Arranged love

APRIL

I’ve been smiling like a fool all day. I spent the entire weekend locked in my bedroom with Grave. I didn’t expect him to stay that long, but I wasn’t going to kick him out. He kissed me goodbye this morning and promised he would return tonight with dinner. I hope it’s something we can eat off one another.

I open my cell to see I have a text from him.

Grave: Still at Kingdom. Will be for a couple more hours.

I exit the cooler and walk up to the desk just as the front door opens. Odd. I thought I locked it. “I’m sorry, we’re closed,” I tell the man who enters.

He looks up at me with dark eyes, and my stomach drops when I see he has a crowbar in his hand. Three more guys enter behind him.

“May I help you?” I ask, and my voice shakes.

The last guy to enter turns and locks the door. What the hell? “Hey …”

“We’re here to see Ethan,” the guy in the front says to me.

I frown. “He’s not here.” The truth is, I haven’t seen him the past three days, but that’s not uncommon since he’s been avoiding me lately. He sent me one text on Friday that he was staying at a friend’s house for the weekend. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have allowed Grave to stay over.

“Ethan?” he calls out and goes to walk past the desk.

I step in front of him. “He’s not here …” He shoves me out of the way. “Hey!”

“Ethan?” He walks back into the office and kicks the door open.

“I’m calling the cops,” I announce and grab for my cell on the countertop, but another guy snatches it before I can get it.

“No need,” he says simply and throws it to the floor, crushing my screen. “We won’t be here long.”NôvelDrama.Org owns © this.

Then the other guy returns and takes the crowbar, smashing it into the glass.

“Stop!” I scream and run over to him.

Someone grabs my hair and yanks me back. I cry out as my scalp burns. The first guy who entered comes to stand in front of me. He grips my face, cramming my cheeks into my teeth. My hands hit his chest, trying to shove him away. “Where is he?” he demands. His almost black eyes glare down at me. His thin lips in a flat line and his dark brows pulled together.

“I don’t know,” I growl. What has my brother done?

He lets go of me, and the guy releases my hair. I take a shaky step back from them. They turn and bust another glass door.

“Stop!” I shout.

I spot my phone on the floor, and I run over to it. A guy grabs me and throws me into a glass door. I bounce off it and land face-first on the floor. I hold my side as I groan at the impact. “How much?” I ask, trying not to cry. My worst fears have come to life. My brother is in deep trouble.

The one with the crowbar squats down next to me. He takes the claw-like end and slides it across my cheek, pushing my hair away from my face. I hold my breath, hoping he doesn’t cut me with it. The metal cold against my skin. “You can’t afford it, honey.” Then he stands and kicks me in the side.

I immediately go into the fetal position to shield my body from another blow. My breath gets caught in my lungs due to the pain, and my teeth grind.

“Tell him we’ll be back.” Then I hear more glass shatter before the door dings, notifying me of their exit. I get up onto my hands and knees, breathing heavy, and look around. Tears sting my eyes as I look over what is left of my mother’s flower shop. Even my vases that were on the shelf are now broken on the floor next to me. My hands shake as I reach out for them, the glass cutting me in the process.

I push myself up, grab my busted phone, and run to my car. I rush into our house and go straight to his room. I’m not an idiot. I know my brother isn’t a saint. He’s been caught stealing before. And last month, I found a gun under his bed. When I questioned him, he said he was holding it for a friend. I didn’t believe that for a second.

I open his drawers and start throwing things around, not knowing what I’m looking for but needing to find something, anything to tell me how much he owes these guys and why.

Yanking open his closet, I pull things off his hangers and shelves. A hat falls and another one of those key cards fall out of it. I reach down and pick it up. Turning it over, I see a skull in the middle of it with a tilted crown on top. Blood drips down over it. Kingdom is written across the bottom in black letters. I grip it in my hand and storm out of the door.

I pull up to the hotel and casino, and I jump out before the man can even open my door.

“Will you be staying the night in the hotel, ma’am?” he asks.

“No,” I growl, running up the stairs to the entrance.

I make my way through the glass doors and come to a stop. The floor is black and white checker marble with flecks of gold thrown in like confetti. The walls are a dark gray, and the ceiling is black. The inside is just as dark as the outside.

“Welcome to Kingdom. How may I help you?” one of the ladies standing behind the front desk asks.

I walk over to her, then open my mouth, but pause, not sure what to say. Instead, I dig the hotel key card of my pocket and show it to her.

She looks over my wild hair and dried up blood on my hand, but smiles. “I will have Antonio show you to your room.”

Thank God something is going my way tonight.

“Hello, Miss. Please follow me,” a man says, coming up next to me, dressed in a suit and tie.

I follow him silently. My first thought was to call Grave, but my cell is busted, so I can’t read my numbers, and I don’t have his memorized. I doubt if I just ask for him, they’ll call him. I bet my ass a lot of people do that and get nowhere. So I’m going to focus on my brother instead. Grave can’t help me. He doesn’t even know Ethan.

The man takes us over to a bank of elevators, and I take a deep breath. My brother forgets who I am sometimes. He doesn’t remember when I beat his ass five years ago after he wrecked Mom’s car. I took the fall for him and said it was me, but I made sure to kick his ass first.

Stepping in, he pushes a button, and my toes tap on the floor while it takes us up. My skin is on fire, my blood boiling. If those guys don’t kill my brother, I’m going to.

The doors open, and there’s a long hallway. The man takes us right, walking down the narrow hall to a door. He holds it open and enter an arena-like structure full of people. It’s a fucking event center. They’re shouting and clapping. I look ahead of me to see a ring in the center. Two men are inside it. Their hands are up, and they bounce from foot to foot. My eyes widen when I see one of them is my brother.

“Motherfucker!”

He’s fighting again.

“You’ll need your card to enter the room,” the man tells me.

“Thank you,” I growl, knowing I can take it from here. I storm down to the front, shoving people out of my way. I stand there with my arms crossed over my chest as he hits a guy so hard, he falls to his side. People cheer, and the ref holds up my brother’s right arm. He’s got a huge smile on his face and blood dripping down his chin.

He exits the ring and walks through the crowd. Guys slap him on his back, and women run their hands over his body. The kid is only nineteen. He can’t even legally drink alcohol, much less fucking fight.

I storm after him. I call out his name, but he doesn’t hear me.

“Excuse me, miss. You need a pass to access back here,” a man says, wearing a black T-shirt with security written in yellow.

I let out a growl as I yank the card out of my back pocket. “Is this good enough?” I shove it in his face.

He steps to the side, allowing me by. I catch sight of the back of my brother before he enters a room to the left. I start to jog and shove the door open to follow him. “Just what in the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

He spins around, and his eyes widen when he sees me. “April, what are you …?”

I slap him across the face, cutting him off. “What the hell did you do?” I shout.

His wide eyes stare down at me, and fresh tears begin to sting mine. His eyes roam over my face, and he frowns. I know I look like shit. I didn’t wipe off the makeup that’s already been smeared before I left my house. “Fuck, Ethan! What did you do? Please? What have you done?”