Page 3
Story: Climbing Everest
“My father. He’ll attack. He’s going to see this as some kind of…I don’t know. Ploy from your father. He’ll take it as a personal affront.”
No way will he be happy that he’s going to be a grandfather. Maybe Madd has the right idea – we should run.
“Let’s do it. Let’s run. Let’s pack some bags and move…fuck, anywhere. We can even live overseas. My mom still has some family in the UK. We’ll have some connections.”
Tears are streaming down my face now as the euphoria I felt moments ago is chased away by the what ifs that are right in front of me, both literally and figuratively. I can see the lights of the estate through the trees from where we’re sitting.
And once I push through them, walk through the house, and announce to my parents I’m carrying a child of Antoniou blood…
It won’t even matter whether the child is biologically Kato’s; Maddox and Brixton are still pledged to Christos and his organization.
Brix wipes away my tears with his long fingers then leans forward and presses his lips to my forehead. “I go where you go, E.”
“Same,” Maddox says.
Then we all turn our attention to Kato. Because there’s no way I can go anywhere if they’re not all three with me. I need my guys…my husbands. We might not be legally married, but as far as I’m concerned, the initials on my chest and the child in my womb have bound us.
Until death do us part.
Even after. I can picture all three of them in ghost forms searching for me through the ether so we can continue our lives together for an eternity.
That thought makes me smile through my tears even as the panic tries to keep its claws dug deep.
“You can’t possibly think I would ever let you walk away without a fight,” he teases, leaning forward and pressing a soft, lingering kiss to my lips. “If that’s what you want, that’s what we’ll do. But we have to be smart about this. No running off half-cocked.”
I sniff and blink away the tears clinging to my lashes. We’re leaving. The four of us are going to pack it up and start our lives somewhere else, somewhere we no longer have to be associated with the Antonious or the Sidorovs. I can’t imagine my father will look too hard once I take off.
Thing is, we’re all of age. They can’t stop us if we want to move out, if we want to be together.
Now the panic is receding and in its place is excitement and a little anxiety over the unknown. We’ll all have to find jobs to support ourselves and our baby, and we’ll have to find somewhere to live.
Brix can use his car without worrying about it being reported stolen since he bought it himself with cash. But the rest of us…well, my father and Kato’s father have supported us and Madd for as long as I can remember.
A grin stretches on my face as I look from one face to the other and see the love I feel in my chest reflected on their faces.
We are in this together. We’re building a family together.
And I can’t wait to start our lives out from under the shadow of our fathers.
Chapter 1
Four Years Later
Kato
Shoving my pistol against this asshole’s temple has to be the highlight of my day. I’ve been looking for this motherfucker for weeks. HeknewI was looking for him, and the dumbass decided to visit one of my clubs.
I swear it feels like he was giving himself up without walking right up to the front gate of my estate.
“I told you I don’t know shit,” Lorenzo whines. He’s about two seconds from pissing himself. I hate the smell of piss.
If I don’t end up putting a bullet through his skull, Lorenzo will still end up with a permanent imprint of the muzzle of my gun. I’m shoving it so hard against his head he has no choice but to lean to the side, nearly falling from the chair.
Not that he’ll get far with his wrists and ankles zip tied to the fucking thing.
Brix steps out of the shadows and saunters forward, lowering to the balls of his feet with far more grace than a fucker his size should possess.
Lorenzo might have been afraid of the gun against his head, but the absolute terror shining in his wide eyes at my surrogate brother’s appearance is a sight to behold.
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 124
- Page 125
- Page 126
- Page 127
- Page 128
- Page 129
- Page 130
- Page 131
- Page 132
- Page 133
- Page 134
- Page 135
- Page 136
- Page 137
- Page 138
- Page 139
- Page 140
- Page 141
- Page 142
- Page 143
- Page 144
- Page 145
- Page 146
- Page 147
- Page 148
- Page 149
- Page 150
- Page 151
- Page 152
- Page 153
- Page 154
- Page 155
- Page 156
- Page 157
- Page 158
- Page 159
- Page 160
- Page 161
- Page 162
- Page 163