“Lake? Did you come to take us home now?”

“I said get,” her father roared and slapped her. She cried out as she fell to the floor, but she never even looked at him. Her gaze remained fixed on me as she silently pled for help just before she ran to the back.

“What the fuck, brother? She’s a kid—your kid. You shouldn’t be hurting them.”

Robert turned angry eyes on his brother. Resentment and distrust burned brightly in his dark brown eyes. “I can do whatever the fuck I want to them. They’re mine.” He paused and I could practically see the evil glow through his eyes. “That goes for their mother, too.”

“Until you kill her,” Greg shot back with equal disdain. The wheels in my head started turning as they prepared for battle.

“Maybe then you’ll stop believing she’ll ever be yours. She’ll never be yours. I’ll kill her first. “

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

Robert poked him in his chest and drunkenly swayed. “I’m talking about you believing that Laurie is yours. She doesn’t love you, little brother, and she never will. She’s mine.”

“Really? Have you asked her lately how she feels or have you just been beating her so you can scare her into staying.”

That was an opening. I inhaled, released, and decided to take it.

“I think I can answer that.” They both redirected their attention to me.

“What do you know about it?”

“It’s simple. She’s in love with Greg and has been for at least four years.” I looked between them, waiting for the blow to settle.

“She said that?” Greg asked.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Robert spat.

I decided to focus on Robert. He would be the one to save my life. “I know that Maddie isn’t yours.” I turned on the younger brother and challenged him with my stare. “Is she, Greg?”

“You little bitch. I will kill you right here. Money be damn—”

A drunken fist thrown across his jaw stopped him from finishing. The force sent him to the floor with a hard thud. “Is that true?” Robert roared.

“You don’t deserve her. She loves me,” Greg yelled back. I suppressed the urge to roll my eyes. The scene was like two little boys fighting over a toy. If this played well, neither of them would see her again anyway.

They squared off again, allowing me to rise to my feet unnoticed. Greg still had a surprisingly steady grip on his gun, which he held by his side.

“She’s a whore fucking two brothers and you believed she’s in love with you?”

“What you and she had died a long time ago when you couldn’t consume anything that didn’t come in a liquor bottle.”

“No. It died the day you shoved your cock inside my wife.” They charged again and clashed, toppling the furniture and breaking anything in their path. It was the perfect opening I needed to run, but then I heard the faint sound of crying travel down the stairs and reminded myself that this was for them, too. I couldn’t leave them.

Robert sent another blow to Greg’s face, surprisingly holding his own in his drunken state. I looked around and realized I was close to the kitchen entrance. The kitchen had knives. A knife meant protection. I inched into the kitchen and tore open every drawer I could reach until I located the jackpot. Finding the biggest one, I snatched it and returned in time to see Robert gain control and snatch the gun from his brother who looked badly beaten.

Yes. I silently pleaded with him to let the rage consume him. When he hesitated too long, I hid the knife under my shirt and searched for the perfect catalyst until the evil thought formulated.

“Robert,” I called softly to avoid spooking him. “You need to do it. He’ll just take the money, the girls… Laurie. He’ll steal it all and leave you behind. He even gloated about it when I told him about the money.”

“She’s not going anywhere.”

I schooled my face and lowered my voice further until I oozed sympathy. “But she has to.” He watched and waited for the answer. After I survived this, I would question how far I’d gone and probably even mourn the lost part of my conscience, but right now, I was in survival mode. “He plans to kill you once you help him get the money. Why do you think he came here instead of straight to the money? I’m one girl. He didn’t need help.” I may have possessed half their strength making me no match physically, but I had the ability to mind fuck them until they defeated each other.