Page 30 of Royal's Reign
Has he been watching me sleep, waiting for me toregain consciousness? Was it him that had undressed me, seeing me only in my underwear?
My fear warps into rage, so I feed on that, schooling my facial expression and body language so I don’t give away how terrified I am.
What I do remember of this guy. If he hasn’t changed much from his adolescent youth, I know that he feeds on fear, and I sure as hell ain’t about to stroke his sick little ego.
I fake my bravery.
“Excuse me for not trusting you, but what do you expect. You drugged me, snatched me from the sidewalk and have me locked in a room. A prisoner.”
“You have no reason to fear me, Canche. If you hadn’t run from me in the first place, given me a chance to explain, then this unpleasantness could have been avoided.”
“After what I saw? No one in their right mind would have stuck around to wait on an explanation,”
“Instead, you chose to hide out with a group of leather clad, oil ingrained criminals. Who no doubt has a history of violence and corruption that is rival to my own. Double standards, don’t you think? You see, not everything in this world is so clear cut.”
“Surely,” I mock, “You’re not going to try to convince me that what I saw was a figment of my imagination? You killed an innocent man. A man who I saw with my very own eyes, was begging for your forgiveness. You showed no mercy.”
“Believe me when I say that the man whose life ended that night was far from innocent.”
“What? Did he owe you a few bucks? Run up a debt that he couldn’t pay?” I sneered. “Hardly worthy of a death sentence.”
“He disrespected me,” he shouts at me, his eyes fired up with rage. “No fucker disrespects me like that and continues to breathe.”
I let out a scared cry at his show of anger and take a step backwards. Instantly his expression softens, and he moves to step towards me, arms open. Instantly, I bring up my hand, showing him my palm, a warning not to come any nearer. He lets out a sigh, shoulders dropping slightly, yet still stands firm.
“It was unfortunate that you witnessed what you did that evening. It was a simple case of wrong place, wrong time. Although, for me, the timing was perfect.” His voice becomes softer but stills instils fear into me. “I never, at any point, intended to hurt you. Quite the opposite.”
“What? Wait. I don’t believe you. In fact, I don’t understand any of this. The flowers, the strange gifts that you sent to where I work, not to mention the threatening notes and constant stalking? If what you say is true,” I sling back. “That I’m not in any danger, then what do you want from me?”
“It’s simple, Canche,” he tilts his head and smiles. All white teeth against his dark skin, looking like the devil himself. “What I want, is you.”
Chapter
Twelve
Royal
What I want to do is storm the fucking place, guns blazing, fuck the consequences, but I can’t. We have to think carefully how we can get in and out quickly and efficiently, without losing men or putting Giorgia’s life at risk.
“What are we waiting for?” Grinder barks, as keen as I am to get Gio out of there. “Why are we just standing around like dogs with our dicks hanging out? We need to move.”
“Grinder, stop.” He pins me with a stare. He’s bouncing on his feet, fists punching off one another, ready for the fight. “Gio’s in there. If we rush the place, all hell will let loose. We need a plan. Maybe adistraction.”
We’re all currently hanging back further down the street. Scotty and Quarter have already found a way around the other side of the house, and hunkered down in some foliage on the edge of the waterfront. The road is one way in, one way out. The only other access by boat. So as far as we can make out, Giorgia is still in there, unless they’ve taken to the water before we arrived. I’m betting my right nut, that Caal is in there too.
From here we have a clear view of the front of the house. There’s only another five or six houses on the same road. Each million pound plus properties, each with a fair few thousand pounds sat on their driveways. God knows how much is sitting in their two and three door garages.
“That a Bentley parked out front?” Banshee pipes up, pointing to the house that holds our attention.
“Fuck Banshee, not the time for you to start getting hard over some posh cunt’s motor.” Grinder snarls, and smashes one of his impatient fists into his upper arm.
“Fuck you,” Banshee snarls back, rubbing the spot that took the hit while rolling his shoulder. “Set the fucker alight, that will get their attention.”
“Shit, that could work.” My mind works overtime, a scenario playing out in my head. “If we draw them out front, we can pick them off, giving Scotty and Quarter a chance to slip in the back.”
“Not wanting to play devil’s advocate, but if Caal isstill in there, what’s saying he won’t just pop a bullet in her head?” Boulder remarks.
“Why would he kill her when he’s infatuated with her?” I say, anger gnawing at my gut at the thought of Caal just being in the same room as her, watching her, wanting her, is feeding my jealousy. “We still need to get in there as fast as we can, so once we have a way in, we go in and takeout the rest of the fuckers. Except for Caal.” I can feel the vein throbbing at my temple as I harden my stare at each of my brothers. “He belongs to me.”
