Broken Kingdom (Royal Hearts Academy #4)(135)

I glare at Jace. “And you—I will never fucking forgive you for this.”

I expect Cole to lie—hell, he’s been doing it most of his life and we weren’t all that close before the accident.

But Jace? We’ve always been honest with one another. No matter how painful it was.

Bringing my fist back, I punch him with every ounce of fury I feel, because I want him to hurt as much as I do.

Bringing his shirt up, he wipes the blood trickling from his nose. “Dammit, Bianca. You were a mess after the accident. Finding out about Liam and Mom nearly broke you. You think I was gonna stand there and tell you that you were pregnant by the guy who caused the accident to begin with and then lost the baby because of it?”

“Yes.” I clutch my chest, feeling like a dam that’s about to give way at any moment. “That’s what you should have done.”

“I did the right thing.” The fact that he doesn’t look the least bit sorry about keeping this information from me only fills me with more bitterness. “I wanted you to have a fresh start.”

What he wanted doesn’t matter. It wasn’t his decision to make.

I might be his sister, but I’m not a little girl anymore.

I’m a grown woman.

A grown woman who deserved to know the truth.

And the fact that he thought it was okay to keep something so big from me is…unforgivable.

“You’re nothing to me anymore,” I teeter back, tears clouding my vision as I look at my brothers. “Fuck you both.”

Jace takes a step forward, attempting to grab me when I try to leave, but Dylan wedges herself between us. “Leave her alone, Jace.”

I startle when she wraps her arms around me.

A moment later Sawyer joins us.

“I’m so sorry,” Sawyer chokes out.

I stand there motionless as they both attempt to console me like I’m liable to break at any second.

And while I am fragile right now…I’m not fragile like glass.

I'm fragile like a bomb.

I almost feel myself cave when another wave of anguish flows through me, but because wrath is so much easier to give in to than the guttural sadness slicing through my soul, I push them both away.

“Leave me alone.”

I scan the room, making sure I look at everyone because I want them all to know I mean the next words out of my mouth with every fiber of my being.

“Fuck this family. I’m done.”





Chapter 66





Oakley





There are a million things I wish I’d done differently that night.

I wish I never drank or did drugs.

I wish I never blamed Bianca for telling my dad the truth about Crystal.

I wish I never got behind the wheel and killed Hayley.

But most of all?

I wish I didn’t hurt Bianca.

Not because she’ll never forgive me—her forgiveness isn’t something I’m seeking—but because it destroyed the trust and faith she had in me.

In us.

Because in the end, I did the one thing I swore I would never do to her.

I left.

And forced her to clean up the mess I made all by herself.

Because it hurt too damn much for me to stay.

I knock on the door of her dorm room, hoping like hell she’ll answer it.

Dylan texted me a half hour ago and said Bianca showed up at their apartment ready to burn it down to the ground because Jace lied to her about losing our baby.

Honestly? I’m surprised she didn’t.

I saw the way she looked at me—with so much pain and agony—I can only imagine the anger she must have spewed at her brothers.

Which is why I’m here now.

I can’t make things right, and I can’t force her to talk to her family again.

But I can show her where to direct all that resentment and pain.

Because while the universe obviously deems me unfit to ever be a father.

Bianca will make a great mother someday.

And I don’t want her thinking that any part of what happened is her fault.

I need her to place the blame where it belongs.

This way she can heal and move on.

Because I want the best for her.

And whether or not she hates me, it will never change the fact that I will always love her.





Chapter 67





Bianca





I ignore the incessant knocking on my door and toss some more clothes into my suitcase.

“Finally,” I mutter when it stops.

My relief is short-lived though because it starts up again.

Holy hell. Jace can be so goddamn stubborn it’s enough to make a person want to pull their hair out.

“Go away, Jace.”

I’m done with him. Done with everyone.

I want to run far away from this stupid town where nothing good ever happens and never look back.

“It’s me.”

I freeze at the sound of Oakley’s deep, thready voice.

I should tell him to go away.

Then threaten to call the cops when he refuses.

But I don’t.

Because he’s the only person on the planet who can understand my loss.

Because the baby wasn’t just mine.