I panic as I remember back to when he said he would gift jars of cocks to Elle. Thankfully, he only cuts off one finger from each of them and drops them in the bags.

When I eye him, he shrugs tucking them away in his bag and packing up everything else apart from his guns. When he’s satisfied, he looks at me with a nod and I know we are done here.

“For our girls?” He asks and I smile mirroring one of his own sadistic grins and reply with a nod, “for our girls.”

We raise our guns at their heads, completely in sync. We look at one another and nod, both of us pulling the trigger at the same time and clocking them right between the eyes. See you in hell, fuckers.

Chapter 25

ELLE

Last Christmas I never would have imagined I would be here now. Celebrating not only with my family, but with Asher and Marcus here too. I would have laughed at just the thought of it. Yet here we are all sitting around a beautiful tree surrounded in gift wrap and presents with the happiest little girl in the world. We’ve been at this for hours now because every time she opens a gift, she squeals thank you and cuddles whoever gave it to her. I don’t care if we sit here all day, all fucking week. Just as long as I get to see the smile on my baby girls face.

When she picks up a small blue box, she scrunches her nose up and I know she is wondering what is small enough to fit in it. My eyes flare wide when I spot Tiffany's packaging. I have no idea who it’s from, but then Marcus speaks up.

“That’s from me, princess, it goes with this one for your Mom.” He says pulling a box from behind him and passing it over to me. I almost choke on my breath as I take it from him, and I can feel every eye in here on us.

“You’re not planning on proposing are you, because I still think she is still too young for that.” Zack jokes and Asher snorts a laugh. I give them both the death glare as Marcus looks at us in confusion.

I don’t have time to explain as Cassie squeals, “same, Mommy!” She pushes through paper so she can come sit by me on the floor. I look at Marcus and smile and then hesitantly start to open the box as Cassie opens hers.

What I find brings tears to my eyes. Inside is a delicate silver chain with a little star pendant that has the words ‘make a wish’ engraved on it. I swallow trying to clear the lump in my throat but it’s no use.

“Wow, that’s beautiful honey.” Helen says as she leans in on my left to admire it.

I look back up at Marcus, “River, I don’t know what to say. It’s beautiful, thank you.”

He smiles, glancing at Zack quickly, before looking back at me, “just something to remind you I’m always with you.” I smile and just for a moment, I wish it were just the two of us so I could tell him how much this means to me, but he seems to understand.

“Wow!” Cassie gasps and I bring my attention to where she is holding a small, roped bracelet with a little star hanging off it. The only difference is hers is engraved with the words ‘pinky promise’.

“Marcus you really didn’t have to do this.” I say in awe at how much these must have cost him.

Cassie isn’t of the same attitude as she runs across the room and throws her arms around his neck, “thank you, River.” She says into his neck and he pats her back in response.

“Anytime, little one. Yours is to remind you that I will always come for you.”

She smiles, “you’re a superhero just like Daddy and Linc.” She beams at him and his smile is so carefree and easy towards her that it reminds me of when we were kids.

“Wow, burn little rascal.” Jace replies and we all laugh.

“Don’t worry, Conrad. We are just too pretty to be superheroes.” Logan offers him with a wink, and I roll my eyes.

The rest of the day is just as perfect, all of us eating and enjoying the most amazing dinner. It’s the best Christmas I’ve ever had and tucking in my girl is the icing on the cake. She’s snuggling a brand-new orange unicorn from the guys and an embroidered blanket from Asher. She doesn’t realize how protected she is going to be, even more than before. After staring at her for a while I give her one last kiss and turn to leave only to find Lily standing in the doorway.

When she sees me, she smiles awkwardly like she didn’t want to be caught here. We’ve always had a weird relationship, she isn’t an incredibly open person and is not someone that is easy to get to know, but we found common ground in Cassie. I know she would have been distraught when she was gone.

“You okay, Lils?” I ask.

“Yeah, sorry. Didn’t mean to barge in, just wanted to check in before I go to bed.” She rocks from foot to foot, and I can sense her anxiety.

“How about I kick the guys out tonight and you have a sleepover with us.” I ask hoping she will give in and accept.

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