Page 30 of Endgame
Fuck if I care.
I really don’t.
This little brat is just as rotten, just as condescending as they are. She shouldn’t have lived her comfortable rich-girl life. Her adoptive dad should’ve spent years in prison.
Yet here she is. Here they all are.
Alive and, finally, under my thumb.
“She belongs to us.” The vein on his throat bulges as he repeats his nonsense. “Bring her back here.”
When did kids become anyone’s property?
Well, not my problem.
She isn’t theirs anymore. She’s my fiancée. Mine to ruin.
Mine.
“Do you, princess? Belong to them?” I stare down at her, my voice low and biting. She doesn’t answer right away. I twist her face toward her parents, forcing her to look. “Look at them. Then tell me.”
Still no answer. My grip tightens slightly.
“Answer me.” When she’s quiet for a beat too long, I shake her by her throat. “Answer me.”
“N-no.” She casts her eyes down. Her pulse is deliciously quick. “No.”
“Aurora,” her mother warns.
Aurora’s shame is as exquisite as her parents’ indignance. I tilt her face up, my lips brushing her ear. “Who do you belong to, then?”
When I pull back, I see her blinking furiously. Tears line her eyes. Her teeth gnash.
“You.”
“Louder.”
Aurora surprises the hell out of me by clearing her throat and straightening her back as much as I allow.
She’s slipping back into the sharp, calculating version of herself I saw in court. In the Royalty meetings.
This unbroken version of her undermines everything I’ve worked for.
And goddammit, it’s hot as hell.
“You.” The word is a growl.
She says it more to them than to me. Like she’s relieved to be out of their reach.
This poisonous family’s business is none of my concern.
Molly scoffs, walking away from us. Winston doesn’t pay attention to his wife. “You’re going to pay for this.”
You’re going to pay for this.
Again, Aurora’s parents use the wrong phrasing.
NoWhy are you doing this?orIf you want to hurt us, take one of us instead.
