Crystal
King was right. Love makes you weak. But he’s never felt it, so there’s something he doesn’t know. Love also makes you strong. It makes you invincible. No matter what my family does to break my spirit, they cannot break my heart. It belongs to Devlin. It is filled with a love that burns hotter than molten lava, fiercer than the darkest hate. Nothing can stand in the way of a love like ours. It incinerates everything in its path.
“You’re going out?” I ask, looking from one brother to the next. The four of them stand in King’s room, staring back at me with expressions varying from resentment to guilt. “I came to ask if you wanted to watch the ball drop in Times Square later, but obviously you have other plans.”
“We’ve got a few things to take care of,” King says. “Dad will be here with you.”
I sigh, hugging myself and glancing at the window, where once again, sheets of rain are pouring down. “So, on New Year’s Eve, I get to stay home with my dad like a loser while you all go out? After you told me I can’t go out withmyfriends?”
“It’s not like that,” King says. “We’re not going to party.”
“Let her come,” Royal says. “She might like it.”
“You might be a criminal yet,” Duke says, throwing an arm around my neck. They do look like criminals—or a gang. All four of them are wearing black from head to toe.
“What are you guys up to?” I ask, narrowing my eyes at them.
“Nothing you need to worry about,” King says. “Go watch TV with Dad.”
“You know, you’re all a bunch of hypocrites,” I snap. “YousayI’m one of you now, that I’m an adult, you respect me, and I’m your equal, but you don’t treat me like it. Even after I proved myself to you, none of you took me seriously. You just shove me aside, leave me to hang out with our parents, and go off to have fun like you did in New York.”
“Crystal,” King says, his voice stern. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Yes, I do,” I say. “I’m not stupid or naïve anymore, King. I know what you guys do. I know Dad’s in the mafia.”
“He’s just an earner,” King says. “And this isn’t about that.”
“Well, he’s connected, and you’re going to work for Uncle Al. You told me that, but you won’t let me actually do anything. I’m older than the twins and the same age as Royal. The only reason you won’t let me go is because I’m a girl.”
“Exactly,” he says. “We don’t want you getting hurt.”
“You don’t think it hurts to watch you go off like a family and treat me like I’m not part of it?”
“Let her tag along,” Royal says. “Once will be enough for her to see she doesn’t have the stomach for it.”
King looks back and forth between us. “It’s no place for a girl,” he says at last.
“I’m not a little girl,” I say. “I’m a woman. Whatever you’re doing, I’d rather do that than sit at home with Dad pretending everything is fine. I know it’s not, and I’m old enough to handle the truth. Tell me what happened to you, Royal. Let me go tonight—wherever you’re going. Stop cutting me out of our own family.”
Royal’s eyes are dark and deep as infinity as they lock on mine, and for a second, I think he’s going to tell me.
“We’re going to take the town tonight,” King says. “It’s not safe for you.”
“And it’s safe for you?” I demand.
“I vote to let her join,” Baron says. “You never know when you’ll need a girl to get shit done. No one expects it. I think she’d be a good asset.”
“Yeah,” Duke says. “It never hurts to know how to cause a little havoc. Let this be her first lesson in mayhem.”
King looks between his three brothers and me. All four of us against him. Still, if he said no, we wouldn’t have a choice. What King dictates is law.
“You’re part of this family, so if you really want to come along, I suppose you can see how we do things. But you stay in the car where it’s safe no matter what. Understand?”
“Okay,” I say, nodding. Though I remember Devlin telling me the same thing when we went to get Royal from the Midnight Swans’ office. Hell if I’m going to sit back and let things happen. Just because I’m a girl doesn’t mean I have to sit on the sidelines of life and watch.
King tosses me a black sweater to put over my white shirt. “Put that on and let’s go.”
Downstairs, Dad is pouring himself a drink at the wet bar. Unlike Mom, his drinking is controlled, calculated, and never interferes with his work. That one drink might last him ‘til midnight.