Donovan struggles against my hold, making my knife bite into his skin. I watch a tiny bubble of blood pool around the blade before it trails down his cheek. The sight is almost cathartic, but it would take spilling a lot more blood to calm the storm inside me after today.
“You need me, little brother,” I snap. “This is the last time I’ll tell you. I’m your fucking sister. I am not one of your men. You do not control me. I’m doing this mission for the sake of this family, so I suggest you fall off that high fucking horse of yours before I cut your legs off at the kneecaps and bring you back down to earth.
This power is going to your head. You want my respect? Then you need to respect me. Best you don’t forget that. I have everything under control. Do you understand?”
Defeated, Donovan relaxes under my hold. He nods his agreement, allowing my knife to dig deeper into his flesh. I release him and step away, giving him room to gather himself.
Slight guilt washes over me when I take in the mess I made of my little brother’s face. I already dread the scolding I’ll get from our dad tomorrow. Then again, Donovan knows when and when not to push me. Unfortunately for him, his balls, and his face, he chose ignorance. I refuse to apologize to him for delivering the consequences after he essentially poked a grizzly bear.
“What’s going on with you today?” Donovan asks softly.
He rubs absentmindedly at his neck, the knife wound already clotted and no longer bleeding.
“Ask our witch of a mother.”
Maneuvering myself around him, I open my door and slip through, locking it behind me for good measure.
THE SOUND OF REPETITIVE pings from my cell phone pulls me from my sleep. I groan loudly as the sun assaults my eyes, instantly snapping them shut again. My body feels like it’s in stage four of a massive hangover.
Without the alcohol.
Exhaustion threatens to pull me back to sleep just when my phone pings again.
“Shut the fuck up,” I yell at it, throwing a pillow at my nightstand.
A loud thud sounds as my phone and lamp are tackled to the floor by the fluffy danger cloud I hurled their way.
Satisfied with my momentary temper tantrum, I roll over and try to go back to sleep. Unfortunately, that voice in the back of my mind nags me, insisting I need to get my ass up and check my damned phone. It could be about the mission, and it could be my mom going berserk over my brother. Then again, she’d just send my dad after me, and he would just remove my door with his foot like I’m a naughty teenager.
Then I realize it’s not the normal sound of my text messages, and it’s the goddamned burner phone.
Fucking Liam Brenner.
Sure enough, when I get up and look at the dupe phone. I see several missed messages from him.
LIAM:
It’s Liam. Apparently, my “friend” has completely lost his phone.
LIAM:
…
LIAM:
…
LIAM:
…
Yeah,
he’s purposely trying to annoy the fuck out of me.
MILA:
Point?