Page 119 of Wicked Empire (Knight's Ridge Empire 3)

“He’s going to literally kill you, you know that right?” I thought it before, but after spending all that time with him the other night as he inked us, I’m now more confident than ever that he’ll blow his fucking lid when he finds out.

“I know. I just—”

“Want to know the truth about who you are. I get it, I really do, Em. But is it worth it?”

She lets out a heavy sigh.

“When I’m there, no one treats me like a kid,” she confesses. “My name alone makes most of the guys treat me with a level of respect I don’t get anywhere else. It’s… refreshing. It makes me feel like I’m part of something. Like I belong somewhere.”

“You do belong somewhere. You belong here.”

Her brow lifts. “Do I? Theo hates me. He hates me being here. The others just put up with me because they’re scared of you. And don’t even try to tell me that I belong at school.”

I can’t help but laugh at the way her face twists at that point.

“No, Em. I think I can safely say that neither of us belongs there. But we’re in that together.”

“I didn’t want any of this. I just wanted to…” I don’t say anything in the hope that she’ll continue. “Disappear,” she finally says after long, silent seconds.

“What’s going on with your mom, Em?”

Her eyes drop from mine in favor of the coffee table, but not before I spot the tears that well in her eyes.

“It’s nothing I didn’t expect,” she mutters quietly. “She was never going to win mother of the year or anything, but for her just to fuck off and not look back…” She sighs. “It hurts more than it should.”

I smile sadly at her.

“I—” I cut myself off from my knee-jerk reaction of telling her I’m sorry. I hate that fucking saying when something’s gone wrong, or someone’s died. It wasn’t my fault, so why am I accepting blame? “Wanna get wasted?” I ask.

“And still be here when the guys get back? No thanks.”

I want to argue with her, but I bite the words back when I see the fierce determination on her face. There’s no way I’m going to be convincing her to do anything she doesn’t want to do tonight.

“I’ll just drown myself in Chinese and sugar instead.”

“Sounds like a plan. Any preference?” I say, pointing the remote toward the TV.

“Something where someone gets shot.”

“Done,” I say, flicking through until I find some action movie I’ve never seen before and hit play.

“What are the guys doing tonight?” Emmie asks a little later, while the hero of the movie meets the woman who will obviously become his love interest.

“No clue. It was all cloak and daggers.”

“Must be important if they all left you.”

I shrug. “Boss is probably fed up with them babysitting me.”

“I dunno, I reckon he probably wants you safe just as much as they do.”

“Why? He doesn’t even know me.” I’ve spoken two words to the man, and that was only because he attended Helen’s funeral. If it weren’t for that, I have every confidence that I wouldn't have seen him in person.

“He knows you well enough to protect you and your dad when all that shit went down. He protected you when you first came back, even if it was to put those arseholes on your case.”

“I guess.”

“It’s family, Stella. It’s how it’s meant to be… apparently,” she adds quietly.