Chapter 1
One
Theo
Every single member of my family was crazy, obsessive, evil bastards to the deepest part of their cores.
Overprotective of unimportant things, too loose with the vital.
In-fucking-furiating. Every single one of the cunts.
But I didn’t have time for anger over my uncle and his insane ways, didn’t have time for anything other than absolute relief that he was the way he was.
I didn’t laugh or jibe or scoff at him as he told me he’d placed a little tracker in his wallet in case anyone pinched it from him. For a moment, my thoughts centered only on how to bury one under Violet’s skin as soon as I got my hands back on her.
I wanted to fucking kiss the man, the bewildered idiot standing before me with his phone in hand. But I wouldn’t; I’d kiss Violet when I caught up to her, for taking something so fucking trackable when she ran off.
My little lamb running out into a den of wolves while my skin itched to chase after her. But we had to do it right. Connor pulled up the app on his phone that showed us where she was headed. We took a steadying breath each, and we moved, precise and focused, like I’d been trained to be.
I pushed out every other thought buzzing around in my head like annoying flies and concentrated my mind. I’d often do it if I had to, when a shitty job lined up for me, one I didn’t agree with. Now, it worked to focus on getting my Violet back. My mind emptied of all but that.
She was gone, running away on misconceptions and vicious words not meant for her. She was never supposed to hear those lies, and I was a damn idiot for not telling her the plan first. Shoulda learned my damned lesson that if it could go wrong, it would. Shit.
My words, disgusting, sinking to the family level words, and the idea of them rolling around in her fragile head while she fled from me, made me feel sick, caused bile and vomit to boil in my throat.
But it also spurred me on. We knew which direction she was going.
I’d be able to explain, catch her before she did anything stupid, and tell her everything.
Make it fucking clear those words were the biggest lie I ever told.
Because… fuck, of course they were. That she even thought—
While Connor rambled about how he’d been gifted a whole bunch of the trackers one Christmas while I shoved my feet into my shoes and grabbed my gun, I turned and punched him in the stomach.
Stupid prick, Violet was the strongest person I’d ever met, but physically, right now?
She was weak as shit. Could barely stand without swaying.
She’d fled straight past him, and he’d let her go. My fists curled up with the urge to hurt him more, to beat the shit out of him, but I held it. He might be useful yet. He’d better be bloody useful.
If she’d heard— Fuck!
“Come the fuck on, bastard!” I yelled at Connor, fighting that impulse to attack him again. He frowned at me and grabbed his phone before we raced from the apartment. We weren’t far behind her.
It pissed me off too, when I let my mind go there, that she’d believed those words. That something so opposite of everything I’d said to her would make her run. Why hadn’t she waited? Why the fuck did she believe those horrible words?
That tracker. That blessed tracker.
Connor and I made it to the packed-out train station in record time, throwing money at the cabbie without looking back. I ran ahead, shoving commuters out of the way as my head swiveled, looking everywhere for her. For a flash of that dark hair I knew so well.
But it was so damn busy, even this early in the morning when you’d expect the fuckers to all still be asleep.
Who was up at this time of day? Leaving the city in their masses just to get in my fucking way.
I threw my weight around, desperate to catch sight of my sister, of her big blue eyes, looking right at me, happy to see me coming and not terrified.
Squashing down the panic that we were already too late, I turned to Connor.
“She’s still here,” he told me, his breathing as heavy as mine as he looked at his phone, tapping his thumb beside the little image of the tracker.
She was here, among this crowd. Too many bloody variables in all these people.
My pulse pounded, blood racing around my ears so all I could hear was a swishy wave — I blinked away the panic and focused, everything rushing back in.
A cacophony of voices, announcements, and the drag of dodgy suitcase wheels. Heart pounding against my ribs.
For a moment, it seemed hopeless. Too many people, too many places to hide. My eyes tracked over everything, checking the departures board, memorizing every face in case I needed it for later. There was a train about to depart, pulling into the station any fucking second. My gut squeezed.
In the second I decided to head to that platform, someone shouted for the police, and a scream followed. It was one of those screams that told you something awful was happening. Something blood-curdling. And where blood-curdling was, you’d find my girl.
Before I even realized I was moving, Connor and I were hopping over the ticket gate, seeking out the commotion. People moved like the ocean, swirling throngs pushing towards or away from whatever the fuck was happening. More panicked faces and voices, the push and pull of scared crowds.
I knew. I knew it was about Violet. She was here, in the middle of it.
And if Rafe had caught up to her, there was about to be a massacre.
It would be a fucking disaster for him to have found her already, an unbelievable feat that would speak of a higher issue - if he was this close, this near to us so soon, who had told him?
It would prove we couldn’t trust a soul.
Not even Connor. Were we really that alone in all this? Not an ally between us?
My uncle trailed behind me, his eyes focused, not at all like a man who wasn’t acting in truth. But the feeling wouldn’t shake.
Did Rafael Delucci have desperate lackeys waiting at all the major transport hubs in the country?
That was ridiculous. But I had to suppress the paranoia for now.
We raced towards the yelling. It was indistinct screeches of concern, a woman bellowing not to do it, and my heart almost fucking stopped.
I turned the last corner onto the platform.
Just in time to see Violet in someone else’s grasp, hanging over the edge of the train platform, a glare in her eye that terrified me, even from all the way over here.
It looked too much like resignation, determination for this to go no further.
Her jaw set tense, her eyes vivid, alive, steadfast. No.
No no no. It didn’t look like her giving up; it looked like her making a choice.
If she died… if she let go… I would be right fucking behind her. Fuck living this life without her. She was all it was worth. That shadow in her eye? I felt it too. There would be no question. There would be no more oxygen in my lungs if she left. No more breaths.
“Violet!” I screamed, my voice hoarse with desperation.
I bellowed her name, aching to get through to her as I shoved every fucker out of the way, one track focused on reaching her, touching her, bringing her back from the brink.
I heard Connor shouting, too. But the train was fucking here.
The shriek as it rolled into the station, pulling the brakes, was the sound of the last moments of my life. If she fell…
I was in arms reach of her when she yanked and twisted, ducking at the last moment so the man holding her, who I recognized as one of Rafe’s top dogs, rolled over her body, the weight of him acting as momentum when she curled up into a ball, her face open in a scream.
He tried to take her with him, but it was too late.
Her shirt ripped from the force of his grasp, but she only wobbled.
I yelled, and he fell over the platform.
Not a split-second later, the train struck his upside-down body, smashing into him before he’d even touched the track.
Everything felt silent, just the whistling ringing in my ear.
I’m sure there were screams of horror and terror, people vomiting and praying, shouts to get back from the edge, away from the gore.
I’m sure the world hadn’t fallen quiet, not really, but my body, every single sensation and limb, was stuck on Violet.
There was only silence in my head, in my world.
Violet. I needed to get to Violet. She was so close to the edge.
Even as blood sprayed, viscera and guts splattered out to paint the train and the platform and the faces of the poor saps who stood too close, she hadn’t moved. Her mouth was open in a silent scream as her assailant’s blood dripped from her body, her clothes, her hair.
She collapsed the moment I reached her, her body slumping as I fell to my knees and tugged her away from the platform’s edge.
The train was still moving; split seconds had passed, so it was still coming to a rolling stop just an inch behind my sister, shuddering and groaning as it slowed.
My world. She was in front of me. Not under a train.
For a moment, I froze, too shocked, scared to move, to disturb this careful peace we shared.
She was there, sobbing, her head on her knees, coated in that prick’s blood.
My hands cupped her cheeks, and I forced her to look up.
To study me, to understand that I was there for her.
Make her see that her world hadn’t ended in that blink.
“Violet,” I muttered, uncaring about the commotion around us. Connor could deal with that, and I could hear that he was, shouting something I didn’t care to listen to with real strain in his voice. “Look at me.”
Her eyes zipped to mine, but they were scarily vacant. That violent determination gone, replaced with emptiness, a bleak hollowness that frightened me. I shook her, patted her cheek, squeezed her chin to get her awake. Back to me. I needed her back to me.
“Come on, beautiful, look at me, focus.” I wiped my thumb over a drip of blood on her cheek. Blood had caked her hair, and it streamed down her face like she was Carrie at the end of prom. Not an inch of her skin wasn’t coated in drying red. “He’s dead. You killed him.”
“You were going to…” she started, but her voice trailed off, eyes still glassy. “You…”
“I would never.” I kissed her, hard, on the mouth, yanking her to me and making her yelp. “I can explain. Please.”
She nodded, whispering, “I know, I know.” She blinked, crunched up her face, and I wondered what was going on inside her gorgeous head.
It was conflicted, that’s for fucking sure.
So I waited with the patience I wished to possess, unwilling to rush her despite the chaos behind me.
I knew we didn’t have long; police, security, whoever the fuck would be here any second.
Connor’s voice in my ear, “We need to go. I’ve got us a couple of minutes to get out. Come on.”
I ignored him, shrugging him away when his hand landed on my shoulder to tug me away. Violet needed to process this. Here. Now. Moving might fuck her up forever. She needed this rebirth, in the blood of her attacker, she needed to rise above it.
A wickedness grew in me as I watched her expression harden, wake back up until her eyes were on me truly, alive and burning. That fire returned with a hot vengeance. And… I saw excitement. An awakening. Yes, fucking yes. My Violet.
“I killed him,” she said, like she was testing the words out.
“Theo… I killed him. You know what he did to me?” I shook my head.
“He hurt me, he… he joined in. With Rafe. He joined in. He liked it.” Her voice turned harder, her words spat.
“I was tied up. And he liked it. He… he took from me. And he liked it. And now he’s dead. ”
“Yes, sweetheart.” I stroked her face, relishing what she was discovering. My cock hardened as I watched her. Not what that prick did to her, not that. But that fire? That fire was delicious. “Yes.” I wanted to drown in it with her.
Her mouth opened, she took in a slow breath, her eyes wide. Her gaze dipped away for a moment before returning to me. “I’m going to kill them all.”