Page 33 of Reign By Wrath

“She isnotmy family,” Saylor said. “She ruined my life. My friends won’t talk to me. I had to shut down all my accounts and block almost every number in my phone. The whole town hates me. Throw her out of here, Daddy. She can take the random, long-lost uncle with her.”

“Fresh start, sweetheart. Everything you and Luna have done to each other is in the past. You didn’t know you were family then. Now you do. We live by one rule and one rule alone.” The sweetness dripped out of his tone. “Burkhardts don’t go after Burkhardts.”

“Tell her that, not me.”

Dario turned to me.

I sighed. “Here it comes.”

“Luna,” he began, “about that website—”

“And there it is,” I groaned. “Want to know why your precious hellbeast—”

“Stop calling me that, Dreg!”

“—had to be punished? She tried to strip me in front of a party full of people. She got me jumped, punched me in the face, threatened to kick my stepdad out of the Royal line, and she’s thrown my sister’s suicide in my face over and over since the first day we met.

“I’ve met rabid squirrels with a kinder personality. Obviously, Saylor’s life of privilege didn’t teach her about consequences. I took it upon myself to give her the lesson. Why would I take the site down? This greasy, Cheeto-covered look is the best I’ve seen on her.”

She launched off the couch. “You’re dead, Sinclair!”

I jumped off. “I’m taking you with me!”

It took another twenty minutes of grunts, shouts, and wrestling to get us back into our respective corners. I was proud of myself for finally bloodying that fat lip. Although Saylor was clutching a healthy bunch of my hair in her grip, so I didn’t get out unscathed.

“Enough,” Alistair barked. “The website comes down tonight.”

“I’m not—!”

“Doesn’t matter if you do or don’t.” He tsked. “You know who I am. Think I can’t shut down a little website? My contact is already in the process of removing every trace of it from cyberspace. She’s also following the credit card trail to everyone who downloaded a copy. They’ll be hit with a nasty computer virus that’ll crater their hard drive.”

My jaw dropped.

Alistair nodded at his brother. “I hope that will suffice, Dario.”

“Thank you. We appreciate it.”

“I can’t believe you,” I hissed. “You’re supposed to be on my side.”

“I am on your side, Luna. You didn’t know she was your cousin before all this happened, but now you do. I’ve broken every rule that exists, love, except one. Burkhardts don’t go after Burkhardts.” His eyes hardened, turning on her. “Agreed, Saylor? The website is down. Anyone who has a copy won’t by morning. You will not retaliate against Luna. You most certainly won’t try attacking her again. As your father said, the war ends now.”

She sniffed, folding her arms and looking away. But I noticed she didn’t disagree.

“Good,” he said. “Now that’s settled, let’s get you back to your mother.”

“Back to Mom’s? But you said your father wanted to meet me.”

“Check the time, kid. It’s after midnight. That old man’s been asleep for hours.”

He was right. Between all that fighting, arguing, and running for my life, I didn’t notice how much time had passed. I was supposed to meet my grandfather, then tromp through the woods looking for Everleigh. Instead, I was tromping to the nearest bed and passing out.

“Unless you’d like to stay here,” Alistair offered. “I can have any empty room done up for you. Take your pick.”

“Like hell,” Saylor said before I could open my mouth. “Get out of my house, Sinclair. No one wants you here. No one ever will. You’ll never be a Burkhardt.”

“Promise?” Rolling my eyes, I grabbed my stuff and made for the door. “Oh, one more thing.”

I twisted around, phone up, and snapped her picture. “Your new look is gonna be fire on the next website I put up. The Royals will love guessing what all those mystery stains on your sweatpants are.”

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