5. Riven
RIVEN
T he boutique goes up in raging flames faster than I expected.
The smoke curls out of the windows and flames lick the roofline, gorging themselves on wood, lace, silk, and the lies that built Castlebrook Falls.
I don’t wait to watch it all come down. While I want my mother to pay for her part in all of this, the only thing I really care about is Lakynn and making sure she’s safe. I can’t do that if she’s not within sight. I knew she’d be upset with me, at least until she knows the full story, but I didn’t have her bolting on my radar.
I’m already sliding behind the wheel of the pickup truck I hotwired outside a dive bar two towns over. Tucked low in the seat, ball cap pulled down to hide the sharp lines of my face.
They’ll talk about the explosion for weeks.
Two women inside. No survivors.
And I’ll be far, far away, rebuilding my life with my girl.
They never understood what they took from me when they ripped Lakynn away. They never understood that she wasn’t just some girl I grew up with. She was my every breath. She was the only thing in this rotting world that made me human.
And they tried to sever that bond.
So I took their lives.
The propane tank in the back alley had been leaking. I cut the line myself when I first returned, when I was still deciding who needed to die and when. A single spark was all it took.
Now they’re ash.
And it still isn’t enough.
Not until every single person who touched her, who looked at her like she was anything less than mine joins them.
Not until I take her away from this place.
I drive toward the Kozlov farmhouse because in my gut I know that’s where she’s headed. She’s on foot, and it’s freezing. I can feel myself getting angry at the thought of her being cold. The truck rattles over gravel roads as I head toward my entire reason for being. I need to get to her before our father does. I need to keep him alive a little while longer so he can speak to Lakynn. I want him to look her in the eyes and tell her the things he did to me to turn me into the monster I am today. I want him to tell her that she’s my only humanity and that the promise of a life with her as my wife was the only way he persuaded me to do his dirty work.
And then he’s a dead man. I’d like to say I’ll take my time torturing him, but the truth is I’m losing steam. I was ready to bulldoze the entire town, but that was before I had her in my hands. That was before I felt her breath hitch when my fingers traced over her nipple.
I need her. I need to get her out of this fucking hell hole and under me instead. I want her long legs spread wide and I need her taking my cock like the good girl I know she’ll be for me.
I’m about to lose my goddamn mind over the fact that I let her slip away when I see a flash of her sun-kissed hair. She’s cutting through Old Man Miller’s field and I know exactly the shortcut she’s trying to take.
My girl can run. She can hide wherever she chooses, but I will always find her.
She’s about to find out just how important she is to me.