Chapter 54
KRAVEN
The ticking time bomb that we lived inside didn’t just explode that time.
No, it blew everything we thought we knew out of the water.
“I…” Isla stuttered, shaking her head.
“You took a test?” Julius asked, looking only at her.
His composure was steady.
Calm.
Unlike mine, I was dying inside.
“Has it been confirmed by a doctor?” he asked, remaining in control.
It didn’t surprise me. Julius always thrived in chaos. I, on the other hand, waited for her response on pins and needles, unable to speak. More than anything, I think I was in shock.
A baby?
Life after experiencing death, talk about a paradox of enlightenment.
She took a deep breath, then stated, “It was confirmed this morning.”
My life flashed before my eyes.
Past.
Present.
Future.
“I get irregular periods.” She bowed her head in shame. “I thought… After you left, Julius, I had light bleeding, and I just thought it was the stress of it all, and well, come to find out, it could be either of you.”
As soon as the last word left her mouth, Julius stated, “We didn’t use a condom.”
“Yeah,” I finally spoke up, finding my voice. “Neither did we.”
“Jesus.” Isla’s hand flew to her face. “I’m not this girl. How could I let this happen?”
I knew right then and there that this would change everything between us. This was the moment when it’d truly become…
Brother vs. brother.
JULIUS
This was the only way to finally get over our past and move into our future. I was tired of all this bullshit, so I took matters into my own hands.
“You son of a bit—”
“Stop it!” Isla ordered me. “Nothing will get worked out if you two get into it again.”
Just to prove my point, I moved her aside and got right back into Kraven’s face. “You shameless fuck! I trusted you! I don’t know you at all, do I? Because the brother I thought I knew would’ve never betrayed me!”
“The second you left, she became fair game.”
“You took advantage of the situation, you shit!”
This was my breaking point.
I held my head up higher, maintaining my strong composure. Knowing it was what was needed to go against my flesh and blood.
When all I wanted to do was fall apart.
For the first time, I wanted to turn my back on him.
Fuck him.
He was no longer my brother.
Especially when he added, “Love doesn’t leave, Kitty. At least I’d never leave you. Not when I’m in love with you too.”
She grimaced, and so did I.
“Kraven,” I snapped, fully aware of the game he was trying to play. “You just want what’s mine.”
He pushed me. “Fuck you!”
“Please stop!” Her hands flew to her head as she backed away crying, losing her shit. “I can’t do this.”
She spun to leave, but we grabbed her arms.
“You don’t get to run from this,” I warned.
I growled from deep within my chest, not backing down. “I’m only going to say this once, so you better fucking listen,” I advised Kraven. “If you think another man will raise my kid, then you have no idea who you’re dealing with.”
He glared at me. “Ditto.”
“Don’t fuck with me.”
“The truth hurts, don’t it?”
“She was never yours to claim, little brother.”
“I wasn’t your little when I was fucking her doggy style on the stairs.”
Isla stepped between us, holding us both back from each other. “NO!”
With my hands fisted at my sides, I couldn’t look at him anymore.
I couldn’t look at either of them anymore.
“I can’t believe this,” I muttered. “How is this happening?”
I did this.
“Julius—”
I raised my hand, stopping her. “I’m so sorry, Isla. This is all my fault.”
For a second, I placed my hand over her stomach, and she sucked in a breath. Little by little, I backed away. I had to, or I’d kill him.
“This isn’t over, Kraven.”
Isla backed away next, saying, “I’m so sorry,” to both of us.
I started with, “Nothing hurts more than the woman we love…”
And Kraven finished it. “Loving someone else in the same way she loves you too.”
Tears streamed down her face.
Together we declared war, “We’re yours.” In seconds, we pleaded, “Now say you’re mine.”
Isla cried out, stumbling back.
It was just too overwhelming.
We all needed a minute.
Before I said something I regretted, I left with the fire inside me. Leaving all my shit in my bedroom, I got the hell out of there.
My core seized up the longer I drove around aimlessly. It tightened all around me, producing a piercing pain I would carry with me for the rest of my life.
The guilt.
The memories.
More demons.
I battled the desire to hold her.
To tell her everything would be okay.
The worry in my heart consumed me, overshadowing any other emotion.
Next thing I knew, I was slamming my car door shut, desperately trying to shake off my unrelenting thoughts. I blared the music as loud as it would go, thumping loud and hard into my mind, mimicking the pounding of my heart and the ringing in my ears.
I was going over fifty miles per hour, pushing sixty, pissed at what I’d done. Furious for allowing it to happen. I couldn’t get away fast enough.
Not from my mind.
My actions.
My fucking life…
I flew by car after car through every intersection. My foot was heavy on the gas pedal, going faster and faster until everything I sped by was simply one big blur. I switched lanes, dodging and barely missing the vehicles in my way. Horns blared from every direction, but they didn’t stop me.
I took a sharp left onto a back street, causing my car to fishtail. My tires kicked up gravel as I took a curve.
“Motherfucker!” I roared until my throat felt raw and my chest burned. I slammed my fists into the steering wheel.
Sixty-five miles per hour…
Seventy…
Eighty…
Eighty-five…
Ninety…
Ninety-five miles per hour…
Breaking triple digits…
Another sharp turn, another curve, another hill.
Faster…
Faster…
Faster…
I needed to slow down, but I couldn’t. The adrenaline of what I wanted to feel kicked in.
The high.
I rode the euphoria, needing something, anything other than what I was feeling.
Emptiness.
Darkness.
Engulfing. Me.
Burying me alive.
Faster and faster and faster, I sped.
A hundred and ten miles per hour…
One fifteen…
She. Is. Mine.
I slammed on the brakes, skidding across the pavement and spinning out of control. Whipping around into several three-sixties, along with all our memories tossing and turning, I just held on with wide eyes.
All I could smell was rubber.
Gasoline.
Then there was silence.
No more thoughts.
Words.
Memories.
She. Is. Mine.
I sped home, rushing back to her. It was dark out now. The full moon was looming over the horizon. I couldn’t get back to her fast enough until finally I saw the road back to her.
Except, once I saw the house, it nearly knocked me on my ass.
“What the fuck did he do now?” I shouted to myself.
The place was swarmed with cops.
“Goddammit, Kraven!”
As soon as I pulled up to the drive, officers ran toward me.
“What did Kraven do now?” I yelled, watching as they surrounded me.
“Julius Knightly.” One of them grabbed my hands, pulling them behind me.
The rest played out in slow motion.
“You’re under arrest for possession with intent to sell.”
My blood ran cold.
In the blink of an eye, Isla walked outside with Kraven beside her as the officer continued. I paid him no mind, too consumed by Isla bawling her eyes out. She once again turned to Kraven for comfort, and he wrapped his arms around her.
Revenge was a dish better served cold.
The instant I locked stares with Kraven, I fucking knew…
My brother was the one who called the cops on me.
TO BE CONTINUED…