Page 32 of Vengeful King

That’s true too, although not in the way he thinks.

I watch him as I take a sip of my whiskey. I’m waiting, hoping he’ll drink his fast, hoping he won’t taste the slight sweetness of the antifreeze. I read that it can take several hours for the effects to fully kick in, but if I can get him to drink and then distract him by fucking him, that will give the poison the time it needs to get into his system.

Then I hope like hell he’ll pass out, and I can slip away. I don’t want to be here to watch this man die.

Not after he kissed me like that.

“Good.” He nods, his tongue running over his full bottom lip. “Because if I’m breaking my rules tonight, I need to make it count. I need to fuck you out of my system, and now that I’ve tasted you, I know that’s going to be harder than I thought.”

The truth in his voice makes my stomach dip and swoop. I don’t know how to respond, so I just take another drink, letting the burn of the whiskey join the burn in my cheeks as I flush.

Still watching me intently, he picks up his glass. My gut twists, anticipation sending my heart racing. I know what comes next. Not in detail, but enough. I chose antifreeze because it was what I had access to, not because it’s simple or foolproof. Now I just have to hope it works. Even if it’s painful, even if I don’t want to do it.

He brings his glass to his lips, and I stop breathing for a moment as I wait for him to drink.

But he doesn’t.

He freezes.

His eyes narrow, and then he murmurs, “You put something in my drink.”

Oh, fuck.Fuck.

Panic floods me. It sets my brain on fire, white-hot fear blinding me from everything else. I know I’m facing death right now. He’s not going to let me get away with this.

Not even if he was about to fuck me.

I’m running on pure instinct. Before I can think twice, I lunge across the desk, snatching up an ornamental fountain pen that’s perched on one side. Hurling myself toward Lachlan, I raise my hand to stab him in the eye.

But he’s ready. He has one arm up to block me, his other hand moving to grab my wrist. His gaze is sharp, his eyes narrowed at the pen in my hand.

A feral growl bursts from my throat as I struggle against him. I’m not even thinking about killing him now; I just want to get him down, injure him enough to figure out how to handle this.

It’s my life or his, and I can’t give in. I can’t let him kill me, can’t die here—not while my mother is in a facility. Not when I swore I’d protect her.

But he’s too fast, and he clearly knows how to fight, where I don’t. With one sharp jerk of his hand, he twists my wrist, making me cry out in pain. The sharply pointed pen drops from my hand, clattering to the floor.

“No!” I gasp, fear rushing through me in a torrent. I try to knee him in the balls, but he spins me around, tugging me back against his chest and trapping me.

“You’ve made a very big mistake,” he growls.

“Fuck… you!”

I shoot an elbow backward, and it connects with something, making him grunt softly. I try to surge forward, try to break his hold on me, but one thick arm wraps around my neck, pinning me in place.

It tightens, cutting off my air supply, and my heart jackrabbits in my chest.

I slap at him, kick my feet, try to reach behind me to gouge at his eyes… but none of it is enough.

Sparks dance before my eyes as my lungs burn.

And then the world goes black.

CHAPTER12

Lachlan

I don’t know how the hell we got here.

---