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Prologue

“Do you take Nancy Hastings to be your lawfully wedded wife?” The priest spoke loudly and clearly, nodding at me with a small smile as he waited for my answer I stared at hi I knew that whatever I decided to do would mean the downfall of someone

As I stood there, I thought to myself that the question shouldn’t be ould you do for love? The question should be ouldn’t you do? What wouldn’t you do, means a whole lot more Trust me, I know For love I’d walk to hell and back I’d climb athrough jungles For love, I’d give my life But that’s not the question upon me now The question uponat the altar because I love her? Did I love her enough to not marry her? That my dears, is the ultimate question and I had no idea what to do

I looked at Nancy then, standing in her white wedding dress and I knew in that ht It would be the ulti I stood for

Chapter one

Jaxon

There’s a proble your soul to the devil It often turns out that his terms aren’t as favorable as he leads you to believe It should be obvious, right? You ht? How do you say no to the devil, if he’s your father? I don’t know a man alive who doesn’t want to win his father’s approval

When I walked intofor me, I orried, sad, and not totally surprised In fact, part offor them to arrive My father had expected theh he hadn’t counted on Nancy being so headstrong Neither had I

“Jaxon” Brandon’s lip curled atman this time”

“I don’t think so” My voice was low as I stared into his face His eyes were narrowed and full of hate

“I didn’t know you were fighting daddy’s battles for him now”

“I’m not sure why you and lover boy are here” I turned frouys are ready to publicly declare your love for each other”

“You’re a punk, little boy” Greyson’s eyes were cold as he stared at un?”

“I do have eyes” I stared at the gun in Brandon’s hard So cold and snificant object could end a life One shot, one bullet, one life gone It was as simple as that

Greyson shook his head as he stared at h he wasn’tfrom Brandon

“So you going to killto take my life?”

“Is that what you want?” Brandon un up

“No” I shook my head and smiled slowly “That’s not what I want”

“I didn’t think so” Brandon tilted his head and looked at un in his hand I guess I was ht

“What do you want Brandon?” I stared at him with a bored expression

“I want to knohy you brought hter into it”

“I don’t knohat you’re talking about” I shrugged and ran h my hair casually

“Nancy, why is she here?”

“She applied to the acadeuess she wanted to learn about love…” I paused and stared directly into his eyes “Or maybe she wanted to learn about sex”

“You son of a bitch”

“Thanks,” I nodded and s my hate of the man in front of me The only reason I didn’t deck him was because I knew that wasn’t what ive me if I beat her dad up I wasn’t sure why I cared so ht, but I did

“You really want to play with fire, Jaxon?” Greyson took a step towards me “You really sure about this?”

“What are you? Good cop?” I rolled ed “She’s into one of our teachers here”

“Who?” Brandon’s lips curled up in disgust

“Hunter, he used to teach at her high school” I yawned “Can you leave now?”

“Have you touched hter?” Brandon’s eyes narrowed

“Yes” I grinned at him “She’s very sweet”

“You piece of…” Brandon charged towards me and Greyson held him back

“Careful, Brandon” Greyson held hiret He’s not worth it”

“You wouldn’t want to kill your grandchild’s father would you?” The words slipped out of my mouth easily The missile had been launched

“Grandchild?” Brandon gasped and I saw his face pale “You slept with her?”

“What do you think?” I asked hi fast as I saw his hand tighten on the gun

“I think that’s the last time you’ll er back All I heard next was bang

Chapter two

Nancy

I was scared to find out who had died It didn’t seem real to me In a way I didn’t want to knoas conflicted about s Conflicted and confused I knew that of Jaxon and Hunter, there was one I’d prefer to still be alive I wasn’t sure if that made me cruel or inhumane I knew that if it came to it and it was up to me, I’d rather Jaxon still be alive I wasn’t sure what that said about me

“Who’s dead?” I whispered to Amber as I followed her into the study

“You don’t know?” She raised an eyebrow at me and studied my face “Shit, you really don’t know”