32. Roxy #2
As if this is just a normal catch-up between long-lost family. My stomach drops and regret burns in my throat. I should have just let Kai come with me. Obviously, there was a reason that he was so dead set on following me around.
“You’ve got yourself a little guard dog, I see.” His eyes look me up and down with disgust. “Traitorous fucking whore.”
I jerk against Ethan’s grip, but he doesn’t budge.
Isaac looks different. Harder and meaner, if that is even possible. The angry scar against his temple still marks his skin, put there by yours truly and her sweet little Kitty, the night I ran. I still remember running after he fell to the ground, thinking I’d killed him.
Wishing.
His black hair is longer than I remember, curling over his forehead. The same pale blue eyes stare back at me, like looking into a version of myself that I despise.
Looking at the way hate glows in them, for me, his own sister, makes my heart ache.
Because deep down, I still yearn for the family that abandoned me.
Still wonder why I was never good enough to earn their protection and love.
My brothers, who should have been my family, but turned out to be my fucking nightmare.
“Now are you going to shut the fuck up so we can have a little chat, or does Ethan need to break some teeth first?”
The fight dies out of me and Ethan slides his hand from my mouth, moving to stand beside Isaac. He looks at me as if I’m the most disgusting thing he’s ever seen.
His darker blue eyes are wild, pinprick pupils with his gaunt face tells me he is still using.
“What do you want?” I grit out.
I hate the way my voice still shakes around them.
They don’t answer, but their smug smiles have my heart pounding harder.
“Since you want to run off and be a Devil,” Ethan sneers, “we realised that’s how we need to pull your strings.”
Reaching into his pocket, he slowly pulls out his phone. He unlocks the screen before turning it to me.
It’s a collection of videos of Maddy. Completely unaware she’s being recorded. She’s laughing with Leon at a cafe.
“What the fuck is this?” I snarl as the next video starts automatically playing, and its Maddy smiling at Ash as they enter the club, filmed from one of the abandoned buildings.
The next one plays and I feel like I’m going to be sick.
“The princess of the Devils,” Isaac sneers. “The very dead princess of the Devils, soon.”
My head shakes and a sob heaves in my chest. “No,” I beg.
I swore to myself that I’d never beg them again. Swore the night that I left would be the last time on my knees, pleading for something they would never give.
But now I will beg. For Maddy, I will beg.
His laugh mocks me. It sounds far away, echoing in my head.
“Please, Isaac.” My voice comes out trembling. “Not her. Please, fuck...”
His smile is like a cat toying with its meal.
“Oh, I’ve hit a sore spot,” he grins.
My eyes dip to the ground. Showing him any weakness is like giving him a playbook on how to manipulate me.
“I mean, there is one thing you could do. One thing that would ensure your little friend’s safety,” he drawls.
Nothing good is about so fall from his mouth, of that, I’m sure. As equally sure, I will do anything to protect Maddy.
“What is it?”
Isaac settles further into the couch, looking far too comfortable in my space.
“First, you’re going to apologise for leaving.” His fake pout has my hands curling into fists. “You hurt my feelings, you know that?”
I want to scream. That the only thing I hurt was his ego when I smacked the side of his head with Kitty and sprinted away.
Pandering to him is something I never thought I’d have to do.
“I’m sorry,” I grit through my teeth, forcing my tears to fuck off.
Don’t cry, Roxy. Don’t you dare fucking cry.
Satisfied, he grins. All it does is make his eyes look crueller.
“Beg to help me, sister,” he drawls. “Show me how desperate you are to help your brothers.”
I steel myself before dropping to my knees. I’ve done this hundreds of times before. Begging him for basic human rights.
“Please, Isaac,” I whisper, voice breaking. Soul breaking. “Whatever it is, I’ll do it. I want to help.”
Isaac leans forward, elbows resting on his knees. His hand reaches out, knuckles lifting my chin so that I have to look him I the eyes.
“See?” he murmurs. “Not so fucking hard, is it?”
My nails bite into my palms.
Humiliation burns so hot across my skin that sweat beads on the back of my neck. I keep my eyes on Isaac, anyway. Because this isn’t about me. This is about Maddy.
I can survive being brought to my knees again. I’ve done it before.
“I’ll help,” I whisper.
“I knew you’d see it my way,” he tsks.
Ethan barks an ugly laugh, and it takes everything in me not to spew hatred at him. He used to have some semblance of humanity. Back when Isaac would terrorise us both.
Now, he’s just as bad. Worse.
Even though he knows how it feels to be on the receiving end.
“Tomorrow night,” Isaac pulls my attention back to him. “Leave the back door to the Devil’s club open at midnight.”
My eyes shutter closed. No. No, no, fucking no.
“Why?” I breathe.
“Never you mind that, little sister,” he replies. “All you need to know is this: do as you’re told, and we’ll leave the girl alone.
So it’s either Maddy, or the rest of the Devils. Kaleb and Kai.
The impossible decision weighs heavily on my shoulders, pushing and pushing till I can no longer bear it.
Isaac stands, looming over me, clapping his hands once.
“I trust you’ll do the right thing,” he says, finally moving towards the door. He turns back, “Oh, and tell anyone about this, and I’ll kill the girl in a fucking instant. Then I’ll hunt you down like a pig and give you to my men.”
He saunters out, the threat hanging in the air like a bad scent.
Ethan pauses, and I dare a glance at him. He’s already looking at me.
For one stupid second, I search his face for something. Literally anything. Any remorse or guilt. Any sign of the brother who used to sneak me food when Isaac decided I didn’t deserve dinner.
I don’t see him.
“Ethan,” I whisper.
His name comes out like I’m still begging and I fucking hate that. His eyes flick towards the open door Isaac disappeared through before returning to me.
“You should do what he says, Roxanne.”
A broken laugh claws its way through my lips.
“Is that so?”
He doesn’t reply. Disappearing through the door and pulling it shut, just as the bells chime at the front door.
Five minutes.
I will my legs to stand. Beg my lip to stop shaking.
“Roxy,” Kai drags in a breath, boots crunching over the frame’s glass to crouch down to my level. “What’s wrong?”
Finally, I let the tears escape. My mouth opens to tell him everything, but the video of Maddy replays in my mind.
So I lie. Sobbing and surrounded by glass.
“I broke your present,” I cry, tears streaming down my cheeks.
His brow lines, and he searches my face. Then he pulls me in for a hug.
He doesn’t even know how much I needed that hug. How badly I don’t deserve it.
Because tomorrow I’m going to do something so terrible. Something I won’t be able to come back from.
But I’m selfish. I melt into his arms and let him comfort me, even though I don’t deserve it.
“Fuck the present,” he murmurs against my hair.
It just makes me sob harder.