“The Phoenix I knew would never?—”
“He’s dead.” I curl my fingers around the back of her neck. "He burned with everything else that night."
“I see. So all is fair in revenge?” She stares up at me, and I don’t like what I see. It’s not fear. It’s not even defiance. It’s something like disappointment. It twists in my gut.
"Why not just kill me with the rest?" she finishes.
I’d be lying if I said I wished I could. Killing Hampton and his wife would ensure he couldn’t come after me and mine again. But killing Keira… the thought of her dead makes my chest cave in.
“Maybe I will. Just not tonight.” I step closer to her, her tits brushing against my chest, sending an inferno of need to my dick.
She sucks in a breath. “Is that what you are now? A man who doesn’t respect the word no?”
“You haven’t said no. Besides, despite what your mother said, you’re no virgin.” My gaze drops to her lips, wanting to taste them again. "Tell me, how many men have you let touch you since me?"
Pain flashes in her eyes before hardening to steel. "You don't get to judge me. Not after abandoning me."
"Abandoning you?" I bark out a harsh laugh, happy to break the spell she had on me. I step back from her. "Your family tried to kill me. They murdered my parents.”
“But you weren’t dead. No, apparently, you’ve spent ten years plotting revenge.” She looks at me with disgust. “And now you're just like them. Using fear and threats, your dick, to control and punish everyone around you."
The accusation doesn’t sit well. My vision goes red as I slam my palm against the wall by the window. The glass rattles in its frame.
"I am nothing like Hampton Kean." My voice comes out low, lethal. "Everything I am, everything I've become is because of what they did."
“I can see wanting vengeance on my parents, but threatening an innocent child, forcing me to marry you, using people as pawns in your revenge game? The Phoenix I knew would never?—"
"That Phoenix is dead!" The roar tears from my throat as I grab her arms. "Your family killed him the night they murdered my parents. This is what's left. This is what they created."
“Your parents would be so proud,” she sneers.
The monster I've become stares back at me in her eyes, but I don’t retreat from it, even knowing she’s right. While my father would understand the wisdom of marrying Keira, he’d be disappointed at my threatening a child to make it happen. But Ipush that away. He’s not here. And it’s his gentler nature that got him killed. No. To fully take back the Ifrinn legacy, I need to be ruthless. I need to embrace the monster.
"Get some sleep. Tomorrow, we start planning our wedding." I flee the room like a coward, her accusations chasing me down the hall. The monster inside me howls for blood while something else, something I thought long dead, whispers that she could soothe my bitter soul.
3
KEIRA
The door slams behind Phoenix, the sound rattling my bones. I sink back onto the window seat, my legs unable to hold me up any longer. The man who just left isn't the boy I fell in love with. His eyes are cold and dead now.
But maybe they’d always been that way and in my youth and naivety, I missed it. He hid it in his plot to bring my father down. A plot that failed when my father killed Phoenix’s parents first.
My family destroyed his, and I've spent ten years trying to convince myself that it wasn't my fault. I couldn’t believe it when my father told me ten years ago that Phoenix used me and as a result, he had to kill the Ifrinns. "You did this." My father's words echo through time. "Your little secret forced our hand."
It was impossible to believe the man I’d fallen for was capable of such treachery and betrayal. The man with the empty, soulless eyes I saw tonight is capable of that and more. So why does his kiss linger? Even angry, even cruel, his touch still sets my skin on fire. I hate that he can affect me this way after everything.
A sob builds in my throat but I swallow it down. Crying won't help anyone. Not me, not my parents locked in their ownbasement, not Brigit. She’s the only reason for me to follow through with whatever Phoenix wants from me. Even if it means handing over my body.
Anger courses through me at my parents and Phoenix. How dare they lay their crimes at my feet? I was eighteen, still believing in love and happily ever after. More importantly, I was a young woman with zero agency in her life. Yet somehow, I’m to blame for all this destruction? I’m the one who has to pay for it? They were the ones who chose violence, who orchestrated annihilation.
The anger gives way to grief and guilt. For ten years, I've carried the burden of Phoenix's death. If I hadn't loved him, if I hadn't been so naïve about life…
But Phoenix isn't dead. He's here, breathing, living, hating. All these years of mourning him and the dreams we had. He was alive, and he never made it known until he and his brothers blew into our lives, killing my brother and taking over the house, threatening us all with death. Including an innocent child.
Why didn’t he come to me, take me away from here like he promised? He knew how I felt about my family. He knew my life here was untenable. All those secret walks in the garden or when he’d sneak me into his house through private passages, and we’d talk about life and love and a future together. Then he’d kiss me, and I felt cherished. It was the only time in my life I truly felt loved and respected.
His lips were soft then, gentle. Nothing like the bruising kiss he forced on me today. That kiss tasted of rage and revenge. And it’s clear from his comments tonight that he sees me as a spoil of war, something he can do whatever he wants with whether that’s to take me against my will or kill me.
