“Stop!” I grab his arm, making him flinch. His eyes widen when he sees I’m in my underwear, as if he hadn’t noticed before. He grabs his hair, pulling at it, looking sick.
“I’m just like him.” For the first time in my life, I hear a twinge of fear in his voice, and I know he’s talking about his father. The thought makes bile rise at what he’s referring to.
“No!” I grab his face between my hands, ignoring the way his muscles bunch as he recoils at my touch. I stare him in the eye. “It was nothing.”
His brows pull tight. “Nothing?” There’s a bite to his words. Is he angry? Of course, he is. I had just thrown myself at him, stolen a kiss that never belonged to me. I can still feel the tingling sensation.
I feel my cheeks heat. “I'm sorry. I was upset, and you were here. Please don’t tell Hayden. It was a mistake.”
He grows to his full height, crossing his arms over his chest. “A mistake?” he repeats. I nod, holding my breath, begging him with my eyes to understand, to not tell Hayden. He lifts his chin in agreement, but I don't miss him curl his lips in disgust. At me, himself, I’m not sure. He turns around and walks out, and the slam of the front door makes me jump. He left.
I grab my pyjamas, sliding them on as Hayden pops his head in. “Everything okay? Was that Malachi leaving?”
I nod, putting on the fakest of smiles. “Yeah.”
He frowns at the door. “Was he okay? He didn’t say he was leaving.”
I nod again. “Yeah, compound stuff.” I hate that I’m lying to my brother. We don’t hide anything from each other, not with a dad like Jack that lives in the world of deceit as Gage’s bookkeeper, meaning he cooks their books, launders their money. They pay him good, more than this tiny flat with its empty cupboards is worth.
Hayden walks over to the bed, sitting next to me, just like when we were kids. “Sorry your date didn’t turn up. Your prince is on his way, he just hasn’t found you yet.” He grins down at me. I swear he still sees me as that little girl, refusing to admit I’m growing up, just like a parent does, and I guess in many ways he is. He’s better than Jack ever had been. He makes sure I’m fed, that I’m okay, that I go to school; looks after me when I’m sick. He’s my glue, my security, my safe place.
I put my arm around him. “Thank you—for everything.”
He stares at me for a second before nodding, holding me close. His phone vibrates, and he sits up, looking at the caller ID. “I've got to go.”
I smile. “Be careful.” I’m not sure what Hayden’s ties to the compound are, if he’s in deeper than I know or is just Malachi’s best friend, his saviour from the darkness, his good conscience. He nods, smiling, leaning over to place a kiss on my forehead.
When he gets to the door, he turns. “I meant it, Princess. He’s on his way.” I smile, nodding, because even though I no longer believe in the prince on a white horse that rides in to save the day and whisk the girl away to his castle, don't believe in fairy-tales and magic, I know one thing for certain: the innocent love I had for my prince has turned into something more. Just like a seed embedded in my heart, it has grown into something less innocent, just breaking the surface.
Those books never did tell me about the princess that fell in love with the prince who didn’t love her back.
10
Lilliana, aged sixteen…
Walking home after school, my teeth chattering from the cold, I shove my hands into my thin coat, just as my name is called. I look up to find Callum racing across the road. I don’t slow my pace, walking straight past him.
“You’re in with the Kingstons?” I freeze at the name, turning around to face him, looking up and down the street to make sure no one is listening. I grab the sleeve of his coat, pulling him into a doorway.
Callum is good looking in that boyband way, but he’s still a boy. I picture him and Malachi standing together. There is no competition. Malachi is hot with an edge he doesn’t put on. It can’t be replicated. It’s him; a charisma, a presence that draws you in, that blinds you like a spotlight.
“They are dangerous, Lilly!” He looks like he wants to shake me, but his eyes are soft.
“They are family.” It’s a small lie; my father does make me call Gage, Uncle. “My brother is Hayden, Malachi’s best friend,” I grind out between my chattering teeth.
His eyes widen. “Shit!” he whispers under his breath. “That explains the big brother act last night.”
His words freeze me, making my eyes narrow. “Did you see Malachi last night? Is that why you didn’t turn up?”
Confusion fills his eyes as his lips pull tight, and he gives me a nod. How Malachi knew about my date with Callum, I don’t know, but it doesn’t surprise me. Malachi holds so much power from his name alone, something I’ll probably never know the full extent of.
I shake my head, pushing past him, but he grabs my elbow.
“He’s Malachi Kingston.” He says it like that explains everything. I guess, in a way, it does—to people on the outside. They don’t know who Malachi is. He may bear the name Kingston, but he isn’t like his father, like the men at the compound. He’s stronger than them. He won’t let the name define who he is. He’s fought the darkness, swam in its deep ocean, battled against its waves, and survived.
I nod toward Callum before walking away, ignoring him when he calls my name, a plea in his voice.
I jog the rest of the way home, covering my nose against the smell of urine as I take the steps two at a time to our flat. Jack won’t be here. He’s either at the compound, working Gage’s books, or already betting away money we don’t have.
All thoughts of Malachi leave me when a figure pushes off the wall as I hit the top step.
“Where’s Jack?”
I shake my head, taking a step back. “I don’t know.”
I look over my shoulder, at the staircase, before my eyes flick back to the man—then I turn and start running down the stairs, everything in me telling me to move faster. I would scream, but I know no one will come. This is the sort of place where a scream is like a bird’s song.
My head is jerked back, my scalp radiating with pain as his hand tightens on the handful of hair he's managed to grab. Somehow, he spins me around, and pain shoots through my cheek, causing stars to blur my vision.
“Bitch!” he spits, and that's when I realise, I’m on the floor. How did I end up here? The smell makes me gag. I cry out as my body jerks from a kick to my side, making the air disappear.
“Tell Jack we will be back.” He pulls at my hair to see my face. “You understand, bitch?” I nod, gasping, unable to speak, before he releases my hair with a shove, causing my head to bang on the concrete.
I whimper when I feel a hand on my hair. “Shit, Lil, you okay?”
I know that voice, though it sounds as if he’s under water, or maybe I am? “Callum?”
“Yeah. I saw what he did. Shit, are you okay?” There are so many messed up things with what he said. He saw, and he left me, but I also know they would have killed him. They have before, for less.