Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 65094 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 325(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 217(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 65094 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 325(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 217(@300wpm)
For years, he’d advised me and I realize that it wasn’t to help run the sector. It was to undermine me. He was the main reason I always doubted myself. His subtle suggestions about me being all muscle and no brains had gotten to me, when I should have believed in myself all along.
“And what’s stopping me from ripping your throat out right now? Do you think those Enforcers will stop me. Do you think the staff you’ve turned against me can stop me?”
Braeden shrugs with a nonchalance that tells me my words are meaningless.
“You can’t take every one of us down. Besides, I have an incentive for you to step down.” He presses his communication pin. “Bring her out.”
The door that leads to the security office in the garage opens and an Enforcer drags Jamie along with him. Her eyes are swollen as if she’s been crying and there’s a bruise on her cheek.
My heart sinks.
Chapter
Twenty-Two
DRAKEN
Fear isn’t an emotion I’m familiar with. Growing up, it was something I couldn’t afford to feel because I was constantly fighting to survive. But now, terror grips me like it never has before.
What happened to Ayla? Did I bring her to the fortress only for her to betray me as well.
The Enforcer shoves Jamie into Braeden’s arms. My cousin holds Jamie against him.
“Let me go!” She attempts to twist out of his hold.
Braeden chuckles. “She’s a feisty one. But a little dangerous. She should be executed under our laws.”
“Jamie!” I rush forward but I’m halted when Braeden, pulls out his dagger and places it against her throat.
“If you harm her….” I warn with a growl.
“You’ll what?” he taunts. “You won’t do a damn thing because I’m the one in control.”
Jamie’s eyes are wide with fear and I vow that I will get revenge on every single person who turned against me.
“How do you like feeling helpless cousin? Does it feel good? Do you like someone else having the upper hand?” Braeden grins, placing the tip of his dagger in Jamie’s neck. A droplet of blood runs down her neck.
“Draken…”
“It’s going to be okay, Jamie,” I assure her. I have to stay calm and hope that Magnus comes through for me. In the meantime, however, I have to figure out a way to get Jamie to safety.
“Aww, how sweet. It’s too bad you couldn’t save her. You tried to get her out of the fortress with the help of that new maid but Willa installed cameras all through your breeder’s room, disguising them as decorations to brighten up the room. Or at least that’s what she told me.” Braeden laughs.
I snarl in Willa’s direction. She takes a step behind one of the Enforcers. I turn my angry gaze toward Braeden and I note the mania in his eyes. It’s the same look my uncle used to have when he was in the throes of one of his rampages.
“Why?” I demand.
I want to know the reason he’s doing this. The reason I will have to kill him.
Braeden throws his head back and laughs. “You have the nerve to ask me why? It’s simple enough. I’ve always hated you. Ever since Father brought you to the fortress, it was Draken this and Draken that. He always compared me to you. He told me that I was weak. He’d take you on trips.”
“He was only using me for muscle,” I argue.
“It doesn’t matter!” Braeden yelled. “He saw value in you and not his own son. He chose you the son of a whore instead of training me to eventually take his place. He used to beat me for not being you. And I hated you with every single punch and kick I received. I even hated you for killing him even though you were only doing it because you thought you were protecting me. I would have rather you let him kill me instead of me being beholden to you.”
“And then you became Sector Leader when it should have been me. So I bided my time and put my plan into works. I made sure to discredit you all over the Sector and even made connection with a couple of Sector Leaders. It’s too bad after the summit, Sectors Leader 1 and 3 have backed off a bit but that’s okay. I don’t need them. I replaced most of the staff with those who are loyal to me. So I may not have your strength, but I don’t need muscle to rule. I have the brains.”
I stare back at Braeden and the rage I’d felt only second earlier disappears and is replaced by sadness and disappointment. When my uncle brought me to the fortress, I thought I could look to him as a father figure but that turned out to be far from the case.
Instead I suffered abuse at his hands and for any scrap of affection, I did his bidding to my detriment. I couldn’t have known at the time, the atrocities he’d made me commit would later haunt me and earn me the reputation of a beast. I hated that moniker more than anyone could know and yet I’d sucked it up at the time.