“It’s always going to be you.”

  “What?”

  “I love you, and if I’m ever going to fall in love, it will be with you. Never forget that.”

  He could have told me the sky was on fire and I would’ve been less caught off guard. A girl dreamed of the moment the boy she loved to say it too. This situation was far from normal, though, just as Judas and I were.

  He’d made the clear distinction between loving someone and being in love. I was tenuously clinging to one and trying like hell not to fall victim to the other.

  “If?” I babbled for lack of response.

  He smiled slightly and stood, sliding a piece of paper that I hadn’t realized he’d been holding face down across the table.

  “Meet me outside at the car. There’s somewhere we have to be.”

  I waited until he was gone before I flipped the piece of paper over and for the second time in a matter of minutes, I was thrown off kilter.

  He wouldn’t explain how it was possible for me to be granted a diploma I for damn sure hadn’t earned. I got no explanation for why we were in a large truck that I’d never seen before.

  And he’d been tight-lipped about where he was taking me.

  If the dirt road and surrounding trees were a hint, I wasn’t sure I wanted to find out anymore. The thought of getting out and running crossed my mind a few times until the smell of death began seeping through the air vents.

  “Where are you taking me?” I questioned, careful not to inhale in too deeply.

  “We’re going to meet Marcus.”

  I did a double take on that one. “My dad? Way out here?”

  “Where do you think he keeps the girls? There’s no place for this kind of operation in Crudele. The girls have to be held somewhere before being sent to whoever is responsible for breaking them in.”

  I couldn’t pretend I had no clue what he was referring to.

  He was the one who’d told me about my parents’ sickeningly true nature.

  I didn’t want to believe him.

  I’d wanted to see my father and make him tell me none of this was true to my face.

  “Then why does it smell like that?” I asked, looking around to see if I could find any sign of Dad.

  “They have to dump the dead somewhere.”

  I didn’t have a reply for that. “Why are you bringing me out here? What the hell is happening, Judas?”

  He slowed the truck as we drew closer to a massive sized building that closely resembled a red barn.

  “You’re the pawn I’m using to get rid of someone useless.”

  “Did you just call me a pawn?”

  “You haven’t figured that out by now? You’re my favorite piece of all.”

  He stopped the truck a few feet away from the barn’s entryway and through the gearshift into park.

  “We have to go inside,” he explained quietly.

  “Why do we have to, why can’t just you? There isn’t even anyone else here.”

  “Marcus is, and you need to come with me because he believes his precious baby-girl was stolen on her way home the other morning.”

  That’s why he sent that text.

  “How long have you been planning this?”

  “Are you going to get out and play your part or do I have to make you be my victim?”

  I leaned away from him, his cold gaze and indifferent tone a stark contrast to the one I’d heard at the table a few hours ago.

  “What are you going to do to him?”

  “I already told you everything I do is for the better good of your family.”

  “Are you going to kill him?”

  He sighed heavily and took hold of my upper arm, dragging me across the truck’s bench seat as he got it. I struggled as much as I could, but Judas was stronger than I was.

  Cries and whimpers filled the air, the stench of death grew more potent now that I was exposed to the air. Judas tightened his grip to the point I think circulation was caught off.

  “Ouch. Let go of me!” I protested, dragging my feet.

  “Good. Keep doing that,” he cruelly praised, hauling me through the barn’s entryway.

  I spotted my dad right away. He stood taller and looked between the two of us, his jaw ticking in anger when he saw the way Judas was holding onto me.

  “She’s--.”

  “Not bruised or raped?” Judas cut him off. “She wouldn’t be. The Barrons aren’t involved in that line of business anymore.”

  “Where is Audrey?” dad asked through clenched teeth.

  “She’s safe for now.”

  “Then let my daughter go,” he demanded.

  My eyes darted around taking in the upper level and various stalls padlocked with half-naked girls locked within them. They stared through the thick, grime covered bars and warily watched the exchange taking place.

  It was true, then.

  Dad and mom were sicker than I could ever be. What the fuck even was this?

  “Did you bring what we agreed upon?” Judas questioned

  “It’s all here but until I see Audrey too, we have no deal.” He motioned to a black bag at his feet. “Your sister is--.”

  “She’s at home, Marcus. Maisie has been back with my familigia for almost a week now.”

  His sister wasn’t missing? No, that wasn’t important to me right now.

  “What the fuck is this, dad?” I blurted out in a rush of anger and hurt.

  His features crumbled; all bravado zapped away. “Rhia, honey I can explain,” he took cautious steps towards me.

  “Explain it how? What kind of sick--.”

  A pop tore through the air and his body jerked. His eyes went wide, staring straight into mine as he stumbled forward.

  “Shit,” Judas cursed. He let me go and moving with a speed almost imperceptible to the human eye he retrieved the black bag from the dirty concrete floor.

  “Dad?” I attempted to catch him, but Judas was at my side again and hauling me away.

  Chaos erupted all around me. People came rushing into the barn from the front and the back. I glanced up at the last second, spotting my mother holding what looked like a gun. It finally clicked for me then, she’d used it on my dad.

  The last I saw of him, he was lying on the floor still alive, watching as I was dragged away by the boy, he’d come to save me from.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  I didn’t remember much, but I felt everything and what I did recall I wanted to forget. The woman I thought of as a mother killed my dad. The girls locked away in the barn were all dead and burned to ash along with his body. Something about Evie’s operation being compromised was mentioned in passing when Gavin arrived three days ago.

  Or maybe it was four.

  Judas had taken me back to the charming craftsman and that’s where we still were. He’d made no apologies or assurances about what had been done.

  He didn’t own up to the fact that if he hadn’t lured my dad there with faux photographs and a made-up vendetta, he’d still be alive. He didn’t do any of these things because he wasn’t sorry, and he wanted him dead. If Evie hadn’t done it Judas would’ve.

  It was all an elaborate scheme to wipe out the Clermonts and obtain whatever my dad had brought with him.

  Standing beneath the showerhead that had gone from steaming to lukewarm, I braced my hands against the tiled wall and arched to take him deeper. His fingers dug into my hips; his dick hit every spot I needed it to as he fucked me back to reality.

  It didn’t matter if I said no or demanded it, almost every time he had done this to me the past few days nothing stopped him from making me come screaming his name or begging for him to fuck me harder.

  It wasn’t about an emotional connection anymore.

  We’d gone fully into unhealthy toxicity.

  It showed when he finished and left me alone to soak in the water that had gone cold. I wanted his punishing thrust, but I couldn’t stand the gentleness of his touch.

  I resented him for his ability to carry on like he hadn’t ruined me. I hated him but I loved him too and the turmoil of that mixed with everything else was breaking me down.

  He claimed to love me too not that long ago. I was an idiot to believe that for a single second. Luckily for him it was Evie who I wanted to tear apart. My anger wasn’t reserved solely for Judas, though. The person I was angry at the most was myself.

  His betrayal and choice to use me for his own personal gain was another loss I had to face. Losing everyone and everything at once shattered me into a million shards and it was all because I was determined to be by his side.

  I was this pathetic thing that had let a boy do exactly as he promised he would, and now I was paying the price for it. He’d made me an offer the night before and I knew the only option I had was to take it. Judas and I could never be together in a way that wouldn’t bring pain.

  With everything that had transpired, I was resigned to this being the climax of whatever we had between us. I needed to walk away before I truly lost myself in his manmade hell.

  Everything I would need sat inside the bag.

  Gavin, Owen, and Bri watched on silently as Audrey helped me prepare to leave them all behind.

  I wasn’t entirely sure why she was coming with me and not going back to Crudele, but ever since Gavin had forcibly taken her out of town, she refused to leave me and go back. She’d had to reassure her mother she was alive and well multiple times since being here.

  She had a better understanding of who these people were now, but there was still so much she didn’t know. We were in the same boat in that regard.

  Judas and I stared at one another for what felt like hours but was realistically a few minutes.

  “You sure this is what you want to do?”

  “This is what I have to do.”

  He didn’t ask for me to explain and I was glad. I wouldn’t have anyways. This wasn’t all about him or my parents anymore.

  Not even Audrey had been a major factor in my decision.

  I was selfishly choosing myself and doing what I needed to survive this life without depending on anyone else.

  I needed to go and find myself.

  Judas extended a large bag he’d declared would have everything we needed in it and a round fob for our getaway vehicle. I took both without comment, making sure our fingers didn’t touch. He would always be my best kept secret and now the beautiful boy who broke my heart.

  “Come on, Rhia,” Audrey said softly.

  I finally turned away just to hear him say, “This isn’t over, principessa. I’ll come for you.”

  “Please, don’t.” I didn’t look back when I replied. If I ever saw him again it would be to do exactly what he’d done to me.

  VICIOUS DYNASTY

  The trilogy concludes in Vicious Dynasty. The longest, darkest book yet! Keep reading to check out chapter one!

  Coming October 2021!

  CHAPTER ONE

  There was a photo on the mantle that depicted your above average wealthy family. Four smiling faces frozen in a timeless pastime that I’m sure with every beat of their racing hearts, they were wishing they could return to.

  The Donahues were once respectable and highly admired. What a shame this is how their legacy would end. Too much money and not enough common sense led to a swift and brutal downfall. It happened more times than I could count.

  Tony sat at my feet, hunched over in pain. I gave the man some credit for trying to comfort his hysterical wife while he bled all over damn place.

  The eldest of their two children was face down and unmoving, half his body sticking out from behind the couch. The extension cord I’d used to strangle him rested on the coffee table alongside one of Tony’s fingers.

  His death could’ve been quick and painless. It was nothing to put a single bullet between his eyes or through the back of his skull.

  Instead, I graciously went out of my way and left Tony plenty of time to give us the information I needed before the boy drew his last breath. He'd remained uncooperative for a whole six minutes. That’s how long it took the fucker to quit struggling.

  And what did Tony do?

  Cry and beg.

  He was the reason his son was dead—not me. I steepled my fingers and stared down at the helpless couple, speaking to them softly.

  “I hate that had to happen, Tony. I don’t think either of us planned on killing a sixteen-year-old kid today, but here we are.”

  “I’d start talking now,” Gavin advised from where he was watching over me on the right side of the open living room.

  “You’re a fucking monster,” his wife spat.

  She lifted her head and stared into my eyes with a hatred and fear I was well accustomed to. It was a weak insult, but I grinned nonetheless and motioned Theo over. He’d been working with us for the past two years and had a knack for doing all kinds of torture.

  “Get her up and onto the coffee table,” I directed.

  “No!” Tony objected, “Leave her--.”

  I grabbed his hand and squeezed the nub where a finger once was. Blood shot out, coating my leather glove. He bellowed in pain, spittle flying from his mouth.

  Silently following my command, Theo lifted the older woman up as if she weighed nothing and none too gently placed her where I wanted. She tried to fight him off, earning her a backhand across the face. She cried out in equal parts pain and shock, her nightie riding up and revealing lace-y underwear.

  Huh. “I took Mrs. Donahue as an all-cotton kinda gal.”

  “No way,” Gavin objected. “She’s been giving it to Dante on the regular.”

  “W, what?” Tony stuttered, staring at his sobbing wife with a mix of bewilderment and pain.

  I crouched so we were eye-level and patted his ruddy, tear-stained cheek.

  Thank fuck for gloves.

  “That’s a tough blow to stomach, but you can worry about who your wife is fucking later. Right now, I need you to tell me the combination to that safe of yours.”

  “I, I--.”

  “Think carefully about how reply. I’ve been here fifteen minutes already and my max is twenty-five. Do you want to know what’s going to happen in the next two if I don’t get what I came for?”

  “My son,” he began.

  “The one still alive? He’s upstairs with a friend of mine. Safe…for now. Your wife on the other hand is about to be fucked with a Beretta until you open your mouth. Let’s hope Theo doesn’t get too excited and accidentally pull the trigger. Imagine going out like that? Death by bullet to the pussy. Sounds painful, doesn’t it?”

  “Please, please don’t hurt her.”

  The second I saw he was going to cave I stood and regarded him like one would a pile of dog shit.

  He was going to give up everything to save the woman who had betrayed him but whined like a bitch when he had the chance to save his flesh and blood. No pussy was that golden. Love made fools of us all, I suppose.

  “Sixty seconds.”

  “One-seven-six-nine-one,” he spoke each digit slowly, closing his eyes as if this physically pained him to do so.

  I looked to Gavin who already had his burner cell on speaker.

  “I got it. Someone bring a finger to bypass the identification pad and we’ll be out of here in four,” Owen chirped from the other line.

  “Theo.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  He released Tony’s wife and delicately retrieved the man’s severed finger, leaving us to take it upstairs where Owen was.

  The woman began to sit up, sobbing dramatically as if she had gone through a terrible ordeal and survived. I double-checked my silencer and then lifted my gun, shooting her point blank in the center of the head. Before her body could finish falling off the coffee table and onto the floor, I did the same to Tony. This shit was a cakewalk anymore, like flipping a light switch off and on.

  “Were the shipping routes all we came here for?” Gavin asked, still keeping an eye on our surroundings as he approached me.

  “Child’s play, isn’t it?”

  “Yeah, well, you did a nice thing for your cousin,” he replied with a grin, stretching the scar that ran down the side of his face.

  “He deserved his honeymoon.”

  Rhys had whisked his beautiful bride off to Greece only two days ago. He was probably balls-deep inside her right now. I couldn’t be the slightest bit mad at him for that.

  “What do you want Bri to do with the other kid?”

  “Have her drug him and put him in the pool-house. Someone will find him eventually.”

  I holstered my gun and began to make my way out of the house. The boy was only eight. My age for killing was thirteen and up. I started around then, so it seemed fitting.

  “And this place, the usual?” Gavin questioned, shadowing me as he sent my instructions to Brianna.

  I took in the mini mansion. It wasn’t as nice as my personal home but that didn’t make it shitty. Tony, his wife, and their two sons lived in this nice big house making good use of all the perks our lifestyles afforded.

  He just had to piss it all away. All he’d been good for in the end were the shipping routes that now belonged to us. This home wasn’t something to take, none of them ever were. It needed to be destroyed like its owners were.

  “Yes, burn it down.”

  We walked out into the night, the sound of crickets greeting us again. Our matte black cars were all parked in a triangular formation facing the opposite direction. My phone buzzed just as I reached the driver’s side door of my Land Rover.

  Like clockwork my update was delivered at half past nine on the dot. I didn’t look the report over until I was seated. Gavin climbed in on the passenger side and patiently waited for me to finish, remaining silent. He knew this routine well.

  I took my time and diligently read every single word, eager to learn of any changes in her life.

  There were hardly ever any, and this report proved that to be no different. I dropped my cell back in the inside pocket of my suit and hit the push-to-start.

  I wouldn’t pull off until Bri and Owen were in their respective car. Once they were out Theo would begin the process of burning this place down. Two others would arrive shortly after to stoke the flames and ensure the flames devoured every stud and piece of tile until there was nothing left.