Page 24 of Unforgiving Queen

“What is it?”

Her lip trembled, and I knew I was being an ass. But I couldn’t stop. “When was the last time you slept?”

“Hard to sleep when I have uninvited guests.”

She sighed, flicking a glance over her shoulder. “Musuko—”

“Please, don’t.”

There was nothing she could say that would make this right. My motivation and goals had gone out the window. All I could see was my bleak future. Even worse, I didn’t give a fuck about that future.

She sighed. “Take a shower and change into clean clothes. The staff is coming, we’ll set up your place.”

I sidestepped her and shut the door behind me, not bothering to answer.

Of course, when I was out of the shower, towel wrapped around my waist, I found Dante sitting on a chair, his ankle crossed over his knee.

“There he is!” he drawled, his hand casually on the armrest. Contrary to his casual posture, there was a hard glint in his eyes.

My jaw clenched. I wasn’t in the mood for his shit today. “Get the fuck out of my room.”

“No.”

I ignored him and got dressed. Christmas Day didn’t seem like a good time to beat up my brother.

“How long do you plan on sulking?”

I narrowed my eyes on him. “Is there something you want to say? If so, spit it the fuck out.”

His eyes softened, and it hit me all wrong. He didn’t even know the truth about Reina and me, or that my father was the prick Romero. Fury lanced up my spine. Even after all these months, just the thought of Romero made me want to rage.

From an early age, I always tried to take care of and protect my brother. Now it seemed our roles had reversed. I was staring at the version of him that seemed to have matured while I… I had descended into madness.

“I’ve known you all my life, I know when you’re upset. What worries me is that I’ve never seen youthisupset.” His voice was too fucking gentle for my liking. My brother was the reckless one, losing his temper during his raging moments. I usually kept a cool head and my emotions reined in. Until now, apparently. It only took a girl to tear my self-control down. “I remember when we were young, you refused to let anything,anyonebreak you. Stubborn as a motherfucker. But now… since you got involved withher, I’m watching parts of you disappear, and I don’t know what to make of it.”

Father used to randomly decide when it was time for his “lessons.” Dante hated them, and whenever he got wind of it, he’d want to run and hide in hopes of being spared. He’d make sure to come find me and drag me away with him too. I’d thought it was because he was scared to be in trouble alone, but now I realized he was as protective of me as I was of him.

But there was a major flaw in his protectiveness over me.

There was nothing left of me to save. I couldn’t breathe without her. I didn’t exist without her—she was my beginning, middle, and end.

“If there’s a point, you should probably get to it fast.”

He released a breath. “I don’t know what happened, but you cannot become this.” He jutted his chin my way. “Whateverthisis. It’s going to destroy you if you don’t let it go. This violence spree won’t help you.”

“It seems to be helping you,” I said, referencing his need to torture criminals to release his pent-up frustration.

“Something affected you, worse than any torture you’ve gone through. Any betrayal by your fucking cousin. But if you didn’t let any of that fuck you up, you can’t let anything else mess with your head either.”

“Lovely therapy session,” I deadpanned.

“Get your shit together, Amon. You had a goal.Wehave a goal. Let’s focus on that.”

My brother wasn’t wrong.

“Dante?” I headed out of my room, my hand just reaching the doorknob.

“Yes?”