Page 80 of The Hitman's Prince

“What? Where are we going?”

“I’m taking you to my cousin’s house.”

I didn’t have a car and I didn’t trust a cab, so we walked through town and across the length of Rose Hill University’s campus until the massive Thorn Hill house came into view. There was a blonde man on the porch, his feet propped up on the railing, and Luca beside him.

“Daren,” Luca, shouted over his shoulder toward the house. “Your cousin is here.”

The screen door swung open and my cousin stepped onto the porch, Fletcher Sinclair on his heels.

“Don’t you dare bring your drama onto my doorstep,” Fletcher warned.

I raised my hands in surrender, stopping just shy of the stairs. “Trying to not. Just wanted to see if Caspian could stay here a bit.”

Caspian’s eyes went wide and he turned on me like he was big enough to hurt me.

“What?” he gasped, raising his voice and advancing on me. He was so small, so delicate to the touch. I spun him back around and shoved him toward the porch.

“Vince is missing,” I said. “Orion went after him. I just…”

“Your father doesn’t trust you,” Daren said. “Neither does mine.”

“I know.” The Glock was warm now against the small of my back. “I’m going to take care of it.”

I should have known on the day my father threw me into hiding at that stupid church and told me to cosplay a priest that the only way to control my own life was to end his. From the sidelines, I’d watched Gideon North and Fletcher Sinclair go through the motions with their respective fathers, and even though the police didn’t think there was any merit to the charges, the rumor mill ran.

Listening to Caspian find out his father’s plan had been for him to get killed all along, knowing that my father’s trust in me was already compromised…Gideon and Fletcher acting out against generations of tradition had ruined all of our lives. They stood before me now, like arrogant fucking kings of their own little castle with no concern for anyone except the men who warmed their beds at night. It was selfish and it was careless, and my finger itched to raise the gun at them for starting all of this inthe first place.

I didn’t want to kill my father. I didn’t want to kill anyone.

But I would do whatever it took to get Vince back. To keep him, Orion, and Caspian safe. I understood, with a startling clarity, the surge of emotion that had driven Gideon and Fletcher both to the point of no return, and look at them now.

Daren came down the stairs, closed the space between his partners to where Caspian and I stood. My cousin and I were the same height, a similar build, but he looked more like his father and I looked more like my mother. We were undeniably related, and I faced down memories of hiding under the dining room table at Christmas dinner with him when we were kids as I shoved Caspian into his arms.

“Don’t let him do something stupid,” I begged. “He’s not cut out for this.”

“Neither is Bellamy,” Daren said. “We’ll keep him safe.”

“I’m right here,” Caspian argued, trying to pull away from Daren, whose grip turned to steel around Caspian’s wrist.

“And you’ll stay here,” Daren warned. “Whether you want to or not, so be trustworthy, alright?”

Caspian looked to me with wet and pleading eyes. I gave him a weak smile, and traced the tip of my finger across his cheekbone.

“This will be over soon,” I promised. “And we’ll come back for you.”

“All of you?”

“Yes.”

“Even Orion?” he asked.

I chuckled under my breath. “He’s a wildcard, but I’ll try my best to make sure he doesn’t get himself killed.”

“How will you find him?”

I wasn’t sure I could, but I had some ideas.

“I’m going to look for him,” I said. “I’ll find him and Vince, and we’ll finish this, then we’ll come back for you.”