Page 92 of Vengeful King

I don’t care. I’m going to shoot at him until one of us dies.

Yuri curses and stumbles backward. I don’t blink. I try to shoot him again, but the guards don’t give me a chance. One of them hits me in the back of the neck, and the other yanks the gun out of my hand. I struggle, but it’s no good. They aren’t underestimating me anymore, and they’ve got me outnumbered.

This is it.

It’s over.

CHAPTER32

Lachlan

Aiden cranks the wheel, and I grit my teeth, wishing he would drive faster. I should’ve insisted on getting behind the wheel, but there was no time.

My heart is pounding in my throat. I haven’t been this desperate, this afraid in years.

I don’t know why Katrina would go after Yuri on her own. He’s powerful and connected, and she isn’t even a part of the underworld. Before Yuri showed up to collect his money, she had no idea what went on in the mafia at all. Even her time with me wouldn’t have given her what she needed to go after Yuri in a smart way.

Chasing after Yuri is insane. I don’t know why she’s doing it, but I do know I’m right. I’m sure she isn’t just running away from me. She’s going after the man that killed her mother.

I’m so sure that she didn’t run. I can’t explain it; I can’t even argue that she’s never tried to run before. She has.

But this time, I know it’s not true.

And I can’t lose her.

“Anyone else think we’re pushing it?” Finn asks. He sounds testy, like he’s ready for an argument to explode.

But Connor answers him, and he’s not immediately against him. “Is there a reason we need to rush this, Lachlan? I know you think she ran off to face Yuri, but I don’t know.”

“She’s been terrified of him this entire time,” Aiden points out. It’s not an agreement, but he is trying to persuade me. “Why would she go to him now? And does it matter? It’s not like there’s any more information she has, right?”

I know what they’re trying to say.Why are we saving the woman that tried to kill you? She doesn’t have anything we want, right?

I know I could make excuses. But they would all sound useless, too little and too vague. I can’t expect them to listen to me forever if I’m telling half-truths and blatant lies.

“Lachlan,” Aiden says firmly. “What the hell is going on?”

I clench and unclench my jaw. It takes a few minutes for me to finally come around to the truth, letting the words leave my mouth to fill the silence in the car.

“I’m not going to risk leaving her,” I finally say. “Not when she’s the one I care about. I don’t want to marry Naomi. Katrina is the one I want.”

Every word feels like pulling teeth. I rarely use the wordwant; it’s not something I can have in my vocabulary as head of the house. But I’m using it now, and the more I say, the more I feel like I’ve made this final.

I’ve been falling for Katrina since before she even tried to kill me. I’ve fallen for her more with her in my home, and I can’t ignore that any longer. No matter what my duty is and what arrangements are in place, I can’t ignore this any longer.

I feel selfish for saying it. I feel like I’m letting my family down; I’m not supposed to want. Even if I did, the family should come first—their safety, their power is what matters.

My happiness has never been important. The family is important. It will last forever.

But I’ve said it now, so I wait to hear the inevitable arguments. I wait for my brothers to point out what I already know—that Katrina isn’t part of our world, that she tried to kill me before.

But I don’t care. Even with that knowledge, I know I’d do whatever I need to, to help her.

“Well, that much has been clear for days,” Connor says, breaking the silence.

I glance at him, confused. “What?”

“You obviously care about her,” Finn says dryly. “We already knew that.”

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