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My best friend enjoys throwing punches, fighting for money, and if he gets back into that life, I know Dahlia will walk away. She loves him, but he needs to keep his ass on the straight and narrow.

“Maybe Tar and I should head out there,” I offer, hoping he’ll agree. But Ares is a stubborn asshole.

“No, I’ll go with you. I’m not going to fight,” he tells me, his dark eyes meeting mine, but I can’t tell if he’s bullshitting me, or if he’s really over that life.

“You know you have to stick by your promise to Dahlia,” I remind him. He doesn’t bother looking my way, all I get is a nod. “Don’t ignore me, asshole.”

“Yeah, yeah, you just worry about your girl, I’ll sort everything else out.” Ares laughs, waving his hand in the air, but I can read the tension that’s radiating off him.

Tarian pulls up to the church and kills the engine. Not long now and we’ll have information. Hopefully, we’ll get all the names of the men who are working for Abner, and also, those who are faithful to Thane.

Exiting the car, I shut the door, but before I can make my way inside, a voice comes from behind me, and my body grows cold.

“Leaving me in bed like a fragile princess is not the way to gain my trust, Etienne Durand.” I turn to regard Rukaiya standing in the dim light of the early morning. Dressed in a pair of black tight pants with a black hoodie covering her blonde hair, she looks formidable, someone you don’t want to mess with, and I certainly don’t.

“You stalkin’ me, little wolf?”

“You fuckin’ wish. Take me in to see him,” she orders, strolling toward me in her black combat boots. Her rough exterior makes my dick harden as I watch her.

32

Rukaiya

He looks at me, staring at me for a long while, before he shakes his head and chuckles. His eyes bore into me, piercing every part of me with a mere glance. Etienne laces his fingers through mine before tugging me along behind him.

Tarian’s blue eyes lock on mine. I take him in for a moment. He looks just like Thane; the resemblance is uncanny. Dark stubble adorns his jawline, sharp features, along with full lips, make him look like a model. Etienne hasn’t shaved either, both men look like they’ve had a rough night.

I glance at the man who’s stolen my heart, his brown hair is messy, his eyes are shining, though, as if he’s about to get a gift at Christmas. His angular jaw is hidden by the dark smattering of hair there, and my fingers itch to touch it. To feel him.

We enter the church that I recall Dahlia telling me about all those months ago. Once inside, my eyes land on the man I called father for most of my life. He’s bound to a chair, his face is caked in blood, his left eye swollen, and his lip cut.

When he looks up at me, a small, sordid smile crosses his face, and I want to punch him, to hurt him like he did me. Even though he never got physical with me, he killed my mother. I’m sure of it.

“There’s the pretty little princess,” Fergus mutters through the saliva dripping from his mouth. “I didn’t think I’d see you here today.”

“I’m full of surprises, just like you,” I tell him. “Seems you taught me well over the years, Fergus.” I stop before him, inches from the asshole who I’ve come to hate over the years. He may have raised me, but I will never be like him.

“What are you doing here?” His question is stilted, Ares and Tarian stand behind him, and I notice Ares holding a folder, which I’m guessing is the agreement. I know they need information from him, but I need to know the truth first.

“Why? That’s all I need to know.” He locks his weary gaze on mine, and I wonder if he’ll ever give me the truth. Would he ever find the place inside himself that’s human? That is, if he still is human. Most of the men I’ve met who are part of the Sovereign are so broken, so tortured by power and greed, they no longer have a scrap of humanity left.

“Why what, princess? Why did I play daddy?” Fergus sneers, before spitting blood onto the floor inches from my feet, and I notice Etienne’s fingers fisting at his sides as he regards the asshole before us.

“Yes.”

“Did you know your mother was a teen mommy?” He chuckles. “The woman who raised you was nothing more than a maid to Thane. After he knocked up the pretty little blonde dancer, he paid me to sort her out.”

“What?” My brows furrow in confusion because I know who my mother was. I found her dead in a bathtub when I was six. His lies are taking hold, and my heart is thudding against my ribs.