Page 8 of The Lost Kings

Kingston

I knew I wasn’t supposed to be downstairs.

It was one of the only rules we had in the manor, and I was always the one to ensure none of us ever broke it.

But two days ago, Presley got into trouble and her dad got so upset that he took her favorite stuffed animal away.

He said it was gone for the month, and since she was nine years old now, she needed to start growing up.

It wasn’t really her fault for sneaking into our room again.

Her dad had made it really clear that she wasn’t allowed to anymore, but there was a really bad thunderstorm last night with so much lightning, the electricity went out.

Presley cracked our door around midnight and both me and Gio had taken all of our blankets and piled them in the middle of the floor so we could both protect her.

The next morning, her dad was standing over us with his arms crossed and he looked really upset.

Our dad didn’t seem mad, but he did shake his head like he was disappointed in us.

I didn’t really care that much, not when it came to keeping Presley safe, and making sure she didn’t need us.

Now she needed us for a different reason.

That stuffy meant the world to her; nine or not, she couldn’t go a whole month without it. Presley had already checked their entire family wing, and all the cars, which meant there was only one place it could be.

Gio had gone into town with everyone else, same with Presley and my big sister, Alex. Our families were shopping or going to dinner, but I had faked being sick. My abuela was here and offered to watch me, but she was already asleep on one of the outside loungers, listening to one of her audiobooks.

I’d snuck past the big windows in our wing that revealed the loungers and darted down the hall until I was out of sight.

The door to downstairs was tall and heavy, but I pulled it open and took the stairs two at a time.

I had to be quick if I was going to find her stuffed cow and get it to her room before anyone came home.

The stairs were made of concrete, and the basement was too, but large, thick rugs covered most of the open space, so it didn’t feel like a dungy basement.

It felt like a library with leather couches and two large desks.

The main space wasn’t where her dad’s office was though, so I kept walking until I turned the corner to a small hallway.

The door was black with a gold knob, which reminded me of something from a pirate ship.

I gently twisted the handle and pushed the door open.

The room was lit by a dim lamp somewhere off in the corner, but directly in front of me was a half wall that I quickly ducked behind as someone in the room started talking.

Who the heck was here…everyone was supposed to be in town.

My fingers tunneled into the rug as I crawled forward, peeking around the wall. I saw a man sitting in a chair, his wrists were secured with zip ties and so were his feet. He was crowded by Presley’s dad, his uncle Scotty and…my dad.

My eyes narrowed as I took in my dad’s dark hair, which wasn’t styled and had pieces falling over his dark brows and nearly cutting into his amber eyes that matched mine.

He had a sneer on his face as he stared down at the man in the chair, and his fists…they were dripping with blood .

It made me focus on the man in the chair, seeing that he was also bleeding. His lip was busted, his eye was black, and his cheek was cut. With his head drooping, he looked like he could barely sit up.

“For someone who keeps begging to keep his life, you sure are making this extremely difficult.” Kyle joked with a smile slipping up on his face like this was funny. His smile was different though from when he was around us…cruel and almost evil.

Scotty stood at the back of the wall, one of his dogs next to him, alert and watching the man in the chair.

He looked like Presley and Carter in a way, with dark hair and fair skin.

I didn’t particularly care for the way he went so hard with training Presley; I knew he would never hurt her, but he was always so intense it made me a little afraid of him.

My stomach dropped as my dad pulled his arm back and slammed his fist into the man’s face again. He groaned and spit out a blob of blood. “Please, I’m begging you. I have children. Don’t you have kids…can’t you understand?”

Tears started in the corners of my eyes as I watched my dad laugh, and then Kyle pulled out a knife. “We don’t have kids, Frank. Not a single one, but something tells me yours would be better off without you.”

“I didn’t know she was that young—” The man choked on his blood, while tears streamed down his face.

“You stepped foot into my community, Frank. El Peligro had no choice,” my dad said, grabbing the guy’s jaw.

Kyle inspected his nails. “Honestly, even if you hadn’t, your connection to the Yullivi family is a complication.”

“I can—I can tell you who I’m working for. I know I messed up. I won’t ever go near?—”

“No, we’ll send your body as a message to your boss. That’s really all the use we have left for you,” Kyle said lazily.

There was a thickness in my throat, making it difficult to swallow. What was I seeing? Why was my dad and Presley’s like this…why were they the bad guys ?

“I’m begging you.” The man screamed, which made me flinch.

“Scotty, I think we’ll let Reaper have fun with him.”

Reaper’s sleek black fur gleamed near the lamp light as his head tilted toward the man in the chair.

Scotty quickly muttered something in a different language and Reaper lunged. Within seconds, blood sprayed everywhere as the dog dug into the man’s throat.

My stomach tilted and I vomited.

I had no idea if anyone saw me, but I had to get out. I scrambled back and fell to my butt before turning on all fours and running toward the door. The second I was out of his office, I threw up again.

Then I ran and kept running. I just kept going until I got to my bedroom and slammed the door behind me.

“Kingston?” I heard Presley’s soft voice from the door and turned over on my side.

She knocked again.

“King-ston?”

I hated when she drew my name out like that, as if it were a song or something.

I didn’t want to see her, or anyone. “What?!” I yelled over my shoulder.

The door pushed open, and I could hear her bare feet gently slap against the floor, and then something warm was being pushed against my face.

“I got you dirt.”

I lifted my hand to feel along the glass jar and pulled it away from my cheek. She’d filled a glass jar with dirt.

“I saw the sun hitting it and I know you like to touch the garden dirt when the sun heats it. I brought it to you, so you’d feel better.”

Angry tears wanted to fall, but I held them back. It wasn’t her fault that my dad had lied to me, and her. It wasn’t her fault that I had to see that dog rip someone’s throat out.

My stomach tilted and I felt sick all over again, but I managed to whisper, “Thanks, mi reina .”

I thought she’d leave, but she crawled onto my bed and over my legs until she was tucked against the wall facing me. She had her stuffed cow in her arms, and a sad smile on her face.

Blue eyes. Dark hair and a freckled nose.

“Hi.” She blinked, lowering her long lashes.

“You’re going to get in trouble again for being in here.”

She just placed her hand over the jar of dirt and continued to stare at me.

I didn’t want to talk anymore, so I shut my eyes.

I felt her palm move to my cheek and for some reason that felt nice. She had no idea that her father led a different life, or that Scotty did. She loved Scotty almost more than her real uncle, Decker. They were liars.

My dad was one too.

I let the tears fall and finally let sleep pull me under.

Sometime later I woke up and found she was still across from me; her hand curled around mine. Gio had crawled onto the bed too and was asleep slightly angled between both me and Presley with his face up toward the ceiling.

Taking in a deep breath, I realized I’d be okay as long as I had them. I could face our family being liars, and I’d protect them from it, no matter the cost.