Page 49 of Run, Little Rabbit (Blood & Bonds #1)

Chapter Forty-One

Echo

A s soon as I round the corner of one of the last remaining walls of the abbey, I spot my dad with a handful of his men. The twins stand off to one side, and I see Jace and Kai mirrored on the other. His posture is rigid, like a steel rod holds him in place. As if he were immovable.

His face is hard, cold. Giving nothing away, and the twins look bored. The only person showing any real concern or any emotion at all is Kai. But that was to be expected. He already knows that it’s me coming out of the shadows and not some scary-looking dude with a penchant for murder.

Come on, Echo. It’s showtime.

I step out of the shadows and into the light, my steps steady and sure.

“Hello, Daddy.” My voice is calm, my fingers relaxed as they hover by the gun strapped to my thigh.

He doesn’t move. Doesn’t speak. He simply watches me walk towards him, those dangerous, calculating eyes fixed on me.

Looking at him makes my blood boil. I never really knew how much I hated him until now. Previously, I'd always buried it beneath the facade of the dutiful daughter, believing that was the proper thing to do. But now I know better.

I see the monster now. The man who murdered his wife. The father who only sees his children as pawns and useful tools for his grand plan.

I'm curious if the twins would have turned out differently if they hadn't had to suffer at the hands of Rory Quinn. Would I have been different?

Probably, but I guess we will never know.

“Not going to shoot me?” I ask as I step a little closer, eradicating the distance between us until I can see the whites of his eyes.

There’s something dangerous swirling in them. I’ve outfoxed him, and he doesn’t know what to make of that yet. He’s planning something, calculating risks and working out strategies for how to deal with the knowledge I’ve just handed to him.

Rory Quinn’s little princess is a serial killer.

“I don’t kill family.” His voice is steady, but I can sense the storm swirling beneath the surface. The air feels charged with it.

I bark a laugh. “Really? What about Mum? You had no trouble killing her.”

His left eye twitches. “I didn’t kill her.”

“No, you had Larke do that.”

I sense the ripples of shock and curiosity from the men behind him, but I don’t take my eyes off my dad.

I don’t want to give him an opportunity to strike.

But I do want to provoke him. I want to make him snap and wipe that calm fucking mask off his face.

I know he’s seething inside. Pissed that he didn’t figure out who I really was.

Angry that I’m threatening to make him look weak .

Well, I’m going to make him show the fucking world who he really is.

Even now, he won’t admit what he did. I sent him the evidence, the goddamned proof, and he still says nothing.

I cock my head to one side and look over him from head to toe, my gaze assessing. “Too afraid to do your own dirty work?”

“And you’d know all about that. Wouldn’t you?”

He’s not wrong. “At least I have the balls to, Dad. I don’t need anyone else to do my work for me.”

Dad’s laugh is cold. “You think killing a few people is going to make you worthy of a seat at my table?”

I don’t think I ever really did it for a seat at the table.

I did it for me. I did it because I wanted to help people who had suffered at the hands of monsters like him.

Perhaps by helping them in obtaining their revenge, I was giving myself the courage to seek my own.

All those years of Dad’s manipulation flash before my eyes.

The way he’d dangle his love and affection as a fucking reward, only to pull it away from me when I’d done something to piss him off.

I’d been a child. I hadn’t understood what he was doing at the time, but now I do. And I will not let him use me anymore.

“What a surprise,” I say with a sigh. “You’re making this all about you.”

“Well, isn’t it?” He snarls. “You sent the pictures with your little calling card. You wanted this little meeting with me. For what?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” I scoff. “I want you to step aside.”

“What?” The syllable is harsh and cold, like a shard of ice.

“You’re not fit to rule. The men don’t respect you anymore. You’re old and weak, and if the Quinn name is going to survive, you need to be removed.”

“And if I don’t?” He hisses. “What then, princess?”

“Then I’ll hand you over to the police. I’ve got all that pretty evidence ready to go. You’ll be sent to jail and probably become someone’s bitch, because let’s face it. You’re nothing without the men behind you.”

Rory grabs a gun from one of the men behind him and points it straight at me.

I chuckle, slow and deliberate. There he is. There’s the monster beneath the man. “What are you going to do, Daddy?”

“You know, I never liked you. I’m not even sure you’re mine.” His voice is low and full of rage.

A spark of shock runs through me at his words, but I’m not as surprised as I thought I would be. I’m just sad that I never got the chance to know my real dad. Maybe subconsciously, I always knew.

“Your mother was a whore .” He spits the words like it’s venom. “Her and that bodyguard of hers. She wasn’t even discreet. The whole staff knew. I was a laughingstock in my own damn house. And you, you’re no better. Spreading your legs for those Volkovs. You should be ashamed of yourself.”

Another laugh bubbles between my lips, and it pisses him off even more. The gun shakes in his hand, and I know he’s about one insult away from pulling the trigger.

“Of what? Being with men who love me just the way I am? There’s no shame in that, and you’d know it if you even knew what love was.”

“But they’re the enemy,” he roars, and the last of his calm exterior crumbles. He goes to take a step closer, but his step falters and his eyes catch on something moving behind me.

“Are we really, though?”

Max’s low drawl echoes in the open space, and my heart lurches in my chest.

No, he shouldn’t be here. Rory will kill him without a second’s hesitation. I at least stood a chance of sorting this relatively gun-free, but now…

Rory raises the gun with renewed determination, swinging it between Max and me, and a fear like I've never felt before grips my throat like a vice.

A smirk creeps up Rory’s face, and I know what he’s going to do. There might be a part of him that cares for me buried deep somewhere—he did raise me after all—but for Max? There’s nothing.

Nothing but hate fuelled by decades of rivalry.

I don’t think. I don’t even hesitate.

I have to save him. I won’t let Rory Quinn take him.

I run toward Maxim at full speed, but he’s already figured out what I’m going to do because he’s running, too.

Straight towards Rory.

No. No, no, no. “Max!”

But it’s too late.