Page 60 of Vengeful King

When I look up at him, I find something heated in his gaze. He stares down at me, unreadable, and I feel my heart race again.

Is this it?

I don’t know if it’s coming. I don’t know if he’s willing to go this far, if he’ll fuck me. Maybe this is him realizing what a mistake it was to do this in the first place.

For a long, breathless moment, we stare at each other in silence, like two wild animals about to spring into action. He looks like a lion about to pounce, and it makes my heart race.

Because if he’s a predator, what does that make me?

I don’t want to say anything. I feel like it’ll break the spell, and I don’t know if I could handle what comes after that, as much as I want it.

Then, suddenly, my phone rings, its familiar sound breaking the silence.

The moment shatters.

Lachlan grabs the phone from his pocket, looking down at me with suspicion. The distrust makes something inside me clench with pain. I don’t know why—he has no reason to trust me.

He answers on speaker. I hear the phone click, and as soon as the other line connects, I know what it is. I know the familiar white noise, the sound of a PA system crackling. It’s my mom’s facility.

“Hello, Katrina?”

“She’s not available at the moment,” Lachlan says, still looking at me. His gaze is shuttered.

It’s almost frightening how easily he shut down, how quickly he had his cool mask ready. But I remember what he looked like before. HowImade him look.

“Oh,” the nurse says. “Well, we’ve been trying to get in touch. She hasn’t stopped by in a while, and her mother is asking after her. We just wanted to make sure everything is okay.”

There’s barely any concern in the woman’s voice. It’s firm, polite. I know she’s calling to see where I am, but she’s also calling to see if my mother’s room will be paid for. If she has any support, or if they’ll kick her out and put her somewhere else.

Somewhere worse.

My heart skips a beat. I feel immediately guilty, immediately aware of how naked I am. And I feel relieved. This is the one part of my life I didn’t want to lose, and now I know my mother is alive. Now I know she has some part of herself left, that she’s asking for me.

“I’ll pass it on,” Lachlan says. He hangs up.

I don’t wait before I speak. “Can I go see her?”

I’m sure he’ll say no. I know it’s a risk to let me out, and he’d never let me wander alone. He still doesn’t trust me. He won’t risk me passing on information or taking the chance to run.

I don’t know what he wants from me or if he wants me at all. I just know that Lachlan is willing to use me to play this game of chess with Mr. V, to get back at the man that came back from the dead.

“Fine.”

I blink, startled. I didn’t expect him to say yes at all, but there’s decisiveness in his voice. He looks down at me, clear-eyed in a way I can’t be right now. I’m still half-naked, still vaguely turned on. I’m a mess.

“I’ll go with you,” he adds. “You’re not getting out of my sight.”

I don’t want him to come. I don’t want another person knowing about my mother, especially when I know he only cares about protecting his family. He might respect me looking after mine, but I don’t think he’ll ever choose me over them. If it comes down to it, he’ll use my mother against me.

But I don’t have a choice in this. I have to do what I can, and right now, that means taking this small victory.

“Okay,” I say. “Tomorrow.”

CHAPTER22

Katrina

I don’t know when I started to become comfortable living in Lachlan’s house. I don’t even know if you can call it comfortable.

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