Page 129 of Reign of a Billionaire
Sofia’s chuckle had Louisa opening her eyes.
“Kingston,” she gasped, her lips swollen and bruised, the sheer panic on her face had my heart twisting painfully. “Why did you come?”
My brows drawn, I studied her.
“I’ll always come,” I rasped, keeping my tone comforting even though my rage was volatile. “Every lifetime, every scenario, life or death, I’ll always come. My heart beats within yours, and yours within mine.”
She shook her head violently, tears springing down her face. “No, no, no,” she whimpered. “You should’ve sent someone else. Save yourself.”
My desire to protect her was stronger than my nightmares. My safety was nothing compared to hers.
“It’s okay,” I assured her, locking eyes with her. “We’ll get out of this together.”
She swallowed. “Promise?”
“He can’t promise you anything,” Sofia snickered, and Louisa’s eyes darted behind me, all her fire and rage burning inside those golden depths.
“Touch him, Mother, and I’ll end you.” My little warrior queen was so fierce. It’d be different this time. Nobody would hurt her ever again. “And it won’t be a quick death.”
And I’d ensure my woman’s wishes came true.
“Last chance, Sofia,” I said, my voice flat. “Let Louisa and I go or you’re dead.”
“You’re in no position to call the shots. It’s time to end this.”
And here we go.
Chapter 62
Louisa
Dread filled me as a flashback tried to overtake me—the two of us bloodied and bruised on this very ground.
I ignored it, working on my bindings instead. If I got my hands free, I could snatch Drago’s gun and Kingston would take care of the rest.
“Ivan warned me about you two,” Mother said, her voice fainter than I was used to. Maybe all this torture she ordered on me was exhausting her.
I met my mother’s malicious gaze with my own. “Ivan played you like a fiddle,” I hissed. My goal was to piss her off, but it was Drago who was getting mad, shoving the gun harder into my chest. “You thought he danced to your tune, when really it was you dancing to his all along.”
“How so?” she asked while I scrambled my mind for anything to keep this conversation going, because surely Kingston had a plan.
Somewhere in the broken corners of my mind, I remembered everything that happened the last time we were together in this room. Parts of us died here, yet Kingston’s eyes urged me to be brave.
“He wanted you to arrange the marriage to the Tijuana cartel,” I pointed out, my bindings slowly getting looser. “You fought him, but in the end, you caved. See, he got what he wanted.”
“You think he wanted that?” she scoffed incredulously. “It was all me.”
My brows furrowed. “But?—”
“I wanted bigger and better than what Benito King had,” she answered. “They used me to settle the Belles and Mobsters debt, so I kicked off the Marabella Mobsters arrangement.”
My mouth dropped. “Perez?—”
She threw her head back. “I used Perez as a puppet, but it was me pulling the strings all along.”
“So you sold Liana?” I wanted to kick myself because a part of me had refused to believe that a mother would do that to her child.
“No, you idiot.” There was something nudging at my mind, but my brain refused to process it. “I soldyou.”
