“What’s that?” he inquires, looking at me.

“Me.” I smirk. “He had no one to drag him back down, to stop him before he went too far. You have his hunger, his smarts, and yes, his anger. But you also have a family that genuinely cares for you. We are all a bit messed up, but we know how to keep each other sane. You never have to worry about being him, I would never let you. I would kill you first,” I vow, and he smiles, a genuine one, and I can almost see him as a kid, when he used to smile like that all the time before my dad beat it from him.

Just then, the man returns and arranges the jewellery before us. We pick the ones we like, not bothering to look at the prices. He promises they will be boxed and waiting for us and then leads us to the clothing area.

We sit for a while as he shows them off and coordinates outfits from what we like. Roxy might not enjoy being spoiled, only because I have a feeling no one ever has, but she has no choice anymore. I’ve decided we are keeping her, and that means I get to spoil her whenever I want, and she has no option but to deal with it.

She can make it up to me, show me how appreciative she is in the new underwear sets we bought her, ’cause holy hell, are they hot. I can just imagine them propping up her tits, covering her tatted skin.

Fuck, what an inappropriate time to be hard. Shifting, I rearrange myself and slide my card to the man to pay for it all. “Car out front,” I answer, when he asks where to take it.

Slipping my shades from my coat and sliding them onto my face, I follow Tony and Sam outside, watching as they quickly load up the car. “We should get her a car, a fast one, she would love it.”

Ryder snorts. “What part of ‘she’s our prisoner’ don’t you get?”

I look over at him then, grinning. “We both know that’s a lie. From the very first moment we laid eyes on her, she was more than a prisoner.”

“She doesn’t need a car. We’ll drive her anywhere she wants,” he snaps.

I nod. “Just a thought, brother, might make her feel more free. Don’t get her one yet, though, let her realise she’s beyond lost in love with us first, and she’ll never leave.”

“Now you’re acting crazy, she will never love us. We are too twisted for that, she wants us, sure, but she’d never love us,” he scoffs.

“That’s where you’re wrong, big brother. You might be the brains of the operation, but you are wrong this time.” I wink before climbing into the car.

He grumbles and follows after me. We drive uptown, taking the long routes to see if anyone tries anything. “Still nothing, we can’t keep driving around, it looks suspicious,” Ryder snaps, banging on the wheel. “I really thought he would take the shot with both of us here.”

I tap my chin as I think, my eyes locked out the window. “Pull up here and pretend you’re on a call. It’s an empty area and the buildings block him from getting a shot. He would have to get close, providing a good opportunity to grab him.”

“How do you even know he’s waiting?” he snaps.

“Think, Ry. I know you got laid, but stop letting your dick run the show. He’s here, he disappointed them once, and now he’s desperate to make it up to them. That makes him sloppy, and it works for us.”

He nods and takes a deep breath. “I don’t like that he was gunning for you guys. It’s making me angry, which is never good.”

I nod. “I know, brother. You don’t care when they come for you, but us? It hits your buttons. We have your back. We’ve got this.”

He pulls into the alley like I suggested, and we wave Tony off a bit so he thinks he stands a chance, and then we wait. Ryder pretends to be on his phone, and I lean my head back, feigning being asleep, even though my eyes are cracked and my hand is on my gun, waiting.

Come on, you bastard.

The minutes drag on. Maybe I was wrong. Fuck, we need him, we need to hit the Triad and find out what he knows. Not to mention Diesel is itching to hunt the bastard down, and that would come with a body count spread across the city. No, we need to find him and hand him over to D to have some fun.

Then we’ll take the bastards down who tried to harm our family.

We tried to play nice, we tried to be respectful, and this is how they repay us? Nah, it’s their death warrants they signed. We will destroy them, brick by brick. It’s Ryder’s specialty. I already know he’s working on how to crumble every one of their businesses and bank accounts to take their money. Then, he will start on their families. Only after that, when they are terrified and alone, will he turn his eyes to them.

He’s a brutal bastard, the best at what he does.

Protecting those he loves.

Even when we were kids, he was the same, always the most serious. Fuck, he even used to wear suits even then. He never got a real childhood. No, he became what my dad wanted him to, to ensure I was never in the man’s path. He did everything our father asked, even dirtying his hands.

I remember the night he first killed someone, he was thirteen, I was eleven. He came home, and there was something different about him. He was scared, not of Dad like usual, but of himself. He had blood on his hands and sat scrubbing at it, tears rolling down his cheeks. He told me what happened, not the full truth of course. I learned later he did it to protect me, that Dad had played on his love for me like the bastard he was. He had threatened Ryder, told him if he didn’t kill the man then he would make me do it.

He didn’t want me to stain my soul, so he did it. Even though it broke something in him, he did it. I held him as he cried. That was the last night I ever saw him cry or show weakness to this date. He told me he was scared that he wasn’t horrified, that it felt right…that he was a monster like my father.

I promised I would never let him be. I will keep that promise. He gave up his childhood, his soul, for me. I would do anything for him. He doesn’t even realise that Roxxane, as he calls her, is a part of that. He needs a weakness, someone he can share the world with, who can help him with his burden, or he’s going to burn out.

And I can’t lose him.

I’ll protect the crying boy with the blood on his hands and she will be the key.

It started in my head the very first day after the way he looked at her like she was a challenge, a puzzle he couldn’t figure out, and she wasn’t scared of him like everyone else. She met him head-on, just as stubborn, just as angry at the world. Roxy will save him.

She will save us all.

And we will damn her.

I should care, but I can’t seem to. Not when I get to keep her and my brother.

My eyes catch on something farther down the alley, a movement so slight, I wouldn’t have seen it if I wasn’t looking. “Twelve o’clock,” I murmur, hardly moving my lips.

“Yes,” Ryder snaps, still pretending to be on the phone.

The shadow moves along the wall and takes up residence behind a crate. I thumb out a quick text to Tony without looking, eyes on the silhouette. He fires, and we lurch forward as the car starts. Idiot, the fucking glass is bulletproof.

He tries to run, knowing we spotted him, but Tony blocks the alley at the other end, and then we’re on him. Rushing from the car and leaping across the hood, I tap his shoulder, and when he turns, I punch him in the face. He doesn’t go down though, he tries to hit me with his gun, but Ryder grabs him from behind and starts to choke him out, so I pluck his firearm from his hand and pistol-whip him across his temple.