Page 124 of Deviant Princess (Knight's Ridge Empire 5)

It’s been frying for all of two minutes when heavy footsteps pound down the stairs.

Dad’s wide frame fills the doorway and I groan.

“Ugh, put it away, old man.”

Dad pats his toned, defined abs and grins at me.

“My wife loves it.”

Sticking my fingers in my mouth, I mock gag as he walks over to her and wraps his arms around her waist, resting his chin on her shoulder.

Jealousy swamps me at how happy they are, how easy they make it look.

Was what Theo and I had anything like that, even if briefly?

“Everything’s going to be okay today, kiddo.”

“Yeah, I know. I can handle it.”

“Security has been ramped up, just in case.”

“In case of what?” I ask.

Both Dad and Cruz have been tight-lipped about what’s going on.

They’ve told me Pops isn’t an issue and that the Wolves are safe, but his previous words make me wonder how true all that is.

“You can never be too careful. You’re hot property now. No one else out there is fifty percent Reaper and Cirillo that we know of. It puts something of a target on your back,” he says seriously.

“Great. Just what I need.”

“It’s just precautions, right, Dawson?” Piper says in a poor attempt to make this whole situation less dramatic.

“Yep. We don’t want anyone else thinking they can steal our sweet little Emmie from us.”

“Sweet my arse,” I mutter.

“You know,” Dad says seriously, releasing Piper so she can get back to breakfast, “I really did try to keep you from all this. If I had any idea that enrolling you at Knight’s Ridge would have led to this then—”

“You couldn’t have known,” I interrupt. “You were doing what you thought was best. You thought I’d be protected there. I am, in a way, if everything we’ve learned about this whole clusterfuck is true.”

“Yeah,” he says, rubbing the back of his neck.

“You don’t think Damien did all this for my own good?”

“I do, I think,” he says, still looking conflicted. “There’s still a lot to get to the bottom of.”

“Great. Well, when you figure it all out, let me know.”

“You’ll be the first to hear.”

I barely eat my breakfast. I can’t stomach it, and after mostly staring at it for twenty minutes, I dump it in the bin and bid farewell to Dad and Piper.

“Call me if you need anything,” Dad shouts after me.

“You got it, old man.”

I give them both a wave, grab my bag from the hallway and throw my leather jacket around my shoulders.