Page 129 of Nash

Yes, we’ve gotten used to being hunted. We’re using it to our advantage. This feud with Turner will end one day soon, but then…

What about Alena? Even if she approves of my love for Vale, I know one day Alena will find out what I did so that she would be loved, too. Vale will find out, as well.

I’m no fool. Secrets can’t stay hidden forever. I’ll have to tell Vale, and she’ll have to understand; love left me no choice.

“My son,” Nadine reads my silence, “when will you tell her?”

She’s not asking about Alena.

“Before her initiation. I should tell her and?—”

“No.” The Queen insists, “We made the vow over my second wedding ring in this room, and it won’t be broken. Alena will be my family and have the wedding she deserves. She will be married and protected forever …thenwe tell them.”

In the past, a queen wore two rings: one from her first husband on her right wedding finger, according to Russian Orthodox tradition, and the other from her second husband on her left.

Now, The Queen demands we blend in. We follow local traditions. Wives wear their first husband’s ring on their left wedding finger while wearing a piercing that proudly marks them as our queen, too.

Wren and Delphine chose Monroe piercings.

No, the irony that ValeMonroewill be my queen isn’t lost on me.

Our other queen? He chose something less visible but equally proud, and we understand. He can’t be out in some circles.

I’m trapped in my dream of putting a black diamond on Vale’s finger and my nightmare of losing her when she knows the whole truth.

It leaves me watching the floor below, feeling like a hero and villain to the woman I love.

Suddenly, Jace confronts a man who’s harassing Blair. He towers over him before snapping his fingers, siccing Nadine’s security on him before Jace escorts Blair safely outside.

That leaves Grant and Vale in the club, and I shake my head.

Grant’s lost in triple blowjob heaven.

He doesn’t know Vale’s standing alone at the bar. He doesn’t see her glance up, searching behind the glass where I’m standing, as she smirks with pride before … “Goddamnit, poison!”

She disobeys me.

Proudly, Vale swishes her ass toward the door. She’s supposed to tell Grant she’s leaving but doesn’t. Alone, she lures a man dressed in navy pants and a plaid button-up shirt to follow her outside. But I clock it—the knife he’s hiding cupped in the palm of his hand.

“She’s on the move,” I bark at Nadine, who joins me at the glass, reaching for her radio.

“Grab that preppy bastard,” she commands her security, “and secure her. I want him in the bunker, and I want her to see this.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

VALE

Drawing a ragged breath,I watch Nash’s brutal fist collide with the man’s defiant face. The snap of bone distinct. The gush of blood immediate. His nose broken and bleeding.

Nadine’s security snatched this man up outside the club. Then they grabbed me, too. Quickly, we were tossed in the back of a white van while her men slapped him into cuffs, and I screamed, “Let me go, you pencil dicks, or I’ll curse you with anejaculation until your cocks explode with your pathetic, pent-up cum!”

One of her men looked at me, aghast. “Is that a thing?”

“Yes!” I shouted. “Open a book instead of Pornhub and read all about it. It can be caused by stress, and I’m about to give you a fuck-ton of it!”

The men were silent until the van stopped, its doors ripped open.

“Let’s kick this off,” Nash snarled, standing there. “Go ahead. Ways I’m going to spank your ass for disobeying me.”

---