“Go out and see who is at the fuckin’ door, Charlene,” Carl growls at me, and I get up off the sofa, more than ready to run out of here and walk to the door.

If it wasn’t for the fact that Oliver is working day and night to bring my father down, I wouldn’t be here, but I have to act normal. I have to pretend everything is as it always was, nothing can change. I can’t act any differently. If my father got wind of what I’m doing, I’d be dead.

Dead.

I open the door and three men are standing, all about Carl’s age, maybe a little older. Early twenties, I guess. Carl told me they’re all selling for my father, all working for him and running his operation on the streets. I’ve never met them before, but I don’t really care to, either. Anyone who has anything to do with my father, is nothing to me.

Two of the men walk past me, not acknowledging me at all.

The third one glances at me as he walks by, and I notice he’s quite good looking. Better looking than most men I’ve seen working for my father. Dark blond hair and the most gorgeous honey-colored eyes I have ever seen. It’s his eyes that make him striking. He’s probably a little too skinny, clearly whatever drugs he’s selling he’s also using, and his skin is a little greyish. But I imagine that when healthy, he’d be an incredibly good looking man.

“Hey,” he murmurs as he walks past.

I don’t see him again after that.

But I don’t think I’ll ever forget those eyes.

I bolt upright with a gasp, my hand flying to my chest. No. It can’t be. How the hell didn’t I realize this sooner? I glance over beside me and see Koda staring over at me and those eyes, the color of soft honey, stare back at me. I start panting as realization hits. It all comes crashing into my mind, into my body, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

And I was just too stupid to see it.

I’ve met Braxton. Briefly, yes, but I met him once at Carl’s house. I had forgotten that face, I had forgotten meeting him, and how seeing Koda didn’t trigger this memory sooner, I don’t know, but it’s real.

And that means everything I’ve believed in the last few weeks is so incredibly wrong.

Tears, tears that I haven’t allowed out for so long, burst forth and run down my cheeks, and I shove out of the bed, panting and upset, horrified at how utterly stupid I’ve been. How naïve, how fucking dumb.

“Charlie,” Koda says, getting out of bed, his eyes on me, narrowed with concern. “What’s goin’ on?”

“You ... you ... you ... liar!” I scream.

He startles and takes a step back.

“What the fuck is goin’ on?”

“You’re not here to protect me because you’re passionate about protection, you’re not here because you care, you’re not with me because you genuinely like me, you’re fucking here because of my father, you asshole!”

He stares at me, but I don’t let him keep talking.

“I had a dream, and in that dream, I had a memory. A memory of meeting a young man that looked exactly fucking like you. A young man who was working for my father. A young man that was selling drugs.”

Koda’s face hardens, and I know, I know in that instant that I’m right. I’m so damned right. He knew all along who I was. He knew all along who my father was. And he knew all along exactly why he wanted to be close to me. Because he wants my father. He wants revenge. And he used me to get it.

“You knew ...,” I whisper through my tears. “All along, who my father was. You knew who put the hit out on me. You knew who I was.”

His fists clench.

“You fucking jerk!” I scream.

“He fuckin’ killed my brother,” Koda roars, swinging his fist into a nearby lamp and sending it flying until it shatters against the wall. “He fuckin’ killed him, right in fuckin’ front of me, and left him there to rot for five fuckin’ days before lettin’ me go. Knowin’ I’d live the rest of my fuckin’ life with that image. So yeah, I fuckin’ knew who he was the minute I heard your name. And yeah, I wanted in on this so I could find him and fuckin’ kill him.”

My bottom lip trembles, and my heart does break for Koda for having to see first-hand the kind of heartless monster my father was, but what he did to me was unfair.

“You let me sit here,” I cry, “and tell you the deepest, darkest parts of me, when all along you already knew most of it. You lied to your club, you lied to me, and you fucking betrayed me. I thought this mattered ... I actually thought we had something ...”

“We fuckin’ do,” he roars. “I didn’t expect to care for you, but I fuckin’ do ...”

“Bullshit,” I scream. “You’ve probably been waiting for the perfect moment to use me, to toss me over to my father so you can play out your revenge. You ... God ...”

I turn and run out of the room.

I need to get out of here.

I can’t be here anymore.

“Charlie!” Koda roars, but I’m running.

Hard and fast.

I run out of the cabin and straight ahead into the trees, getting as deep as I can before taking a sharp turn to the left. I can hear Koda’s roars through the trees, telling me to stop, to come back, it’s dangerous.

But I don’t care.

I thought he cared about me.

But he didn’t. He fucking didn’t. He just wanted revenge, and he was willing to do whatever he could to get it.

Tears burn my eyes and run down my face as I run so hard I can barely breathe, my lungs are burning that much. Still, I run and I run until I reach the road, I flag down a car, and for about five minutes nobody stops. I know that in a few minutes, Koda will roll past and find me. Finally, a car comes to a stop, and two girls wind down the window.

“Hi, I’m a bit lost, and I can’t get any signal on my phone,” I sob pathetically. “Can you give me a ride into town?”

The girls look to each other, glance down at their phones and thank god, they have no signal, and then they nod. “Yeah, get in.”

I climb in and whisper a broken, “Thank you,” Before giving them the address to the bar that’s just down from the club. I won’t lead them right to the club gates, I wouldn’t do that. They’d probably freak out. But that’s where I’m going, to Malakai, to tell him I never want to see Koda again in my life, and he needs to give me new protection.

We reach the bar in about twenty minutes, and I thank the girls, who both nod and smile at me. Then I climb out. I swipe the backs of my hands over my eyes and turn, walking in the direction of the club. It’s about four blocks away and traffic is heavy, moving down the main highway. Morning traffic. Everyone heading to work.

I put my head down and walk.

And I don’t hear them approach.

I’m not paying enough attention, and I should be.

God. I should be.

Out of nowhere, a hand curls around my mouth and I’m hauled off the road and into an alley beside an old, unused red brick building. I scream and fight, but there is no use, whoever has me is bigger and stronger, and god, what the hell is wrong with me? In my hurt, I didn’t, for a single second, think of my safety. I didn’t think anyone would be watching the club. I didn’t think everything could change in a few blocks.

“Hello, Charlene.”

I know that voice.

I’m spun around, and three men are standing behind me, but it’s the first one I recognize. It’s Carl. He’s aged a lot in the last ten years, but there is no missing him. After my father got locked away, I never knew what happened to him, but I guess he stayed loyal after all. I stare at the man that at one point I had been intimate with, and my eyes must give away my surprise.

“Didn’t think I was still around? Of course you didn’t. Shanks is goin’ to be thrilled at how incredibly fuckin’ stupid you are, walkin’ down a main street, in broad daylight. What are the chances?” He throws his head back. “What are the chances?”

“Let me go,” I snap, going to lunge forward, but all three men quickly pull out a gun and point it at me.

“I’ll happily scatter your brains and take you back to your father dead, claim the money, live pretty fuckin’ good. But I know he’d much prefer I brought you in alive so he could kill you himself.”

My stomach coils tightly, and I feel sick. So damned sick.

What the hell have I done?

“Now, we’re going to walk down this alley and out the other side where my truck is. You’re going to do everything I tell you, because if you don’t, I’ll blow your brains out. Now, shall we?”

He puts an arm out, and I stare at him, and I know he can see the fear in my eyes. There is no point in hiding it anymore.

I’m about to face the monster I’ve run so long from.

“Oh, this is going to make Shanks’ entire day.” Carl laughs.

Oh, God.

Someone ... help me.

~*~*~*~