Page 50 of King of Cruelty

“Kill them!” Edwin bellowed. “Bury their bodies in the fucking woods, then bluff Hunt’s fucking, disgusting, shitbucket of a family. We’ll tell them we have her, and they’ll have no reason not to believe us, so KILL HER!”

My vision cleared. Three—five—ten men surrounded me and Bee, their guns trained on our heads.

As quick, and clever, and resourceful, and beautiful, and perfect as I was... not even I could see a way out of this one.

“One last ride, Bee.” I held my best friend since middle school’s hand. “I’m glad we made it our best.”

She smiled. Lips parting, she made to say—what?I’d never know.

Gunshots rang through the night, ending our last goodbye.

Chapter Six

Kenzie

Sienna pulled away from the hangar, putting an end to our adventure in New York.

River, Laurel, and I sat in the back. My baby was between us, kicking her feet and cooing at nothing, while my boyfriend leaned against the window—bearing the same silence that followed him on the plane ride.

“River?” I spoke up. “Is everything okay? You’ve been really quiet since we talked to Damien.”

“Can’t help it,” he replied, voice soft. “We went there to prove what a dick Frost is, and instead he showed me what an ass I am.”

“You? What are you talking about?”

He sighed. “I’m talking about Sacred Heart church, school, and charities. I’m talking about the school that hired Mom as a teacher, let her enroll me in the school with free tuition even though we weren’t Catholic, gave her such amazing benefits she jumped up and down gushing and laughing when she read the employments doc in the kitchen, and then covered all of her medical expenses when she was diagnosed with the cancer that took her away from me.

“All of that,” he croaked, “was Sacred Heart.”

“Oh, River,” I breathed, clapping my hand over my mouth. “Adeline? But... But all of that was from before—”

“The paternity test.” River’s voice was flat. Dead. “She did all of that for me and my mom before she knew I was her brother.Back when she thought my mom was nothing more than a cheating, gold-digging liar.

“What is that, Kenzie?” he burst out. “What do I do with that?”

“Well, I...” I reached for him. “You did say that Adeline had been keeping track of you two. She was the first one there when you lost your mom and had no one. I guess it’s not a surprise that no matter how she felt about your mom, if there was any chance that you were her brother, she had to make sure you two were okay.

“For her sake and for her father’s sake,” I whispered, seeing the muscles in his neck tense. “Loyalty, baby. She couldn’t have lived with herself if she let you or your father down in that way.”

“But why didn’t she say!” River slammed his fist on the door armrest. “All those times I called her a hypocrite. Accused her of not giving a shit about me until a piece of paper told her she could. Yelled that she was the worst kind of fake—acting like she was family above all when she tossed me out on the street, and the whole time—the whole time!—she did more for me and Mom than a-anyone.” His voice cracked. “And she didn’t fucking say.

“Why?” he ground out, spinning to me. “Why?”

My heart broke seeing the pain and anger in his eyes. For years, his anger and malice against his birth family defined him. It drove him to find a new family, and tear down the one before. All of those reasons and justifications were being ripped away from him, and with them gone, what was left except two hurt people who kept pushing away what they both wanted most.

“I don’t know why,” I murmured, stroking his cheek. “But if I guessed, I’d say it’s because she didn’t want you to feel like you had to be grateful to her. Relationships based on gratitude, and owing each other, are imbalanced right out of the gate.

“She wanted you to love her for her, and...” My mind scrambled to find the right words—the words that would rid theman I loved of the sorrow clouding his eyes. “And she wanted you to be angry,” I cried. “Because if that’s what you felt—angry, betrayed, abandoned—then she didn’t want those feelings invalidated because she anonymously gave your mom a job and health insurance.

“Because those two things don’t wash away the fact that she wasn’t there. You lost your father and your sister, and she... she...” The truth came to my lips unbidden. “She hates herself too, baby. She hasn’t tried to stop you punishing her, because she believes it’s no less than she deserves.

“She didn’t say because she loves you, River.” I cupped his cheek, catching a stray tear on my thumb. “And she can’t forgive herself for hurting you.”

River roughly cleared his throat. “Yeah, well...” He kissed my palm pulling back. “That’s something to think about.”

“It’s something to talk about too.” I laid my head on Laurel’s car seat, letting my baby poke me and tug on my hair. “Will you tell her that you know?”

“Have to,” he replied, resuming his staredown with the city of Cinco. “She’ll know I know when we tell her everything Frost told us. Family, man.” River shook his head. “The stuff they do. The things they drive you to. Wouldn’t surprise me if that psycho Leonard Stevens was avenging his mom and dad in some way.

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