Page 105 of Pride

Dangerous.

Out of his mind.

A lunatic.

And all of this was on me.

I should’ve done more to stop him. I should’ve taken him to the facility myself, had him committed, then visited every fucking day to make sure he was still locked up in there.

But I put my trust in others.

I was a fucking fool.

Because when it came to my brother, I couldn’t trust anyone.

He always found a way to distort things.

To manipulate people.

To twist the story to suit his own ends.

Just like he was doing now.

I could feel my finger flexing, itching to squeeze and pull the trigger. All that mattered was getting Emma out of here, making her safe. And yet, the fucked-up part of my brain couldn’t bring myself to do it. He was my brother. My brother, who’d been dealt a shit hand in life. Even though I wanted this to end, and eventhough I would kill him if it meant protecting her, I still stood there, waiting, hoping for the tide to turn.

Anything was possible where Arran was concerned.

But he was so unhinged right now, staring down the barrel of my gun like he didn’t have a care in the world. Part of me thought pulling the trigger might’ve been a relief for him. But for me, it’d mean a lifetime of regret. Regret I already lived with and battled every single day.

“What fucking performance?” I snapped, “Fucking answer me.” I needed to hear what fucked-up shit would come out of his brain. I had to know what I was dealing with.

My brother was a beast.

He was a killer.

But I knew how to handle him...

Most of the time.

He had urges that he struggled to control. To help, I’d used my connections with the police to find out about men who’d evaded justice. Men that deserved to die for crimes that they’d managed to wriggle out of on a technicality or some other bullshit. It had worked so well, too. Channelling his hunger that way. Until it didn’t.

Since Emma had come into my life, my brother’s predilection for violence and torture had spiralled out of control. I knew he was going to kill that girl he was on a date with the night I tracked him down. I also knew he’d killed other innocent people, just to sate his cravings.

But it wouldn’t happen to Emma.

I’d die to protect her.

“You know, you really need to look closer at your staff,” Arran said, stalling for time. “It was way too easy to get into your house today. And the rose you gave her, that she left in her room? Nice touch. I kind of felt bad about destroying that.”

I couldn’t help it; anger surged through me, and I had to act.

I flew across the clearing and smacked him in the face with my gun. His head whipped to the side, and blood trickled from his nose as he laughed and wiped it away with the back of his hand. He was still holding his gun, but he didn’t even point it at me or try to hit me back.

“Nice hit,” he joked, before spitting out blood onto the floor. “I guess I deserved that.”

Then he stood up and pointed towards a tree behind him.

“Just so you know, I have a video set up, recording everything that’s gonna happen here tonight. It’s currently live streaming on the dark web.” The smile he gave me then, thinking he had the upper hand made me rear back and punch him a second time.