Lahat ng Kabanata ng DAMN YOU, ALPHA : Kabanata 1 - Kabanata 10

BRIANI kicked the study door open, not knocking. I simply gave no care in the world.Whiskey still soured the back of my throat. My jacket hung off one shoulder, my hair a mess from hands that weren't mine a few hours ago. I dropped into the chair across from my father's desk, waiting for no invitation."You called. I came." My voice came out sharp, sanded down by cigarettes. "What do you want, Father?"Elias didn't look up right away. He never did. He would rather make one wait in a chair until he squirmed.I clenched my hands, my feet making tapping sounds loudly and impatiently. I knew my father detested such uncultured behaviour. Again, I didn't give a fucking care about that either.Elias finally lifted his eyes, cold and flat. He slid a tablet across the desk, slowly with suppressed rage I could sense."Read."I snatched it, my heart sinking as I scanned through it.*HEIR OR WHORE?**KINGSFORD'S SON STRIPS IN UNDERGROUND CLUB**THE FALL OF THE KINGSFORD EMPIRE*Photos were

BRIANI threw my jacket on the floor. Keys next. They skidded across the table and hit the wall.Ace wasn't here yet. Good. I needed the space.I poured myself a glass of whiskey. No ice. I downed it in one go, my throat burning.My phone buzzed. My father. I ignored it. Poured another.The penthouse stared back at me. It was sleek, expensive and empty in a way that had nothing to do with square footage. My mother's photos were everywhere. On the walls, the shelves, the nightstand. Forty million dollars of glass and steel, and none of it filled the hole she'd left in me.I picked one up. Her, smiling. Before the late cancer. Before all of this. Before her hair fell out in the sink and she still tried to laugh about it so I wouldn't cry."I miss you." Barely a whisper. "I miss you so much."I set it back down as my hands shook.I wanted to break something. Wanted to put my fist through the window, through the wall, through anything that would make the noise in my chest stop f

BRIANThe Gilt was the opposite of Venom. Low amber light, velvet booths, a hush that cost money. It sat under a jeweler's shop with no sign on the door, and you needed a card to get past the second stairwell."King!" Felix hugged me before I cleared the entrance. Whiskey on his breath, relief on his face. "We thought you'd be grounded forever.""I escaped." I shrugged. "What else is new?"Rico leaned in, grinning, already reaching into his jacket. "New batch tonight. Supposed to be the best yet.""I'm in."I didn't ask what it was. I knew already, and it didn't scare me the way it used to.Jax draped an arm over my shoulder, heavy and familiar. "Saturday, the bridge route. Rico's got the cars. No rules.""Perfect."The word felt good in my mouth, like something I could still control on a night that had started to feel like it was controlling me. I didn't look back to see whether Ace had followed. I could feel him, the way you feel the weather before it breaks. He had been stopped

BRIANThe track buzzed. Money changing hands, fast and loud, bills folded into palms like secrets. Engines idling like caged animals waiting to be let loose, headlights cutting white through the dark."King!" Felix grabbed my shoulder, grinning wide. "You're here!""Wouldn't miss it."Rico slapped the hood of a car so red it looked wet under the floodlights. "She's ready. Fast. Dangerous.""My favorite." I grinned back. Meant it.Ace's shadow fell over us before I even heard him coming, and my whole group of friends tensed.Felix's grin was faltering, Rico was suddenly very interested in his shoes. And Jax… well was Jax."You're not racing." He fixed down with those serious eyes."Watch me."Ace grabbed my arm the moment I dared the first step. His fingers like iron. "I said no."I leaned in close enough to feel his breath catch, my mouth slowly raised as I spread my own breath on his face."Stop me. Alpha."Taking the moment, I pulled free and walked back to my friends before he

ACEBrian slept. Finally. His chest was rising and falling, slow and even under the thin hospital blanket. And a bandage, stark white, wrapped against his dark hair. No smirk on his face for once. No armor. Just a kid, twenty-four years old, breathing through a busted rib and a concussion he'd earned trying to outrun something he'd never once said out loud.I stood at the window with my arms crossed and watched him breathe, and my heart wouldn't quit hammering. Hadn't quit since the crash, honestly. Hadn't quit since I saw that car flip and felt my whole body move before my brain caught up to what it was doing.What the hell was I doing.I had a wife. Melinda, home right now, probably asleep, probably wondering why I hadn't texted since noon. I had a daughter. Flaminia, six years old, who called me Daddy, delighted every time I walked through the door, arms already reaching up before I'd even set my keys down. My princess. I should've hated him. I should've wanted nothing mo