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IGNACIO

M y arms are wrapped around a beautiful, sleeping girl, my fingers trailing over her soft skin. We messed around a little, but we didn’t have sex. It’s enough just to have her with me. My heavy cock is complaining at me as it lays against her stomach, yet I tell it to fuck off.

I can’t believe I saw Elijah, Jared, and Theo yesterday and didn’t kill them. My mind was completely on Liliana while my father was driving to their home, hoping she was okay.

The last time they got a hold of one of my girls, things didn’t end well for me. They looked surprised to see me, yet my attention was completely on Lili. While I was aware of them and the way they shifted uncomfortably under the weight of Lili and my reunion, none of them spoke to me directly.

I’m grateful they were with her at the hospital and helped her out, but it’s not enough to forgive them for Rachelle's murder. We’ll never be square for that. Not ever.

My hand moves to play through the soft strands of Liliana’s hair, my lips twitching as she sighs in her sleep.

She had a busy day yesterday filled with torture and killing, and was sleepy when we got home.

I can tell my father is worried about her, yet Lili is processing things the best way that she can.

She’s been alone, dealing with school politics, the Kings, and the aftermath of Rachelle’s death alone. I left her, despite it not being my fault. I still did, leaving her to deal with my ex-best friends who aren’t the kindest on a bad day.

We’re currently upstairs in her safe room, the cameras of the property on along the wall to the right.

Instead of a television screen, this is her security blanket.

She’s always been skittish about the safety of a home, and it reminds me of how desperately she wanted us to go to her house the night Rachelle was taken.

Lili isn’t wrong to be paranoid. She’s amassing enemies, and she’s inheriting both my father’s and her father’s enemies as well. That’s a lot of heat on her ass.

I hate that she’s sleeping in this safe room, but I’ll gladly sleep in it with her if it makes her happy.

Her breathing is deep and peaceful, and the construction of the room is completely hidden from anyone else.

I haven’t had a chance to see the full house yet, but knowing our fathers, they made sure there were plenty of places for her to hide.

It’s a necessity in our lifestyle. I don’t want to ever have to lean on the Kings for favors, which means I’ll need to check out her basement and see if I can fit out a proper torture room for her.

I’ll make sure it’s completely soundproof and hidden.

I need something to do while she’s at school anyway, and I need to feel needed.

Lili makes a small noise as she turns in her sleep, her back now to me as I carefully twist to look at the cameras. It’s early, only about five in the morning, and I want her to sleep in some more.

The cameras show three men at the front door, and I frown as I see a red light beside the camera wall.

That would work if Lili is awake, but won’t alert her otherwise.

Getting up, I tug the blanket over her body before pulling on my pants.

I need to do some online shopping before I leave the house again so I look less like an ex-convict.

Stretching as I walk, I leave the safe room, making sure to close the closet door behind me. I recognized the assholes at the front door, and while I know that they’re not a current danger to Lili, I still want to make sure she’s covered.

Moving through the house, I jog downstairs and disengage the house’s security system. However, I only do the front door so the rest of the house is secure.

“Miss me already?” I ask, a cruel smirk on my lips as I gaze at my ex-best friends.

“I had a feeling you were probably here,” Jared says, blowing out a breath. “Look, we should talk about things at some point.”

“I don’t believe we do,” I reply, cutting off any other nonsense he has to say as I lean against the door. “You sold me out to the Kings Society, and I took the fall for something I had no part of.”

“You’re the reason we chose her as the bet,” Theo reminds me mildly. “Don’t act as if you have no blame in this.”

“And then I fell in love with her,” I confess, shrugging. “I’ve always had a thing for Lili, but Rachelle was special. Everything about her slowly drew me in.”

“You’re not the only one,” Theo mutters. “She intrigued me, but no one really lives through my little obsessions.”

“Rachelle was no different,” I mutter bitterly. “I couldn’t let you kill her without fighting for her life.”

“It was her or us,” Elijah says indignantly. “Selling people in the sex trade isn’t really something I want to be forced to do for the rest of my life, and now I don’t have to.”

“You’re still a sellout,” I say. “They’re still being sold whether you’re involved or not. They’re your parents.”

He makes a face at my logic, but I know I hit a nerve. I can’t save everyone, and I’m well aware of that. However, if my father was involved in something like that, I’d do what I could to fuck up his work.

“Their circle is too powerful,” Elijah sighs. “Just because the Kings Society helped me get out, doesn’t mean they’re not involved in my parents’ business. They’re supplied by my mom and dad, and some of their sex clubs are set up like sweat shops. There’s no rights in places like that.”

“Getting involved in dismantling something like that is more than we’d survive,” Jared adds. “The best we can do is donate to charities that work with survivors and try to get as far as possible from under the Kings Society’s thumb.”

“Be sure not to tell me how that’s going for you,” I grunt. “I lost years of my life because of this shit. I’m done with you lot. Thanks for helping Lili when she needed it, but I’m not interested in fixing things between us.”

“We all agreed to sacrifice an innocent,” Theo says. “You weren’t against it when your father got married to Julia and you decided you hated her daughter.”

“I was all in,” Jared adds. “You broke what we had by choosing them. There’s punishment for that. We didn’t even know they’d?—”

“I’m sure he’s not interested in hearing Kings Society business,” Elijah scoffs. “Why would he believe us anyway?”

Fuck, I do want to know. Sitting in my cell in prison, it’s one of the questions I wrestled with. Why did they choose me as their scapegoat?

“I think that making decisions about that may be bad for your health. I wouldn't want that, if I were you,” I say, crossing my arms over my chest idly.

They’re lucky I’m unarmed, though my very body is a weapon now. I came out of prison a lot more powerful and jaded than when I went in.

“The Kings Society was pissed that you broke rank,” Jared says. “They decided that you needed to take the fall whether she died or not for your actions. Heroes never win in their eyes, people who break the rules just because they can have the real power.”

“So even if Rachelle managed to survive what you did to her, you’d take me from her and Lili?” I ask, brow raised.

“Not us, man,” Theo says, swallowing hard. “We may have sold our souls to them, but so did you. There are reprisals for not fulfilling their terms.”

“Is your club being funded by them?” I ask, cracking my knuckles.

“Nah, we’re trying to distance ourselves,” Jared says.

“ Son hipócritas ,” I scoff. They wince as I call them hypocrites, but I’m not done yet. “You’re always going to owe them something. They’re never going to let you go.”

“We’re aware,” Elijah says. “There are a lot of steps involved in this, and it’s a delicate dance to get space from them. One day, they may ask for a favor we can’t deny. Hopefully, we’re no longer in need of their protection by then and can get free.”

“Good luck,” I mutter. “I don’t?—”

“We didn’t come to fight,” Jared says, interrupting me. “We wanted to clear the air when Lili was hopefully still sleeping.”

I know for a fact that this entire area has cameras because that’s how I saw them, but I don’t know if they’re wired for sound. If they are, either Lili or her father will be listening to this conversation at some point. I have nothing to hide from either of them. The guys have to realize this.

“Were you afraid she’d shoot you?” I ask, barking out a laugh when they pale a little. “You saw her torture session, after all. Liliana isn’t the girl we went to high school with. Even if you didn’t directly send me to jail, you’re responsible for what she is now.”

“We did say something to the Kings Society, specifically Roan Baird,” Theo discloses. Roan is on the Council for the Kings Society, and a major mover and shaker in adventure capitalism.

He has an almost uncanny ability to know what businesses are going to do well, and then puts himself in the position to make money from it.

“Roan told us there was no other way,” Theo adds. “We all know that was bullshit. Rachelle’s hospital visit could have been easily swept under the rug, but they chose to use you as a reminder of what happens to those who don’t fall in line.”

“Fucking wonderful,” I sigh. “I just want to live my life, guys. Expecting me to kill Rachelle after we finally clicked was never in the cards.”

“How were we supposed to know?!” Elijah asks, finally snapping at me. “You stopped coming around, speaking to us, or responding to our messages. You left us!”

His chest heaves from emotion as he glares at me. He’s right, I did leave them.

“You three were my everything for a really long time,” I rasp. “It only became them or you because of the bet. I know that I played a role in that, it became a train that couldn’t be stopped, but you seemed to find joy in breaking her.”

“Hey, it’s how I’m built,” Theo says. “I can’t change that. I didn’t like seeing her in the coffin. It… did things to me that I’ve never experienced before. Even throwing her in the river, or shearing off her hair, none of that shit touched me until that.”