Page 1 of Deluge

Prologue

Luna Thompson hasn’t beenherself lately.

Not like she was really much of a person before, but at the very least, we were able to pretend.

She tells me that I’m too much like her father, and she misses him so much that she can’t stay with me anymore. I remind her of him, and it’s too much for her to bear.

See, after he came and got her, he made her come back. He told her I needed to become a son he could be proud of—not another one of hisuseless fucking kids.

But the longer she stayed, the more she turned into a shell of herself. I took her babbling and bullshit for as long as I could, and when he didn’t come back for her, I cut her loose.

She wouldn’t stop talking about him. It became such an obsession that I threw her out. Besides, I still have Mom to care for.

I thought that was the point.

She wanted to mold me into the man she loved, and I became clay in her hands.

I let her guide me, teach me—love me.

But her mind has wandered into a place she can’t seem to claw her way out of. She calls me by his name, tells me she’s been good, and begs me to stay with her.

I promise her over and over that I won’t leave her, though I don’t think I can stay either.

Hailey Chazen gave me life, and a new identity, forcing me to kill my brother by filling my head with fantasies of a perfect family, and I can’t forgive her for that.

Maybe I’ll find the man she was so desperate to have in her bed again, and then I can be free.

Maybe he’ll love me because she insisted I’m his spitting image.

Maybe…

ChapterOne

It’s takena couple of years to find out where this bastard lives. Luna was of zero help before I tossed her out of Mom’s home.

I chuckle slightly as I drum my fingers along the steering wheel.

Something tells me that she’s used to the Greene men—those of us that are left, anyway—tossing her around like a burden instead of anything useful.

Not that I ever wanted her for anything. Especially not after she told me about the arrangement between her andhim.

Used goods have never been my forte, and I wasn’t going to start with her.

I think that’s something I will have to explain to him if we ever cross paths again—why I wouldn’t fuck her. But my priority had always been Mom and Kalen, and they both forced me to get rid of him.

That’s when I learned to hate them both.

I miss my brother, and I know that pain will never go away, but if this life is anything like she told me itshouldbe, then I know he wouldn’t have made it very far.

Better to die at the hands of someone that loves you than the stranger who knocks at your door.

Yes, I was angry with him to the point of seeing red, though I like to think that my brother knew I still loved him terribly at that moment and that I suffer just as equally now without him.

I rake a hand back through my hair and blow out my breath before I reach for the glovebox and pop it open. Pulling out a half-empty pack of cigarettes, I slide one between my lips, then shake the lighter out, holding it to the end.

When the embers burn bright, I rub my forehead with my thumb before I go back to watching the house.

I hate that I picked up this habit, though I suppose it makes sense.