Page 88 of Like a Hurricane

Her hand grips mine tightly but I don’t complain at the pinch in my knuckles because of it. She looked ill, exhausted and I was hoping the next two weeks or more would bring her back to life.

And then she was going to marry Malakai. The same man who had a hand in our father’s murder. Olivia had explained what Malakai had told her about that night. Kenneth had found out about the hit my father ordered and decided to retaliate using the man in charge of the whole thing. It was never about the hotel itself, never about money or power, it was about vengeance. And I happened to be in the way.

Malakai hadn’t expected Rett to show up which had caught him off guard. After we faked my death and the images were sent, Malakai realized where we were and used it to his advantage. He played the long game, waited us out and we showed him our asses.

It was all a game.

And that just made me even angrier. There was no getting one up on this man, this so-called king of the underworld. He was a devil. A king of hell. And my sister just agreed to marry him to save me.

And there was nothing I could do about it.

Absolutely nothing.

The gate squeaks loudly in the otherwise quiet graveyard, the church standing tall and ominous ahead of us. Gravestones line either side of us, some pristine marble, fresh and clean, others aged and worn, cracked, and covered in moss, the names on the stones long since distorted by time.

“We buried him next to mom,” Olivia whispers as if speaking any louder may disturb the dead that lay all around us.

“I watched it,” I admit, hiding the way my voice cracks around the lump in my throat.

Olivia nods, “I just wanted you there. It’s all I could think about. I was so scared Arryn.”

I give her hand a squeeze “I know. And I hate myself for not being here.”

“It wasn’t your fault.”

We walk, both silent, our feet crunching over gravel and sopping leaves until we come to a fresh grave. The earth is freshly turned, the gleaming white marble headstone looking so awfully out of place next to the much older one of my mothers.

Fresh flowers have been placed in front of the stone and more flowers are in front of my mother’s too, “You?”

“No.” Olivia shakes her head.

Behind us a branch snaps and I spin around, still jumpy from the past few weeks. A shadow moves at the side of the church, there and then gone.

“Can you say goodbye now?” Olivia hisses, “Graveyards creep me the fuck out.”

Despite the obvious warning that someone was watching us, I laugh and crouch close to my father’s headstone, running my fingers over the engraved name.

“Love you, dad,” I whisper, “I’m sorry I couldn’t say goodbye properly.” Kissing my fingers, I place them on his stone before I do the same to my mothers and then we turn around and haul ass out of there.

The walk back towards the docks is done quickly, paranoia that we were being followed making us quicken our step. By the time we are in view of the boat waiting for us, and the men too, both of us are heaving and out of breath, sweat dampening our skin despite the freezing temperatures.

“What’s wrong?” Everett asks the moment he sees us.

“There was someone watching us,” I huff out, “At the graveyard.”

A muscle twitches in his jaw and he looks over my shoulder as if he’d spot whoever was still there. “Get on the boat. We’re leaving.”

I don’t ask questions and accept Torin’s hand as he helps me and then Olivia into the boat.

“I get seasick,” Olivia grits her teeth.

“So do I,” my head snaps up at the voice. Kolten offers a bottle of pills to Olivia, the label worn so I can’t see what they are, “They’ll help with the nausea.”

But when we both just stare at him like he has two heads, he pops the cap and takes a pill himself, “It won’t hurt you.” He assures.

I leave my sister to take the pills and cross over to Rett who helps Torin get us prepared to move away.

His hand instantly falls to the small of my back and he glances at me, any hardness in his face softening the moment his eyes meet mine.

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