Page 69 of Royal Pain

Maybe she knew the group better than I realized. I was glad she was showing her backbone, but coming with my brothers and me to Connecticut? I didn’t see that happening.

I would have a fight on my hands since her child was in the horrible mix of bullshit.

I continued to think about that fact as I stared out the window of the bedroom. I knew I’d fallen asleep at least for a little while. Now I was jittery. Thoughts about how I wanted to handle the situation were tough to put into the back of my mind.

Valerio was also in charge of bracing the media, promising the story of the century. I only hoped his sources worked miracles overnight, providing detailed information on the names listed on the jump drive.

Without detailed information to potentially blackmail people with, our ammunition was slim at best. It had to work.

I lifted my arm, the one with the Glock. Something else all three brothers had been taught to do.

Shoot.

We’d even gone to the shooting range together from the age of sixteen. Our father had insisted we learn to use and respect a dangerous weapon.

I was a crack shot, good enough I’d heard some say I could be a sharpshooter. I had rifles, some considered long range, but those were kept in a locked-down environment no one knew about. It was a treacherous piece of equipment and not to be taken lightly.

There was no activity, no blip of the security system whatsoever.

The last time I’d had the entire system on, a bear had kept me awake half the night. I almost laughed from the memory.

A few seconds later, I eased into the chair by the bed. She was sleeping so peacefully I didn’t want to disturb her. Yet my head ached, my mind full of far too much information as well as anger.

It wasn’t a good combination.

I rubbed my eyes, realizing they were not only dry but getting tougher to keep open. I leaned back my head, taking deep breaths. It had been one hell of a few days.

Even worse, we were going to be near damnation for the next week or so.

I don’t why but the thought gave me a smile.

Evangeline

“Did you really think you were going to get away from me, from this community?” Joseph snarled as he backed me into the living room.

My feet were raw, bloody from losing my shoes somewhere in the process of running through the forest. Not that the bastard cared. “I’m not staying in his fucking commune.”

“You’re such a whore.”

I wasn’t expecting the brutal backhand, which knocked me over the couch to the floor. As soon as I hit, including my head, starsfloated in front of my eyes. He’d slapped me before but never like this.

Jarred, I struggled to sit up, pushing my hands against the floor, managing to get onto my hands and knees so I could try to crawl.

His cackling laugh from directly behind me was just another reminder I was a prisoner. His, the community’s. Hell, I couldn’t even run to my parents. They wouldn’t care.

A single whimper left my mouth and he continued laughing, now yanking me off the floor by my hair. I felt the pain as several strands were ripped from my scalp.

He jerked my face close to his. “You’re such a bitch. You made me look like a fool. That is never going to happen again.”

He’d always been forceful but when he ripped his hand down the front of my tattered shirt, exposing my breasts, I yelped, trying my best to slap at him.

All he did was laugh before tossing me back over the couch onto the cushions, storming toward me before I had a chance to move. As he unfastened his belt, I had a terrible feeling about what he was going to do.

“I’m going to teach you a lesson you’ll never forget. Then I’m going to fuck the whore you are until you become pregnant. Then you can never leave, or I will take the child from your womb if I have to.”

Gasping, I jerked up from the bed, the imagery so real, the memory so ugly that my heart was palpitating. I’d blocked it out, somehow. Someway. Why now?

Because Damien had been stolen or because they would start another kind of hunt?