Page 184 of Tempting Little Thief

Rayo watches me closely, head tipping slightly. “But you already knew that.”

My smirk is slow, and I lift my arms out as if to saysurprise. “I know a lot of things, dare I say … all the things you wish I didn’t, and I think I know your reasons why too.”

It makes perfect sense when you think about it. The dude preachesfamily fucking first. Blood over all. Always, no matter what.Blah fucking blah.

That’s the biggest piece of bullshit I’ve ever heard.

My family beat the fuck out of me, tried to kill me and nearly did kill my sister.

Fuck blood and who you share it with. Fuck family. It means nothing.

But to the Revenaw twins? It meant more because it was drilled into them.

How would they feel if they knew Daddy stepped out on Mommy when she couldn’t “do her duty” and give the man the heir he was entitled to? But more than that … he cast out his own, leaving him to the wolves when his wife finally gave him what he wanted. He abandoned his blood, so how could he preach the importance of it to his twins if they ever found out?

It’s the thought of losing his girls or their respect or love or whatever the fuck it is that’s most important to him, and only he knows what that is that kept him playing the Henshaws’ game. He’s a weird kind of selfish, selfless prick.

But it wasn’t only that. It was the foundation the new generation of Greysons was expected to sit on. He already knew the others were expecting girls; they’d be the first of their kind, and suddenly, he had two coming. Twins. The Greyson girls were expected to do big things. To leave a legacy like no one’s ever seen before, to bring to the table an entirely new way of thinking. Proof of that is already long past seven figures, thanks to The Enterprise.

To throw a boy in the mix would have changed everything for the girls. Automatically that boy would have taken the lead because he had a dick and they didn’t. The power struggle between male and female wouldn’t have died and should thatmale have claimed for himself one of the other Greyson girls, that would lead to the fall of the Greyson Union because the power would no longer be equal.

Again, what a selfish, selfless prick.

Shaking my head, I stuff my hands in my pockets. “You let this fool think he was in your back pocket, put your daughter through some shit, both of them really, just to keep Kylo Greco, or should I sayRevenaw,a dark little secret.” A chuckle leaves me. “I tell you, once I figured it out, it made fucking sense why you didn’t want them on Greyson grounds because you knew who he was the minute they turned up. How could you not? The boy looks just fucking like you, man. Too bad he’s sworn his loyalty to me now, hmm?”

Rayo’s lip curls and I laugh again. “Kid’s fucking smart. Quick and tough.”

I walk over to Rayo, placing myself directly in front of him, close enough that he could headbutt me if he wanted to, maybe even do a little worse, depending on how flexible he is. His chains ain’t that tight, but he doesn’t flinch, doesn’t move, and he’s breathing steady as I bring myself nothing but a breath away.

We eye each other for a long moment, nothing but the nervous shifting and clatter of chains coming from the other side of the room filling the space.

Finally, I speak, keeping my voice low and only for him.

“Clearly, you’ve got a knack for giving things away, but this time? You’re trying to give away something that doesn’t belong to you,” I tell him, shaking my head back and forth. “That’s not going to work for me.”

“You are delusional.”

“And you’re about to foam at the fucking mouth when I tell you what I know that you didn’t. Thisman,the one you eat with on yachts and share laughs with and pretend to stand to save face … he didn’t only plan to take from you, to destroy you”—I lean closer—“he already did. He took the woman who gave mine life right out from under your nose,and I have the proof you couldn’t find. Me. The punk with not a soldier to his name.”

Rayo turns fuckin’ feral, his chest rumbling, before a deep, long rumble erupts from him and he tears at his fucking chains.

I step back, ready to speak to the three of them when my phone rings from the table, so I clamp my mouth shut, turning around to grab it.

Royce Brayshaw’s name, one of my now former bosses, flashes across the screen. He’s the one and only brother pissed off at me ’cause I helped out his brother’s girl when she needed it at his brother’s request. If he even knows that part of it, I don’t know. He’s the last motherfucker I would have expected to call, especially since the day I walked out of there, they knew I wouldn’t be coming back and that I had no need to since the check their new queen sent me off with was more money I knew a person could have.

I bring my phone to my ear, and he doesn’t wait for me to say a word.

“Hey, motherfucker,” he slurs, clearly on a heavy dose of liquor. “Never wanted you back in this town, but I’m thinking you might want to be.”

“Thought wrong. What do you want?” I look over to where Oliver is crawling on his forearms, trying to get closer to his dad, but his limbs are still too weak. “I’m kind of busy.”

“Yeah, I’ve been busy too. Busy with a sweet little thing, soft short hair and a perfect round ass.”

Tension crawls down my spine, and I grip the phone tighter.

“Aye, this girl?” He chuckles in my ear, the sound setting off a warning alarm in my head because while his next words shock the shit out of me, they’re the exact ones I expect. “She’s got a brother.”

The line goes dead, and I swear to fucking God, he’s about to be if he touched one finger on her head. Shoving my phone in my pocket, I whip the keys out of the other and step up to Rayo.

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