by K. M. Raya
Contents
Title Page
About The Book
From 'Angel'
Angel
Angel
Angel
Holden
Angel
Carter
Captain
Angel
Ellis
Carter
Angel
Holden
Angel
Angel
Captain
Angel
Captain
Angel
Angel
Finley
Epilogue
The End
Devils
The Brotherhood Book Two
By KM Raya
About The Book
I thought I'd finally done it. He could no longer watch me...groom me and play with my life like a pawn in his deadly game. Me and my guys fled far away with blood on our hands and fire at our heels, with promises of a life together on the horizon. But nothing this good can last and I should have seen it coming.
Thanks to Sal goddamn Valentino and his manipulative ways they think I'm a liar-a double agent, and nothing I can say will change their minds. The Famiglia has come for me, and it looks like the Brotherhood is back to hand me right over. This is the second book in The Brotherhood series. 18+ due to violence and sexual situations. This book is Reverse Harem.
From 'Angel'
The Brotherhood Book One Recap
Angel Valentino
Waking in the morning to sunlight shining through my window, I almost forget where I am for a few seconds until I take stock of my surroundings. I’m in my bedroom, but the only thing that's missing are the four guys who’d fallen asleep in here with me.
Feeling the sheets next to me, I find that they're cold. They must have crept out of here a long time ago. For some reason the thought leaves me with an uneasy pang in my gut. I go through the motions of my morning, showering off last lights activities and making myself some well-deserved chamomile tea. My throat still feels slightly raw after being held so tightly in that horrible man’s grip a week ago. I still don’t understand who he was, but I’m going to guess he’s a part of this stupid Brotherhood.
I spend most of my birthday lounging around on my couch doing nothing. Beth and the girls texted earlier wanting to hang, but I can’t risk them seeing the bruises. I have cuts on my skin too—impossible to hide fully no matter how much makeup I try to slather on them. It's around seven o’clock in the evening when my phone rings and I rush into my room to answer.
“Mama?” I ask, breathlessly. She never calls me at an unscheduled time, and it worries me.
“Angel—you need to get out of that house!” she shouts in my ear. My heart stutters in my chest.
“Mama, what’s going on? Are you okay?” I can hear scrambling on the other end of the phone and a low voice grumbling in the background. It sounds like there’s a struggle.
“Listen to me! Pack a bag and get out of that city. Do it now before it’s too late. Baby, I know we haven’t always seen eye to eye, but you need to listen to your Mama. You are not safe there.” I hear the sound of a slamming door and the click of a lock over the phone. I’m assuming she just locked herself in a bedroom.
“Tell me what’s happening, Mama. If you're in some kind of trouble, I’ll be on the next plane out there—”
She cuts me off with a hiss. “It’s not me that’s in danger, piccolina. I have to go now but do as I say. Get out of town and disappear. Throw this phone in a river and leave. Don’t ever come back, do you hear me, Angel?”
I choke on a sob; I don’t know why she’s telling me these things. I’m so fucking confused. “Mama…” I cry helplessly.
“I love you, baby. I’m so sorry I couldn’t help Sofia…” My breath catches. She never speaks of my sister. “You’ll never know how sorry I am. Goodbye, baby. Please go!” She hangs up without another word, leaving me heaving as I stare at the blank screen in my hands.
Running into my bathroom, I gather my essentials and toss them into a bag. I’m still wearing my white shift nightdress, but I’ll need to find something to wear on a plane. It seems my trip to Vancouver just moved up. In my closet, I sift through my belongings, tossing things I’ll need out of the room and onto my bed when suddenly, a shiver runs down my spine. My whole body stiffens, but before I have a chance to turn around, a hand clamps over the bottom half of my face—covering my mouth and nose with a white cloth. I try to fight it—I kick my feet out while using my elbow to jab my attacker in the stomach, but I hit something hard. . .a kevlar vest. I bite down hard on the hand covering my face.
The person grunts, but I can feel my brain growing fuzzy and disoriented. I struggle, but in the end, blackness creeps in until I’m falling under and letting it take me.
✽✽✽
The world is a haze of fuzzy colors and sounds. My mouth is dry like I’ve been chewing on cotton. I’m cold. It's the first real sensation I’m able to identify before I fully come to.
The night is dark around me, but I can’t see a thing because something is tied around my eyes, wrapping around the back of my head in a bow. I thinks it’s some sort of white ribbon and all I can make out are vague shapes and moonlight. I have no idea how I got outside, but the last thing I can remember is… Fuck!
Someone drugged me—I’m too late. I should have run out of that house as soon as Mama told me to. I should have called one of the guys to come get me. I'm a god damned fool. I should have run while I had the chance! I take stock of my body, realizing that I am unharmed but also unable to move. My hands are once again bound behind my back, but this time by silken ribbon, not the thick rope that had torn my wrists to shreds in that horrible room. I let out a small yelp as rough hands hook beneath my armpits and haul me up off the ground and away from the tree I’d been propped up against.
Soon, I’m standing on my feet—barefoot and shivering. Once again, I use my only weapon—my foot to kick out, catching the kidnapper off guard with a low grunt as my foot connects with what I'm assuming is his groin. It's a small point for me, but it's incredibly satisfying. As soon as I stop wobbling, they guide me forward. I want to fight—to try and run from them, but my body is weak from the chloroform and I know I won’t get very far. I have no shoes and my robe is long gone, not to mention the fact that I have no clue how far out in the woods we are or how to get back into town. I can smell pine all around me and feel the dirt beneath my bare toes.
We walk for what seems like hours, but I logically know it's only been around five minutes. There are no lights out here, but it’s still so bright, even with this thing covering my vision. Suddenly, the air shifts and a new scent hits my nose. It smells like a campfire and makes my heart drop into my stomach because I know exactly where they are taking me.
Through the covering I can just barely make out the glow of the distant fire. It grows larger the closer we get. I don’t struggle at all now, knowing it’s pointless. When I begin to feel the heat of the flames on my exposed skin, my heart rate kicks up a notch because I know exactly who’s waiting for me on the other side of these flames. We come to a stop when the person holding my arm lets go and tears the covering from my eyes. I blink away the dizziness as my vision clears until my eyes adjust. When they do, it's as if I can feel the physical cracking of my ribcage as the heart in my chest shatters into billions of tiny shards.
Nothing makes sense anymore, and I don’t even know if I want it to. Standing in a half circle around me are nine men, each of them dressed head to toe in black slacks and button-down shirts. Their faces are obscured by
garish looking animal masks that look way too realistic for my comfort. The whole scene is outlandish and pulled straight from the nightmares that have plagued me since I first laid eyes on this fucking place. Icy wind whips through my tangled hair, dark strands stinging my watery eyes as I glare at the ones I thought I could have loved—the ones I thought loved me. I can smell rain in the air and know instinctively that it’s only a matter of time until a storm hits.
Firelight warms my face, but the ice that has begun to crystalize around what remains of my heart chills me to the bone. I fight to keep breathing steadily, chin held high and shoulders back, but the effort takes more out of me than I’d anticipated. They think I’m a broken little girl… like all the ones before me.
Looking at them now, how could I not have known? How could I have been so easily fooled? I know how. Love. It can do silly things to a girl of nineteen. Love can make you forget. It made me forget the realities of this game we play. The endless cycle of betrayal and regret. The four of them loom over me like unshakable gods from some far-off land. I can’t see their faces through the masks they wear, but I know who each of them is individually without having to strain my eyes. I’d know those eyes anywhere. The feeling of them traveling over my dirt covered bare skin prickles like the punctures of a thousand tiny needles. Each one of my men stares into my soul and I thrust every ounce of betrayal and heartbreak into my eyes as I physically can.
Tears stream down my cheeks as grief crashes over me in waves. Grief for the men I thought I loved and grief for the love of a father that never truly was. Papa sold me to these men, and for what? I thought Sofia had been enough. I should have known better. Watching them, I see the way their arms hang stiff at their sides, fists clenched and shaking. I can’t tell if it’s anticipation that excites them, but another wave of anger flows through me. They don’t deserve the things I’ve given them. They don’t deserve what they now demand of me. I can hear words being spoken but the roaring in my ears blocks it out.
A man's voice booms in the night, and in my peripheral, the head of a white tiger approaches. Closing my eyes tightly, my hand is yanked forward as I raise my tear filled face to the stormy sky and I scream as the slash of a hot blade pierces the skin of my palm. Thick, crimson blood drips from my shaking fingertips—pouring to the ground.
There is nothing but silence all around us, broken up only by the far-off booming of thunder, heralding the storm to follow. It booms and booms, shaking the ground. But wait. Something’s not right. That didn’t sound like thunder. Something heavy hits the ground at my feet. Snapping my gaze away from the cloud filled sky, I feel my entire body stiffen as my eyes lock onto the impossible scene before me. I feel like my eyes are deceiving me, but in my heart, I know it’s not true.
One by one the four men who haunt my every waking moment lower their smoking guns with shaking fingers as the men on the other end drop to the forest floor like bricks.
Boom, boom, boom…
The one on the end in the wolf mask raises the gun again, firing into the trees and I hear the sound of retreating footsteps in the distance. This goes on for what feels like minutes. I watch in utter disbelief until the only people who remain are the five of us. Before me stands a tiger, a bull, a lion and a wolf. Behind them and at my feet are the bodies of their fathers—thick blood seeping into the dirt from their mask covered heads, their treacherous lives snuffed out just like that. Taken at the hands of their own heirs.
✽✽✽
I feel like my body is moving on autopilot. Low voices rush through my ears as I feel myself being dragged through the trees. I can’t capture a word because my mind is still stuck back in that clearing.
I try to make sense of what just happened. My heart feels like it’s run laps by now as I whip my head from side to side only to see the tall figures guiding me along. Carter has ahold of my left arm and Holden has my right. They push, pull and urge me to go faster until we break through the trees, running towards Carter's familiar car sitting in an old clearing. The guys shove me into the back seat of the car, Carter circling around front to the driver's seat while Holden and Ellis box me in on either side.
“It’s gonna be okay, baby—” someone whispers. I stay silent as we rumble out of the forest, taking to the streets until we’re pulling up to my house.
Everything is frantic as the guys yank me from the car and we all file into my house. “Get upstairs and pack everything that means something to you, Angel. Do it quickly because we don’t have a lot of time,” Carter orders.
“I’ll help,” offers Captain as he grabs my hand in his and guides me up the stairs. Together, we burst into my bedroom and I go right to my bed, grabbing the bag I’d abandoned—already filled with everything I need.
“You guys done up there? We need to go, now!” calls Ellis from somewhere downstairs. Cap looks to me and I nod, slipping my bag over my shoulder and following him back downstairs. He grips my hand tightly and it’s only now that I notice his is shaking.
When I get to the bottom of the stairs, my three other men are waiting for us by the front door. Carter holds out his hand. “Give me your phone,” he orders, and I don’t hesitate. He takes it and immediately smashes it on the floor before stepping on it for good measure.
“What’s happening?” I ask them desperately.
“We’re leaving, we need to hurry,” Ellis tells me—reaching out to cup my face in his hands.
“Y—you killed them all…” My words come out in a stutter, I’m still in a slight state of shock. They all look down at me with a softness on their faces that I’ve never seen before.
“It needed to happen. Those bastards killed my mother and lied to everyone about it. They covered it up and ruined lives. They needed to die,” growls Ellis.
“I—I thought—”
“We know what you thought, baby. And I’m so fucking sorry we had to do it like that, but it was the only way without them getting suspicious.” Ellis wipes a stray tear streaking its way down my cheek. “We need to get out of here now—some of our men got away, and I know for sure Micah did. Salvatore has probably already been notified and is likely on his way,” Cap tells me, his eyes darkening. “We need to get as far away from this fucking city as we can. There's nothing left for any of us here.”
“We?” I ask, dumbfounded. “Where do we go?”
The four of them look at one another, communicating silently in that way that only men who grew up closer than brothers can before looking back to me. Holden steps forward.
“Angel, I know we’ve been through a fucking mess together, but I speak for all of us when I tell you that despite it all… we're falling for you. All of us—I don't know how you fucking did it, but I can't let anyone hurt you. The things we put you through—you didn’t deserve any of it. But I’m telling you right now… things are going to be different.” He steps closer, tilting my chin so that I look into his chocolate eyes. “We go where you go,” he promises.
My heart leaps in my chest. “Where am I going?”
He smiles as all four of them reach behind them, pulling something from their back pockets. Plane tickets. There are five of them.
“We’re going to Vancouver, little bird.”
Angel
Her fist hits my cheek, knocking my face to the side and I have to back up and let myself breathe while my head spins.
I smile through the pain and spit blood onto the ground. Hannah—or whatever she’s calling herself this week, grins in triumph. It doesn’t last long though, because when she casts her eyes sideways as the double doors open, I take the opportunity to swipe my foot out, knocking her down until her back slams into the mat.
“You’re distracted today,” I comment. “Distractions get you hurt, Hannah. C’mon, do it again.” I gesture for her to stand, but she just lays there, glaring at the ceiling of the warehouse gym—her chest is heaving up and down as she tries to catch her breath. Squatting down, I rest my arms on my knees and look down at the short blon
de in pity. “You came to me for a reason, but if you don’t think you’re up for it, we can end this here and I’ll have someone bill you later.”
Her head snaps up, green eyes boring into mine with pure teenage defiance. I want to smirk, but I have to play the role of tough teacher or else I’ll never get through to someone like her. Hannah’s had a hard go of things at home with her drunken stepfather. She won’t give me more details than that, but every time she shows up to her lessons with a fresh bruise, I contemplate the ways I could bring that asshole the justice he deserves.
“Little bird!” a deep, velvety voice rings through the noise of gym equipment and a chill washes over my skin.
Hannah grins, knowing me well enough to understand that she just got a freebie. I roll my eyes at the teenager. “Hit the showers and be here on Wednesday—” I point at her sternly. “On time, or else…” She just smiles and salutes me mockingly. Heaving herself off the mat, she walks away with a slight limp. I watch her until she clears the locker room door.
“How’d the small-fry do today?” Holden asks—sidling up to me and placing a smacking kiss on my cheek. His long, chocolate hair hangs silkily to his shoulders with one side tucked behind his ear.
“She’s easily distracted.” My smile morphs into a frustrated frown. “She’s gonna get herself hurt if she doesn’t take this seriously.”
Holden steps in closer, reaching out and pulling on the end of my blue tinted braid. He stares at the new color with a pucker between his brows. “She’s not your responsibility, you know.”
I smirk at him. “You say that like you haven’t been keeping tabs on her stepdad yourself.” I raise an eyebrow in challenge as he laughs.
“Not the point,” he mutters. He knows how right I am. Holden and the guys are a sneaky bunch. They always have been.
We’ve been lying low for about six months now here in Vancouver, waiting for the storm to blow over and any possible searches to die down. I’m still unsure what happened in the days following the murders of the eldest Brotherhood members. All I can recall are flashes of smoking steel and dark blood pooling into the dirt at my feet. The rest of it was a blur… or that’s what I try and tell myself when the images assault me in my sleep.