Chapter 5 #2
Keys had failed. Why did he think he was smart enough, strong enough, to keep his family safe? He wasn’t. He never would be. Glancing up into the mirror, Keys waited to see something that would change the truth of that statement.
His cheeks and dirty-blonde beard were shiny with tears; his gray-blue eyes were bloodshot, the lids red and puffy behind his black-framed glasses; and his hair was now grown out to around his ears.
He still wore his white dress shirt under his worn leather cut declaring him an officer, a position he no longer deserved.
The black band on his left upper arm stretched over newly formed muscle.
He’d never shaved his chest before in his life, but recently he’d noticed the hair there was becoming darker, more defined.
He’d been working so hard to improve himself.
Every day he ran with Jigsaw, Chip—who’d officially become a prospect in November—Angel, and/or Cage.
Sometimes all of them. Angel had announced her pregnancy over Christmas, and while she no longer got in the ring with him, she never backed down from his training, which included his daily run.
If she wasn’t giving up while growing a human inside of her, Keys certainly wasn’t.
And he fucking hated running. It was the most boring, tedious task he could possibly imagine. But he did it.
Every day.
Without fail.
He’d even cut back to only four energy drinks a day! His sugar intake was… Well, he could probably eat fewer gummy bears, but he needed some sort of incentive to run fucking miles every day.
Keys thought he was doing so well. Thorne and Goose were moving into their new home, and Tom had offered to personally arrange their parents’ belongings to be moved as well once the sale was closed.
Master Key Security Solutions was officially open—and they had clients!
So much so that Tom was booked out for months, and was already joking that Keys was going to have to buy him a private jet soon because he was sick of getting felt up at airports.
Maybe things were too good. He should have been looking for the other shoe to drop, but how could he possibly have predicted that it would drop on Melanie? Sweet, innocent Melanie. She’d been fucking nineteen years old!
What had been the point? He’d been working so hard, making all these improvements, and for what? When it came to the most important moment, when Melanie had needed him the most, he’d failed.
Poor Jenna.
Steel had left her after the funeral. He’d remained outside in the rain as they’d lowered Melanie into the ground—and then he’d vanished.
No one had been able to get a hold of him, and it hadn’t missed anyone’s notice that Scar was gone, too.
Neither were wearing their trackers, but Keys wouldn’t have looked for them even if they were.
They were going to do what Keys had failed to do. They were going to find and kill Griffin Shaw, the fucker who had murdered Melanie to get back at Steel for something that happened thirty years ago.
Not wanting to look at his reflection anymore, Keys left the bathroom. His phone, still on silent from the service, vibrated in his pocket. He ignored it, removing only his boots before he crawled into bed. Rain pelted the window in a rhythmic pattern.
His phone kept vibrating.
Keys took off his watch and placed it on his nightstand. The backlight of his monitors on his desk was the only illumination in the dark, dreary room. He didn’t feel like turning on his Charmander nightlight.
His phone continued to vibrate.
The hesitant thought that perhaps it was Steel made him pull the device from his front pocket. But it wasn’t Steel. The caller was unknown, but the number was odd. Instead of seven or nine digits, it was eight.
267937-63
It took him less than a second to identify and solve the polyphonic substitution cipher. He frowned, unimpressed. And the fact that this was the first time she was calling him in the nine months they’d known each other was the only reason he answered as ordered.
But that didn’t mean he was in the mood for pleasantries. “Your sister is sleeping three rooms down from me.”
“Fuck. You know.” Her voice was just as sweet as he remembered.
“I know.” Keys stared up at his dark ceiling. “I’m not okay, Rose.”
She was silent for a heartbeat before saying, “I know. Saying that ‘I’m sorry’ seems so empty right now. I want to offer to help you, but I don’t know how or what you need.”
“Can you just…talk to me?” His voice wavered as his chin shook. He meant it as a question, but it came out more like a plea.
“Of course. Do you want to talk about something specific or do you just want me to fill the void?”
“Just anything,” he begged sadly. “I don’t want to think about today. I don’t want to hurt anymore.”
“Okay. Um…” Rose cleared her throat. “Once upon a time, there was a misunderstood princess. She was the second daughter of the mighty king, but no matter how hard she tried, she was never good enough. Her older sister was the king’s heir and the favorite, so the misunderstood princess started to rebel.
When she caused too much trouble, the king and queen sent her to a nastier kingdom that was supposed to teach the misunderstood princess discipline.
Instead of helping her, though, this kingdom gave her access to a mystic realm she’d never known existed, and through many self-taught lessons, the misunderstood princess did many terrible things, and committed many crimes.
But she always, always followed three simple rules: only steal from those who harmed others, never bring harm to a child, and don’t trust anyone.
“For many years, the misunderstood princess excelled in her criminal enterprise and made more money than her parents, the king and queen, could have ever dreamed of. The misunderstood princess hoped that the money would help win the king and queen’s love and approval—but on the day she was due to return to her home kingdom, her parents’ carriage got in an accident, and they both died.
Once again, the misunderstood princess was blamed.
Her older sister, who was now responsible for raising her, never said it, but the misunderstood princess knew it nonetheless: their parents would have never been in that carriage that day if the misunderstood princess had just behaved and never gotten into trouble.
“Not knowing what else to do, and not wanting to be in her parents’ kingdom without them, the misunderstood princess ran away.
But she was young, and never should have been out on her own.
She wasn’t ready. Thieves and crooks learned what the misunderstood princess could do in the mystic realm.
They convinced her to help them, offered her a place among their family.
A family like she’d never had in her own kingdom.
“It was all a lie, though. She was too young, too na?ve, and too heartbroken to understand until it was too late. The thieves and crooks only wanted her for what her talents in the mystic realm could offer them, and they did not care what happened to her. One day, the misunderstood princess was plotting her escape when she ran into a smuggler. But this man wasn’t just any smuggler—he was also a very powerful duke!
Knowing this man was very dangerous and had no care if he harmed children as well as adults, the misunderstood princess went to the knight’s guard.
This group of armed men were very brave and powerful.
They vowed to protect her, but they also needed proof of her claims. The misunderstood princess had no choice but to stay with the thieves and crooks longer to try to get them to incriminate themselves and to prove that the smuggler they were working with was actually the duke she claimed him to be.
“Just as she got the evidence to the knight’s guard, however, the head thief and duke realized what the misunderstood princess was up to.
In their world, she was a rat, and rats were exterminated!
The duke ordered her execution. If it wasn’t for the quick actions of one knight’s guard, the misunderstood princess would have died that day.
Instead, the knight’s guard made it look like she had died while they were actually sending her away with a special warrior’s guild that excelled at hiding people.
“But the misunderstood princess was not satisfied with leaving the knight’s guard to deal with the duke, the thieves, and the crooks.
They’d tried to kill her, and she was going to get her revenge.
Entering the mystic realm was against the rules, but one of the warrior’s guild took a liking to the misunderstood princess and gave her access back to the mystic realm while he was courting her.
He appeared kind, a rugged protector out of legend.
The misunderstood princess fancied herself in love with this warrior, once again too young and na?ve to see the mask he wore around her until much later.
“Through the mystic realm, the misunderstood princess used her powers to contact her sister—only to discover the older princess had abdicated her throne and kingdom after learning about her sister’s murder.
Knowing her sister was also out for revenge, the misunderstood princess gave her sister the information on the thieves and crooks, while leaving the duke for herself.
After all, he had been the one to order her death!
Rather than attack him, though, the misunderstood princess used her powers to tell his subjects about his crimes.
Some believed the tales being told, while others defended the duke.
In the end, the duke could not stand the humiliation and took his own life.
“The misunderstood princess got her revenge.