“Another King win!” my father shouts, holding my hand by the arm as I glare at him. Not that he gives a crap. I look down at the guy on the floor, blood covering most of his face, his nose broken, and only the movement of his chest tells me he is even alive, anymore. I tried not to hurt him too much, but the man wouldn’t give up. He fought like everything in his life depended on it, and I bet it did.

“Get off,” I growl, pulling my arm away and walking out of the cage, slamming the door open to the changing room. I hear his booted footsteps as he follows me in here, but I don’t turn to him.

“I want to tell you something. I have a plan,” he says.

“What?” I snap, looking over my shoulder at him, and he shakes his head. My father looks every bit the rough man I know he is, with his bald head, tattooed neck, and pristine suit. Most people are scared of him with one look, but no one realises just how evil he really is. Evil with a good-looking face.

“Not here,” he says, and I ignore him as I get dressed and wipe the blood off my hands. My lip feels like it needs stitches as it continues to bleed and two of my knuckles feel broken as I undo the bindings. Fucking great. I won’t show him that I’m in pain; show him any weakness. I follow my father out of the changing room, seeing him nod to Arthur, who is sitting at the bar, and then he leads me outside. I don’t say a word as he drives us back to the house. Not a word, and that’s concerning. Fuck knows what crazy plan he has now.

“Wait,” my father says as I try to walk straight up the stairs and to my room. I glance back at him, watching as he walks into the kitchen. I follow him in and see all my brothers sitting around, some eating, and I assume they were talking before our dad came in. They always stop talking when he is here, always scared of his reaction or don’t want a beating. I hate that’s how they have become.

“I’m going to kill Arthur, take over the Cage and the other businesses,” my father says, and I just stare at him.

“You’re mad,” Elliot growls out, and I give him a look that makes him look away. Elliot is the only one who challenges him these days. Sebastian spends as much time as he can away from the house, and Elliot covers for him. I protect them all, especially Luke. He is the most shielded from everything.

“No, I’m not. It’s all planned, and when I’m the boss, not just a fucking partner, you can all work for me. It’s a brilliant plan. I’m going to sleep and think about it,” he says walking out of the room, and we all sit in silence for a long time. I know my father has mental issues, I’ve always known that, but this just proves he is fucking crazy.

“Should we stop him?”

“No,” I say quietly, almost hoping that Arthur figures out what’s going to happen and kills my father. It would be doing us all a favour, and the silence from my brothers suggests they feel the same way.

I shoot up in bed, the sound of someone screaming fills my ears and makes the memory wash away like I always have to when I have these dreams. That night was the start of my father getting himself killed and ultimately screwing us over. I should have stopped him, waited until Luke turned eighteen, and then we all could have run. Instead, our father getting killed made our lives worse. I get out of bed quickly, running across the room and opening my door, hearing that it’s Tilly. I open her door and run into the room, seeing her thrashing around on her bed, the sheets sticking to her as she screams.

“Don’t do this, please don’t, Daniel,” she shouts, and I go over, shaking her shoulder, watching as she suddenly wakes up and jumps.

“Hey, it’s me; it’s Harley,” I say, rubbing a hand down her arm. The moonlight shines through the window and bounces off her pale eyes as she watches me. She looks so scared.

“What . . . what are you doing in here?” she asks me, her voice breathless and scared.

“You were having a bad dream and screaming. I couldn’t just listen to you acting so scared, so I woke you up,” I tell her.

“Oh, I’m sorry I woke you,” she says, rubbing a hand over her pale face and brushing the hair off her face. I hand her the glass of water on the side as I turn the lamp on that’s on her desk. She drinks some of the water before handing me the cup back.

“Don’t be, you’re not the only one that has bad dreams, Siren,” I say, and she nods, understanding clouding her face.

“Want to talk about it?” I ask her after a moment’s silence.

“Maybe? I don’t know. Does it help you to talk about it?” she asks me, rubbing a hand over her stomach.

“I don’t know. I don’t talk about my past to anyone,” I tell her. The most I’ve spoken about my past is to Tilly.

“You should. I mean you could talk to me, I’m your friend,” she says. I don’t want to haunt her with my past, and re-living it never seems to help me.

“Have you felt any kicks?” I ask her, changing the subject, and she nods.

“He or she kicks all the time,” she tells me. I lift a hand and place it on her stomach, listening as her breath hitches, and I look up to meet her eyes. I don’t feel the baby move, but I keep my hand still on her stomach, hoping I do.

“Will you tell me about what happened with your ex, with Daniel? I want to know everything I can about you, and I don’t know why,” I ask her.

“How do you know his name?” she asks, as I move onto the bed and stretch myself out next to her.

“You sleep talk,” I answer, staying still as she lies down on the bed and rests her head back on her pillows. We both lie facing each other, neither one of us wanting to say anything.

“Daniel is the baby’s father and my ex-boyfriend that I lived with,” she tells me.

“Why isn’t he here?” I ask her.

“Because I ran, and didn’t tell him,” she answers quietly, and all I can think of is how much I want to beat the shit out of him. She isn’t the type to run for no reason, she ran because she is scared. I can see that in her eyes. I’ve fought lots of men in the Cage, and I see that fear in their eyes every time. Sometimes it’s right at the start because they are smart and know they won’t win. For others, there’s no fear at the start, just arrogance, and then, when I’ve beaten them, and about to knock them out, the fear is there.

“What happened?” I ask her gently, knowing she doesn’t have to tell me.

“The night I tried to leave him to come here, he caught me. He went mad, throwing stuff around the room and then told me I wasn’t leaving. I got brave and told him to screw himself, before trying to run out the door,” she says quietly.

“You’re safe with me,” I whisper when she stops talking.

“He caught me on the stairs and threw me onto the floor at the bottom of them, where I hit my head. He tried to . . . well, he tried to force himself on me, and while he was ripping my jeans off, I picked up the glass football statue that my brother, Ace, had left by the bottom of the stairs and slammed it over his head. I don’t know if I killed him because I just got up and grabbed my suitcase, and ran,” she says, angrily wiping her eyes as I rest my hand on her shoulder. I can’t say I didn’t expect he did something bad, but this is worse than I thought.

“Tilly,” I whisper, and she looks up at me, only for a second before looking away.

“Let’s be clear on something, okay?” I ask her. I slide my hand over her cheek and move a little closer on the bed, so our faces are inches away as I talk to her. I rub my thumb over her cheek gently.

“I hope you killed that fucker. I hope he is dead, and if he comes anywhere near you or your baby, I will make sure he never looks at you again,” I promise her.

“Why do you protect me?” she asks.

“I feel like you’re mine to protect,” I whisper and freeze as she kisses me. Her lips brush against mine, reminding me how she tastes like sweets and how soft her lips are. I don’t hold back this time as I kiss her back, and she melts into me. I roll myself over her, holding my weight with my hands as we kiss.

“Harley,” she moans as I push my body into her gently and slowly kiss down her neck. I stop and look up at her, watching as she smiles lightly. That smile does me in, it makes me like her more, and my breath stops. If I take this further, if I let myself be with her, and then something happens to me in that fight, she would be alone, and I would be hurting her. She doesn’t deserve that.

“Why did you stop?” she asks.

“I can’t take this further, not yet. Remember, no promises.” I tell her, making her frown because she can’t understand.

“No promises . . . but can’t we just–” She sighs, pushing her body into mine, and it takes a hell of a lot of willpower to resist her. I shake my head, gently kissing her again.

“Is it because I’m pregnant? Does that freak you out?” she asks, and I laugh.

“Not at all. This isn’t because I don’t want you because I do,” I say, knowing she can feel how turned on I am.

“I promised myself no serious relationships until the Cage is behind me. I can’t be with you and risk my life there. I want to be honest with you. I’m no good for a girl like you,” I tell her, watching as her face goes from sad to angry.

“That’s a load of bullshit. You can’t choose whether I like you or not. You can’t time falling for someone,” she says.

“It’s not. You need a family man, someone better than me. I won’t drag you down to my level, Tilly, but I will protect you,” I tell her firmly.

“So, you will keep me safe but won’t be with me?” she asks, and I nod. I slide off the bed, only looking back once at Tilly and wishing things were fucking different. The big fight is coming up soon, and I doubt I’m going to survive it, anyway. I’m going to make sure she is protected, that my whole family is. I won’t let her fall for me, only to have her heart broken.

“This is a mistake, Harley,” she says gently, before rolling over in bed and facing away from me. It is a mistake, a mistake that I’ve already fallen for her.