Page 98 of Hero of Havoc

It cuts deep into my soul, shattering the child inside of me. I should be used to it by now, immune even, but she has a way of twisting the blade just right so that it’s impossible to avoid.

The anger that bubbles inside of me is uncontrollable, and I don’t realize I’m moving until the wood splinters beneath my clenched fist, spilling champagne everywhere.

My mother’s gasp is muted by heavy footsteps approaching, and I brace for security, but as I tilt my face, it’s Baron and Sax storming toward me.

“Let’s go,” Baron grunts, glowering at my mother, and it takes me a second to realize he probably heard everything she said.

Embarrassment threatens to overwhelm me over my vulnerabilities being exposed, but I swallow it down, along with the pain, as Sax pats me on the shoulder, silently guiding me toward the back of the room.

I don’t turn around, embracing the calmness as I’m sandwiched between the brothers, until the night air finally greets my skin.

My eyes clench shut with anger as I curl my fingers into my hair, desperation getting the best of me as I will the pain to disappear once and for all.

“Sorry,” I rasp, dragging a hand down my face. “We need to get back in there and⁠—”

“The fuck we do,” Baron grunts, eyebrows furrowed as he stares down at me. “Is she always so fucking wretched?” he grunts, anger palpable in the air as I sigh.

“Don’t worry about it,” I mumble, loosening the collar of my shirt, and he huffs.

“Someone has to,” Baron insists as I step further into the darkened alley, leaning back against the brick wall for support as I catch my breath.

“I’m just too⁠—”

“If you say some shit about yourself instead of acknowledging how much of a cunt your mother actually is then I might be inclined to punch you. Just to make sure I knock some sense into you, of course,” Sax interjects, and I turn to him with wide eyes, Baron mirroring my stance as the Land Protector shrugs under our stares. “What? You were repeating it to me the entire time. We should have interrupted sooner. Maybe that’s where I should throw my punch,” he offers, cocking a brow at me as if it’s an actual question, while all I can do is shake my head at him in disbelief.

“I thought I was the unpredictable, unhinged one,” I mumble, and Baron scoffs.

“It seems Sax is full of surprises,” he adds, making his brother roll his eyes.

“Fuck this shit. Let’s get out of here,” Sax declares, scrubbing a hand over his cropped hair.

“Won’t that fuck this up?”

“It was fucked the minute Archer chose to leave for his family, and we all know it. That was probably his father’s intention,” Baron declares, concern twisting in my stomach.

“And we let him take Ivy?” I clarify, and Sax nods.

“There or here, with his father and your mother? I think we know we made the right decision,” he mumbles, and I exhale.

“True.”

“So we’re agreed, we’re leaving?” Baron clarifies, just as a haunting cackle bleeds into the night air from behind me.

I know the source of the sound before I turn, my heart lurching in my chest as my mother stands before me, one hand on her hip with the other perched at the corner of her mouth with a freshly lit cigarette wedged between her fingers.

“You’re not leaving so soon, are you?” she rasps, inhaling slowly before tilting her head to the sky to release the smoke.

“I think you’ve done enough,” Baron states, and she grins, the tilt of her lips as wicked as ever.

“I’m only just getting started,” she promises, taking another drag as she steps toward us.

“I’m done with your mind games, so why don’t you do all of us a favor and go,” I grunt, my spine stiffening as the need to protect my friends from her wrath takes root.

“Oh, Theodore. You’ve always been so delusional. It’s almost amusing to watch, but it’s growing tiresome, and I feel like it’s time you learned the truth.”

“About what?” I blurt as Sax shakes his head.

“Don’t listen to her; she’s just trying to get under your skin.”