Page 126 of The King of Hearts

Is Liliana’s father the one who took Aiden all those years ago? Or did he buy him on the black market?

Regardless of the hows and whys, my instincts tell me that this woman’s brother, possiblymybrother, is somehow linked to Savina’s kidnapping.

And brother or not, he’ll pay the fucking price for taking what belongs to me.

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

HER

Why in the hell do I have cotton in my mouth?

I unstick my tongue from the roof of my mouth and run it across my chapped lips. It doesn’t help because my salivary glands must not be working. I smack my lips together, but all it does is make that dry feeling more sticky.

A pinch in my shoulders has me adjusting my arms, but when I try to pull them down from over my head, they don’t move. Actually, something hard and unforgiving digs into my wrists.

My eyes pop open, and see absolutely nothing except blackness. At first, I think there must be something covering my eyes, but then quickly realize it’s because the light is off and my eyes haven’t adjusted yet. A small sliver of light catches my attention, and I jerk my gaze toward it. There’s a door, and beyond the door there’s a bright light seeping in through the seams.

That’s when it hits me.

Reality.

I was in my art studio when I felt a presence come up behind me, at first thinking it was Ryker. Then a prick to the side of my neck. My hand knocked one of my small paint containers from the table as I fell to the floor. Seeing a set of familiar silver eyes staring down at me as my vision clouded and went black.

They were Ryker’s eyes, but it wasn’t Ryker who stared down at me.

I tip my head back, and my eyes have adjusted enough to notice I’m lying on the center of a bed with my arms stretched up with chains around my wrists, the other end wrapped around one of the slats in the headboard. From the soreness already there, it looks like I may have been jerking against them for a while in my unconscious state.

A wave of cool air slides across my skin, and I look down. I’m naked, and my legs are just like my arms. Chains around my ankles and they’re attached to each corner of the footboard.

My eyes dart around the room, but it’s too dark to see much.

“Hello!” I call out. Maybe it’s stupid of me to alert my kidnapper that I’m awake, but panic is quickly setting in, and brain cells don’t work smartly when that happens.

A sinister chuckle comes from my left, and I swivel my head around just as a light is switched on. I’m momentarily blinded by the white light, but it doesn’t take long for my eyes to focus. The same man who stared down at me in my art studio, the one who has Ryker’s eyes, is sitting on a chair beside the bed.

What the hell?

He not only has the same eyes, but the same dark hair, square jaw, and nose as well. It’s eerie how similar they are.

“She finally wakes,” he comments. He even sounds like Ryker, except his voice isn’t quite as deep. “I thought for a while that the shot I gave you may have been too strong.”

“What did you give me?” I ask. Fear has the air in my lungs freezing. I’m not concerned for myself, but the little life I’m carrying.

“A concoction I made myself,” he replies. One side of his mouth twists up. “Don’t worry. It won’t harm the little asshole you’re carrying,” he says, as if reading my thoughts. “As much as I want that thing out of your body, I promised my father I’d allow you to carry it to full term. Or as full term as needed for it to survive in the world. That little joy in your belly is his gift to his new wife.”

Half of his words don’t register since my brain is still a foggy mess, but I retain enough. “What do you mean?” I can barely get the words out past the lump of terror crystallizing in my throat.

“We’ll get to that later.”

“Who are you?” My throat feels raw and scratchy, so it’s hard to get the words out.

“You haven’t figured it out yet?”

I don’t deign him with an answer because it’s obvious I haven’t, or I wouldn’t have asked.

“I’m Aiden, Matteo, or I guessRyker’s, long-lost, dead brother.”

He’s lying. Ryker’s brother died when he was a child.

---