Page 54 of Rebellion of a Kingdom

“Nice to meet you.” She isn’t fazed by Taylor’s silence and just turns back to me to proudly add, “Daddy is making me pancakes.”

I slide her onto the counter, “oh is he now?” I say eyeing Ash as Taylor’s head snaps to him, and I think she goes into even more shock, if that’s even possible, “well Daddy better make some for Mommy too.”

Ash is still glaring at Taylor, both of them locked in a stare off as he speaks,“like I would ever risk your wrath and not make you some, Hells Bells.” He says calmly, but I know he is probably plotting out every way this situation could turn out. Which is ridiculous, I have known Taylor almost my entire life, and Ash has known her since halfway through middle school. She isn’t some stranger, ready to sell our secrets to the highest bidder. She’s our friend.

The tension thickens the longer she doesn’t speak, so I break it, “great, you boys do that while Taylor and I go have a girly catch up.” Hearing her name, she looks back towards me as I turn to Cassie, “stay with Daddy, okay? Mommy will be back for pancakes.”

“Okay, Mommy.” Cassie smiles, completely oblivious to any of the tension surrounding her.

I don’t wait before I grab Taylor by the arm and drag her from the kitchen. I hear Ash snap, “you fucked up.” and then Cassie shouts, “swear jar.” But I don’t stop, I just pull her down the hall. We pass Marcus on the way as his eyes widen. I reach out and give his arm a little squeeze as we pass, but I don’t stop until we get to my room. I pull her inside and over to the bed, until she slowly sinks down on the end of it.

“I,” she starts, staring at the door like she can see all the way to the kitchen and then stops, “how,” she pauses again so I stop her.

“What you have just discovered and what I am about to tell you is not only a secret, but it’s also dangerous, do you understand that?” She stares at me like I have grown two heads, before nodding slowly so I continue. “I have a daughter. Her biological father is a very perverse and dangerous man who raped me. That’s the reason I left Black Hallows.”

I expect the flinch that leaves her at the word rape, but then instead of pity in her eyes, I see confusion, “You weren’t at boarding school?” She asks and I shake my head slowly.

“That was a lie to cover up what happened to me. God, forbid I soil the King name.” I roll my eyes in disgust, taking a seat on the bed next to her. “What happened led me to having Cassie. I didn’t want her to know her real father, so Ash became her dad.” It sounds so simple when I say it like that, so very black and white. If only.

“You guys never?” She asks trailing off.

My eyes widen, “Lord no. We’re close, but we have never been that close.” I say with a slight laugh.

“I don’t even know what to say.” She admits, which is understandable. I’ve had over three years to adjust to my reality, I can’t expect her to digest it in one morning.

“Honestly.” I blow out a breath, “that’s probably for the best. I wish I could tell you more but trust me when I say it’s safer this way.”

She takes a deep breath, looking round the room. I can see her trying to digest what I just told her before she swings her head back to me, “what does all that have to do with me being here?”

She was always smart, that hasn’t changed. “The man who raped me, works with a lot of sick men. He didn’t just want to hurt me, he wanted to sell me.” I can’t think of a better way to put it and I wait for the words to sink in.

She shudders as they wash over her and she realizes what I mean, “they tried to take me?” She says panicking as her hands start to shake.

I reach out and clasp her hand in mine, “I’m not sure, I think maybe they were planning on it, but Jace was there. You passed out and he brought you here.” I try to stay calm as I talk, but it’s hard. The rage I feel whenever I think about what fucking sick crimes those bastards commit could blow up the world.

“Why can’t I remember anything?”

“We think they put something in your drink, Arthur checked you over and said other than that you were fine.”

“Who’s Arthur?”

I huff a laugh, because what I have just told her is the tip of the iceberg, “not important, what is important is that you can’t tell anyone you know where I am, or who I’m with okay? I promise I will keep you safe, but I need you to do this for me.”

She takes in the no doubt serious look on my face before she nods, “of course Smell, anything for you.” She smiles, squeezing my hand, which has remained in her grasp, this whole time.

We spend the rest of the day catching up and she gets to know Cassie. We have tea parties, a movie marathon and just hang out like friends should. It’s a perfect day, reminding me exactly why we were so close as kids. Jace comes by a couple of times, trying not to linger, but the attraction between them is clear as day. I understand him wanting to keep her out of this, but I can’t see how we can. She’s here, she knows, that puts her in it whether we like it or not. Another innocent person caught up in this fucking war. We can’t wait anymore; we need to end this once and for all.

Chapter 32

ELLE

We shouldn’t be here. Every other normal high school senior is preparing to go back to school tomorrow. Probably catching up on forgotten homework, texting friends to arrange catch ups and picking out the perfect back to school outfit. But not me, not the Rebels. No. Instead, we are spending our last free day before school starts, breaking and entering, stealing, and killing. So many fucking crimes I can barely keep up anymore. My moral high ground no longer exists, not when it comes to the Donovan’s and their band of sick little helpers.

Right now, Dr. Rolland Atkins is sitting inside his mansion. A mansion he got because he made money off of people's suffering. His pharmaceutical company was miniscule, a blip on nobody's radar until he met Elliot Donovan. He created a drug named Atkaprazole. It is known for treating heart disease, but what people don’t talk about is the fact that when you inject it into the system the side effects include loss of consciousness and being unable to move. All it takes is the right dosage and you have yourself a docile little victim, ready to play with. It doesn’t matter if you inject too much and it kills them, because all that will show up on an autopsy is a heart attack, which when they find heart related drugs in your system doesn't seem unrealistic. Helpful, lethal, and completely profitable. By day he heals people of their heart problems and by night he knocks them out to pass over to Elliot Donovan and his son. When Arthur ran my blood work the night we met, he could never make sense of what he found. Not until we started digging up everything on Elliot and his men. That’s when things started to slot into place.

All of that and more landed the esteemed Dr. Atkins a place on my revenge list. So here we sit, watching, waiting. Readying ourselves for the next step of revenge. Max and his team are getting ready to break into the building of Atkins Incorporated. They are going to burn it down until it’s nothing but ash. Elijah and Lincoln have already hacked into his accounts and rendered his insurance policies useless. Not that he is going to be alive to know any of this. The burner phone buzzes in my pocket and I know it’s showtime.

I look to Marcus and nod and he does the same. We push up and over the wall, followed by Lincoln, Jace and Tyler. Asher is our distraction tonight, he, like the absolute fucking psycho he is, just drove through the front gates. When he told me his plan, I thought he was insane, but it’s actually kind of genius. It doesn’t matter what he has done, in this town he is still a Donovan. Royalty by name and nature, meaning when he knocks on Rolland Atkins’ door, he will swing it right open, giving us the chance to slip in the back, undetected.

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