Broken Kingdom (Royal Hearts Academy #4)(3)

I used to think I inherited mine from him.

But now I know that’s not true…because people with hearts don’t kill.

“Is he okay?” a familiar voice calls out.

Dylan.

Fighting my fatigue, I peel my gaze away from the ceiling.

My cousin’s blue eyes are bloodshot and puffy, like she’s been crying.

Probably because of the mess I’ve made.

I open my mouth, but my dad beats me to it.

“I’m sorry, Dylan. But you can’t see him right now.”

Dylan shuffles her feet. “I just want to make sure he’s okay.”

“I understand that,” my dad says. “But visitation is for immediate family only.”

Dylan’s visibly offended and I don’t blame her one bit. My dad is being a royal douche to her.

“What the fuck, Dad?” I croak. “Dylan is family.” I look at the nurse who’s injecting a needle into my IV, hoping she has a little sway since I’m technically the patient. “I want my cousin to stay.” Turning my head, I focus back on her. “How’s Bianca?”

I don’t miss the flicker of uneasiness in her eyes. “She just got out of surgery—”

“Escort her out,” my dad interjects. “Now.”

“No,” I roar, but no one is listening to me.

“Dylan,” I shout as the officers begin herding her out the door. When our eyes connect, I say, “Tell her what we had was real.” I swallow hard. “Tell her I lo—”

Dylan’s out of sight before I can finish my sentence.

I turn my fury on my dad. “Why the fuck won’t you let her stay?”

He frowns. “Because her loyalty lies with Jace and the Covingtons and I can’t take the chance of her spying on us to get more information for a potential lawsuit.” An expansive sigh leaves him. “I’m already preparing for Hayley’s family to go after us, and if Bianca doesn’t make it—”

Pain sparks in my chest, shooting through me like fireworks.

“What do you mean if Bianca doesn’t—”

And just like that, the lights above me flicker, that staticky, buzzing sound echoing throughout my ears again.





“Can’t you give him stronger medication?” my dad grunts at the nurse. “This is his fourth one in seven hours.”

It’s not the nurse’s fault I’m clustering.

Emotional stress is one of my triggers for seizures, and right now there isn’t enough medication in the world to stop my chest from caving in.

“We are,” the nurse responds, fiddling with my IV. “How are you doing, Oakley?” She gives me a sympathetic smile. One I don’t deserve. “You hanging in there?”

Barely.

“Thank you.”

It takes a good heart to show kindness to a piece of shit killer.

I’m so out of it, my voice is barely audible to my own ears, but I think she hears me because she gives me another small smile before heading for the exit.

“I have a meeting with your lawyer in an hour,” my dad informs me after she’s gone.

That’s…weird.

“Aren’t you my lawyer?”

He shakes his head. “No. It’s a conflict of interest and I don’t want to give them anything else to use against us.” A weary exhale leaves him. “I’m going to pull every goddamn string and kiss every fucking ass I have to in order to make a deal.”

The muscles in my chest draw tight.

I don’t deserve a fucking deal.

“Dad—”

“But,” he interjects, his voice taking on that serious tone again. “I need you to give me some information I can use.”

“What kind of information?”

His eyes roam to the officers on the other side of the hospital room. “Can I have another minute with my son?” When they look like they want to argue, Dad adds, “I promise if you give me two minutes, I will get the truth out of him.”

Get what truth out of me? He already knows everything.

“Two minutes,” one of them agrees before they step out.

“What—”

“Who were you selling drugs for?”

Nah, fuck that. I ain’t no snitch.

“Myself.”

My dad doesn’t buy it. “Bullshit. My friend at the precinct told me the packets in your car all have a unique stamp on them. A unique stamp that belongs to some kingpin they’ve been trying to nail for years now.”

I want to laugh because Loki isn’t exactly a kingpin in the drug game—not yet, anyway—but I do the wise thing and keep my mouth shut.

Disappointment flickers in his brown eyes. “You know, I was really hoping for once you wouldn’t lie to me.”

Given he recently found out I fucked his wife behind his back, his dig is more than warranted.

However, I can’t focus on that because he snatches my finger.

I try to yank my hand back, but I’m still in cuffs. “What the fuck—”

He presses the pad of my finger to the button on my now cracked phone screen.

“Goddammit, Dad, stop,” I bark as he rummages through my cell, looking for dirt.

Loki might not be kingpin status yet, but he won’t hesitate to have someone shoot my ass for ratting him out to the cops.