Page 32 of King of Cruelty

“He’s not going to do either of those things.” The four of us were in Laurel’s nursery. Sunny and Bane stalked me while I packed Laurel’s diaper bag and got her ready to go. “The only good thing that man has going for him is that he’s not violent. He’d never put his hands on a woman, and most definitely not a baby.”

“Yeah, I bet you once thought he’d never frame a woman for fraud and abandon a baby,” Sunny returned. “You were wrong then too.”

“Ouch,” I cried, poking his side. “Low blow, baby.”

“Kenzie, I’m serious. This is Serious Sunny talking.” He grasped my shoulder, making me slow down and face him. “A cornered rat is never more unpredictable than when the sirens are getting closer. Let me or Bane go with you.”

“Baby, you can’t.” I gently stroked his cheek. “The Brotherhood is holding Genny in a Luca hellhouse. You know what those are like. You know guns, violence, and most likely bombs are waiting for you on the other side of the door. I won’t stand for a single one of you to get hurt because you weren’t all there guarding each other’s backs.

“Liam needs you and Bane by his side, Genny needs all of her brothers, and I need to find out what Damien knows about the Brotherhood and the shadow people running it. Let me do this,” I said firmly—urgently. “I can’t back you up in a gunfight but I can do this. All you have to do is trust me.”

“I do trust you, Lollipop Lips. I trust you more than anyone.” His eyes hardened. “But I don’t trust Damien Frost.”

“That’s why Sienna is going with me. She’s my backup and I’m hers. We survived months on the street together. Damien is nothing compared to that.”

Sighing, Sunny looked to Bane as if hoping he could talk some sense into me.

Bane assessed me, gaze unwavering.

He nodded.

“She can do this, Sunny.” Bane took my hand and kissed my knuckles. “I should know. I trained her myself.”

Sienna stuck her head in the doorway. “Hey, guys. We ready to go?”

“No,” Sunny dropped.

“But, Sunny—”

“Not without weapons,” he continued, flashing me a wink. “It’ll give me great pleasure to picture you tasing that dickhead every time he gets mouthy.”

Sienna laughed. “Oh, don’t worry. He will andwe will. And I’ll most definitely record it for all of us to watch on movie night.”

“This is why we’re besties, SiSi.”

I rolled my eyes at the both of them. Finishing up packing, I picked up the car seat, handed Sienna the diaper bag, and left the nursery just as Liam entered the living room. “Everyone’s ready,” he announced, face grim. “It’s time.”

“Good luck.” I hugged and kissed Sunny, Liam, and Bane—holding each one tight. “Come back to me.”

“We will,” Sunny said. “This day is going to end badly for someone, but it won’t be us.”

I held on to those words as Sienna weaved through the streets of Cinco, heading for the hangar.

“Are you nervous?” she asked.

I shook my head, turning away from the buildings flashing by. “No. Not about Damien. I...” I sighed. “I realized something after confronting him in Caddell. I don’t care anymore. I don’t care about him. I don’t love him. I don’t miss him. I don’t hatehim. I’m not even worried about the effect his absence will have on Laurel, because he’ll have no effect on her.

“She’ll be raised with so much love and protection and safety around men who’d do anything for her. They wouldn’t leave her for all the money in the world, so why should I give a shit about the man that would?”

“Me and the spirit friends agree with you completely, sis,” Sienna replied, making us both bust out laughing. Laughter that ended quickly as the seriousness of that day filled us, but still, it was a good laugh. The cleansing laugh of two people who had well and truly... moved on.

Sienna turned the final corner leading into the hangar. The headlights lit up the large gray building, and the man leaning against it.

Sienna smiled. “We agree a thousand times. Why would anyone want Damien Dumbass Frost when you’ve got men like him on your side?”

He walked up as Sienna pulled into a parking space, grinning that enigmatic grin that always aroused and enraged me in equal measure. The grin of a man I’d spend the rest of my life trying to understand, but never would.

“So, how does this work?” I asked, grinning back. “Sunny calls you up and tells you I need an escort, and you drop everything, including your dislike of him, and come running to my side?”

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