LINCOLN
Ibarely slept last night, tossing and turning over the tangled web we’ve found ourselves in. With each move we make to save Octavia, we end up deeper in the murky waters. At one point, my greatest hope was to escape the Knights… but it has become painfully clear that my fate is written. With each job they have me do, the monster inside of me grows. He feeds on the darkness that spills across my soul with every person I destroy. With every life I end.
I stare into the darkness, having given up on sleep shortly after three a.m.. Though I have no idea what time it is right now, the blackout everything—walls, shutters, tightly sealed doors—makes this room almost like a sensory deprivation chamber. Yet… I still can’t find sleep.
The only time I’ve known peace and actual sleep recently, is when I slept with Octavia. I don’t know what it is about her that soothes the demons writhing inside me, but I’m past questioning it.
I already know I can’t have her, and I sure as fuck can’t keep her, so I can’t get attached.
None of us can.
I can see my brothers slipping under her spell, that glow of light that she radiates captivating them all and there’s nothing I can do to stop it. The more I push, the harder they’ll pull.
East might be my brother in DNA, and I can read him like a book, but the other two are my brothers in blood and we don’t have many secrets from each other.
We all survived initiation, just barely, and we survived it together.
I’m not sure we’d have made it alone. Not all of us.
Memories from those weeks still haunt me, and I’ll do anything I can to save Octavia from it. Even if it means sacrificing everything I thought I wanted and needed in life.
Stone tried to save her, he sacrificed more than most would, but in the end even that wasn’t enough.
I’m still convinced they killed him. I just don’t know why. Even Finley, the quiet genius that he is, hasn’t been able to find any information from hacking into their files.
I just wish I knew what their end game was with all of this. I know we started the ball rolling by voting against the trafficking being brought into town. They tried to justify it by claiming that tourists get lost every year, so no one would notice, but still, Echoes Cove isn’t that big. Not really. Even with the number of people on their take, someone somewhere would have eventually worked it out.
My phone buzzes on the bedside table for the third time in what’s probably the last half hour, and I give up pretending I’m going back to sleep. I roll over and flip my phone, the screen illuminating the room, and groan when I see my father’s name.
It stops buzzing while I’m trying to decide if it’s worth the headache to answer, saving me from making the decision. The last thing I need right now is my father wading in. He is all about the Saint way of life. Loyalty to the Knights is basically his life blood. He doesn’t even see how broken his belief system is. He doesn’t care who he hurts, or what he breaks, as long as it benefits him.
Benefits the Knights.
The phone starts buzzing again and I groan, scrubbing a hand down my face, trying to mentally prepare myself for this conversation. “Harrison, what can I do for you this morning?”
I can practically hear his frown at the use of his name, but he lost the right to be called Dad when I was thirteen. “Lincoln, you and your friends have been making a mess, and it’s becoming something of a headache, all this nonsense with the Rittenhouse boy. His father has been pitching a fit, and his mother is thinking about taking her cartel connections elsewhere.”
“He tried to rape Octavia.” I don’t say anything else, because I don’t need to justify myself to him, and I’d do what we did all over again if needed.
Harrison scoffs down the line, like rape is nothing, and I suppose to a guy like him, it isn’t. It could be worse.
“Regardless of what he did, it’s causing me a headache. It needs to be dealt with.”
His impatient tone makes me grind my teeth. This fucking guy. “What exactly is it that you want me to do?”
“I’m going to handle it, but you’re going to owe me a favor.” I take a deep breath as I pinch the bridge of my nose, trying to rein in my anger. Owing my father a favor is never a good thing. Never. I’ve tried to avoid it at all costs. The last time… well the last time wasn’t pretty.
“I can handle it,” I say, and I swear to fuck I can hear his smile stretch across his face.
“No, no, Son. I’ve got it covered.” He laughs softly, and I can just picture him checking his watch, looking out over the skyline of whichever city he’s in, lording over the population he rules, and they don’t even know he exists. He’s everything I fucking hate, and I despise that I’m destined to become him. “You’ll just owe me.”
“Fine,” I grind out, because I don’t want to prolong his joy. “Was there anything else?”
“There was. You and the boys are needed later today. Prepare yourselves and be ready for instruction.” I grip my phone so hard I’m a little worried it’ll smash in my grasp, but take a deep breath and try to push past it.
I fucking hate The Knights Society.
“Anything else, Harrison?”