Page 40 of Tempt Me
Without a word, I turn my head to my bodyguard, the man I’ve come to realize that I love with an intensity that takes my breath away, and see him take the gun my father holds out to him.
As my parents leave with Father Vince, hurrying out before them, Isaac holds the gun to Antonio’s head, a small, terrifying smile on his face.
“No one hurts her,” he murmurs.
The softpingmakes me jump as Antonio slumps to the ground at my feet before Luca and Jez pick him up and carry his dead body out of my bedroom, leaving me widowed within a minute of getting married.
Chapter23
Isaac
Shoving the gun into the back of my pants so that I’m not waving it around in front of Rue, we stare at each other for a second, which feels like an hour. Drawing my gaze away from her heated one, knowing she is still feeling the effects from our interrupted embrace earlier because I am too, I turn and stalk out of her room, knowing she is safe for now.
Half expecting her to call me back, I’m disappointed, yet relieved, when she doesn’t.
Catching up with Viktor and Francesca in Vik’s office, I pull the gun out and place it on his desk.
“That was a dick move.”
“You didn’t want to kill him?”
Resisting the urge to roll my eyes like a teenager, I scowl. “You know what I mean.”
“Everyone is a pawn to Solitaire.”
“You think of your daughter as a pawn?”
“Rue? Oh, no,” he says, a smile of pride and a glint of awe in his eyes. “Rue is a Knight and one day she will be so much more.”
Grunting a response, not really having much to say on that, Viktor continues. “Look, Rue knew what she had to do, and she did it. It’s over, and that land is now hers.” He picks up the gun and jabs the barrel on the desk.
“Land? This was all over a piece of ground?”
“Not just any land. A substantial piece of stolen land that has now returned to its rightful place.”
“Why didn’t you just steal it back?”
He gives me an incredulous look. I’m not a stupid man, but royal politics isn’t in my bag of tricks. “Because then it could just be stolen again. This has to be legit. Rue owns it now straight up.”
“Fine. Whatever. If she was aware of the details, that’s between you. But it was still a dick move.”
“Rue will always do what is right for her family and for Solitaire,” Fran adds. She has been unusually quiet since I got here, which is unnerving. She is typically pretty vocal and gregarious.
“Fair enough.” I’m backing out of the conversation.
“Tell me, Isaac,” Vik says, waving the gun around lazily. “Do I need to use this on you?”
“Meaning?” My heart pounds in my chest as I wait for him to answer. I already know where he's going with it. Neither he nor his wife are blind. They have to see the heat between me and their daughter. The question is: what are they going to do about it?
“She has been married and widowed undertragiccircumstances tonight,” he says quietly. But it’s that tone that scares me the most.
Clenching my jaw tightly, I glare at him. “I’m aware.”
He purses his lips and glares at me, debating his following words carefully. Lifting my chin defiantly, I already know what’s coming, but it doesn’t hurt any less when it does.
“She is a Princess. She will one day rule Arachon as its Queen. You are just a foot-soldier. Apawn. Are we on the same page?”
Ignoring the stabbing in my heart that everything I already knew has been confirmed to me in three simple sentences, I grimace. “Always.”
