Page 153 of Wicked Knight (Knight's Ridge Empire 1)

“I-I don’t… I just want to forget it all,” I whisper.

His eyes drop from mine and to my lips as I speak, and my heart rate picks up. When they come back up, the blue is significantly darker than a few seconds ago, telling me everything he’s thinking about right now.

My chest heaves as I wait for him to win whatever internal battle he’s fighting, and when he does, my entire body sags in relief as his lips meet mine.

I barely register the thundering footsteps heading our way as he presses the length of his hard body against mine, pinning me deliciously between him and the wall, but I sure as shit hear the panic in my dad’s roaring voice.

“Stella, no.”

One second Toby is there giving me everything I need, and the next, he’s gone.

When I open my eyes, I find his arm in my father’s grasp, the confusion on his face rivalling my own.

“N-no, you can’t,” Dad repeats, his words coming out between heaving breaths as if he just ran a freaking marathon.

This isn’t the first time he’s caught me with a boy, far from it actually, yet he’s never freaked out like this before.

“Why? It’s not like you usually care what I get up to,” I spit.

“This… this is different. You can’t be with Toby.” The fact that he knows exactly who it is when he’s only seen the back of him is weird, but it’s nothing compared to the words that fall from his lips a second later.

“He’s your brother.”

All the air rushes from my lungs as I push from the wall.

“He’s fucking what?” I bark, convinced that this must be a fucking joke.

Toby’s face is deathly pale as he stares at me with wide, horrified eyes.

Looks like everyone’s been lying to him, too.

“T-Toby’s your brother,” Dad repeats as if I didn’t hear it perfectly fucking clearly the first time.

“Fuck this,” I bark. “Fuck all of this. I’m so fucking done.”

I run through the front door right as a car speeds into the driveway. A fucking Maserati. Of course.

But Seb’s not quick enough.

I’m already past the car and heading toward the street when the passenger door flies open.

My feet pick up pace as I run, my lungs already screaming at me to drag in the air I need. I’m not sure I’ve actually breathed since Dad dropped that earth-shattering bomb.

I don’t look where I’m going. My only focus is to get away. Voices boom from behind me, forcing me to go faster, to push myself harder.

My legs pump, my feet pound against the ground. I’m praying that it’s enough when I run into something akin to a brick wall.

“I’m so—What?”

I look just in time to see the glint of my pink switchblade before it sinks into my stomach and pain explodes through my body.

I glance up just in time to see a masked figure inches from me before everything goes dark and I’m thrown into the back of a vehicle.

Something hits me in the arm after I crash to the floor. I kick my legs out to fight, pain shooting from my stomach before everything goes black and finally the world and all its bullshit fades away from me.