Page 108 of Deviant Princess (Knight's Ridge Empire 5)

EMMIE

No one questioned it when Dad and Cruz turned up hours after they disappeared covered in what I can only assume is someone else’s—or multiple people’s—blood.

Dad just dropped a kiss on Piper’s head as if it were completely normal and disappeared to their room to shower.

It was surreal but equally kinda reassuring, knowing that they both went out to fight for me.

“You okay, sweetie?” Gran asks, noticing the grimace on my face while we’re sitting around watching some shit on the TV later that night.

“Cramps,” I whisper.

As promised, Cruz came through with the morning after pill. And the only more horrifying thing than admitting I needed it to my uncle was the fact that my gran delivered it personally. Thankfully, it didn’t come with any judgement, just concern. She talked me through it, what to expect, and once she was confident that I knew what I was doing, she handed me a glass of water and the pill.

I hesitated for two seconds, but I knew I couldn’t risk it, so I swallowed it and tried to put the whole thing out of my mind.

There was something seriously wrong with me for trying to imagine what our kid might look like, anyway. That’s nothing but a recipe for disaster.

“Why don’t you get an early night,” she suggests with a warm smile.

I glance around the room, Dad and Piper are curled up on the sofa looking insanely cute, and Cruz is on his phone laughing at God only knows what. The others headed out once Dad and Cruz came back, no longer needed to protect us in their absence. And Mum is still in her room, recovering.

She might be improving and is probably more than capable now of coming to join us, but she refuses. I understand why.

“Yeah, maybe I will.”

“I found a hot water bottle in the cupboard. I’ll get it for you.”

“Thank you,” I say when she pushes from the sofa and disappears to go and get it.

“You okay, kid?” Cruz asks, dragging his eyes from his phone.

“Yeah, I’m good.”

After wishing everyone goodnight, I drop a kiss on Dad’s cheek, whispering a thank you in his ear, needing him to know just how much I appreciate everything he’s done for me over the past few days.

Gran meets me in the hallway and hands me the hot water bottle and some painkillers before sending me on my way.

I hesitate outside Mum’s room, but in the end, I decide against it.

If it weren’t for her stupid fucking decisions then none of us would be in this mess.

Slipping into my room, I close the door behind me and rest back against it, closing my eyes and tilting my face to the ceiling.

But my peace doesn’t last very long.

The hot water bottle falls from my arms the second a warm hand wraps around my mouth, cutting off my scream.

“Shhh, it’s okay. It’s just me.”

I look into a dark pair of eyes and relax.

“What the actual fuck do you think you’re doing?” I hiss, my heart still thundering in my chest. “If Dad or Cruz catch you, they’ll kill you.”

“No they won’t,” he says, full of confidence. “We’re family, cous.”

I blink at Seb, willing my brain to start functioning.

“He told you,” I breathe before a thought hits me. “Where’s Theo?” I look around the room in a panic, expecting him to be hiding in the shadows.