The Fortunates (Unfortunate #2) - Skyla Madi Page 0,20
while the kings of this world shit all over the people who’ve built it from the ground up. I am in a powerful position—a position where I can do something. I don’t want much out of life, but I’ll settle for saving the world.
“I said stop!” I shove his shoulders, but he barely budges, a testament to his strength.
He can overpower me without breaking a sweat, but I trust him enough not to.
Growling with impatience, Kade tears himself away from my body, breaking into a quick pace. Back and forth he carries his large body as he rakes ten angry fingers through his hair. I press my knees together and shield my bare breasts as vulnerability seeps into my bones.
“God damn it!” he hisses under his breath, slowing his powerful legs. “I’m sorry. You’re injured, and healing, and I…I got carried away.”
“I don’t think we should do this anymore.”
I hold my breath. My heart shatters painfully in my chest as his eyes cloud over and his face darkens.
“This?”
“Us.”
Kade presses his lips shut, his jaw clenching tightly. An eternity passes. For a whole eternity I am stuck, locked in place, by his confused eyes.
“You don’t mean that.”
I don’t want to mean it. I don’t want to do this without him, but what choice do I have?
“I do.”
He shakes his head. “You don’t—”
“I mean it, Kaden.”
He snaps forward with a growl, making me jump. I squeak as he snatches my wrists, pinning them underneath his on the cool bench beside my thighs.
“I almost lost you. Do you know how bad I was hurting?” he demands, his terrifying glare unrelenting.
I shake my head.
“It felt like there was a knife lodged between my ribs, scraping against my heart every second you were gone.”
I press my tongue to the roof of my mouth, desperate to hold back the trickle of tears that sting my eyes. I shake my head again. “Kade…I’m sorry.”
“I love you!” he snaps, his face contorted by pain, by heartache. “That’s what you wanted! I’m giving you what you wanted! Why is it no longer enough? Why am I no longer enough?”
Tears well up and spill down my cheeks. I hate that I’m making him feel like this. I hate that I’m prying his ribcage open and crushing his heart in my hands, but what choice do I have? He can’t protect me from Vince and I can’t live under Vince’s thumb. He haunts my dreams and terrorises my reality. I have to stop it. I have to stop it before he follows through with his threats. Before he hurts me for real.
“You are more than enough.” I sniffle, sadness leaking from my nose. “That’s not what this is about. You love me, sure, but you love this poisonous society more. I get it. You’re scared.”
He pulls away from me. “I’m not scared.”
“You know that as long as this barbaric structure is in place you will always be powerful. You’re terrified of losing it all—terrified of becoming worthless, becoming like me. That’s why you kill these pathetic men who impose on me. I’m lower than them so they hurt me. They’re lower than you so you hurt them. I’ve yet to see you defend what is yours to those of your station or higher. I’ve yet to see you use your brute force against anyone who isn’t lesser than you.”
He pushes his fingers through his hair and tightens them. “That’s not true.”
I tilt my head. My tears roll with my stomach and slide down my cheeks. “If Vince hurt me today…would you kill him?”
With a heavy exhale, Kade drops his hands to his side. “It’s not that simple. There are regulations in place. Regulations—”
“That protect the Fortunates. I know.” I swipe at my cheeks and slip from the bench. “I have to protect myself. I have to put as much distance as I can between your house and mine.”
His eyebrows curve softly, the last of his pleading expended on them. “Nine…”
A thunderous pounding on the door cuts Kade off and makes me jump in my skin.
“Lady Anna. Time to go.”
Confused, I glance at Kade. His serious expression has settled in place, hiding the desperation I just saw. His eyes are dark, his lips pressed in a tight line. I swallow hard as fear seeps up my spine and poisons my blood.
“That’s you,” he states, his voice as cold as ice.
I frown. “That’s not me. That’s not my name.”
“It’s definitely not mine. You better get used to it, Fortunate.”