Page 142 of Claimed By a King

“I know you have it all planned out, and I love the plan,” Zoe says, looking at me with a wistful look in her eye. “But can’t we do it now?”

“You already know everything we have planned, Princess. The only thing not set in stone is the timeline. But I can move it up to the morning, after everyone has had a bit of sleep and I’ve had time to update Cain and Dante.” Reaching over her shoulder, Zoe runs her fingers over the cut before eyeing the blood on her fingertips with a satisfied grin tugging her plump lips. “But first, we need a shower.”

Zoe

Of course, Gray let me shower first, which is perfect for what I have planned, and the second Gray closes the bathroom door, I push the blankets off and get dressed as quickly as I can. Then I pick his phone up from the bedside table, checking if the pin I saw him use the other day still works. It does.

I quickly put the phone on silent and shove it into the pocket of my hoodie. Before I leave, I pause at the door.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper to the empty room. “But I can’t wait until the morning. I can’t give them time to attack first, so it has to be this way. Please forgive me.”

Not wanting to give myself time to change my mind, I hurry out of our apartment and rush downstairs where Alana, Rose, and Izzy are already waiting.

“For the record,” Alana says, crossing her arms over her chest. “I don’t agree with this.”

The other two Cunts don’t look much happier with my decision.

“It doesn’t matter,” I say, scrolling through Gray’s phone. “Contact Cain and tell him to come now.”

I know I’m asking a lot, and I don’t feel good about it. But I prefer the guilt to being a sitting duck, allowing others to have control of my fate. Never again.

Never. A-fucking-gain.

As soon as I find the number I need in Gray’s phone, I press it, waiting with bated breath as it rings twice.

“What now?” he barks as a way of greeting me.

“I hear you’re looking for me, Rusty,” I say, forcing my voice not to crack. “I don’t want anyone else to die.”

He chuckles. “Well, I’ll be fucking damned. Zoe Miller as I live and breathe. Too bad you didn’t come to your senses before your old man paid the price.”

If he wants the words to make me feel bad, he’s way off the mark. My dad is the one who created this mess, and he gave up on me before I did him. Of course, I still feel bad, just not enough to be reduced to a blubbering mess.

But Rusty doesn’t know that, so I play into it and lower my voice. “Please don’t,” I beg. “I-I’m ready now. Tell me what to do.”

As soon as he’s given me the instructions I need, I end the call and turn to Alana.

“It’s time.”

Grayson

“The fuck have you done?!”

My yell makes Zoe flinch as my brothers’ heavy feet pound the clubhouse floor, hurrying to see what all the drama is about. Meanwhile, the Cunts are really fucking quiet, watching on behind me.

“I had to do it this way, Gray.”

I shake my head, pointing in her face. “No, you fucking didn’t. We had a plan, Zoe. You didn’t have to make the call early. I said we’d do it tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow could be too late.” She throws her hands up in exasperation, like I’m the one being fucking unreasonable. “What if they attack first? Tonight? We can’t sit and wait any longer. We need to get it done now.”

“That’s not your fucking decision,” I snap feeling my rage heat my fucking cheeks.

The moment I stepped out of the bathroom and noticedmyprincess andmyfucking phone missing I knew something was up. I barely managed to get dressed fast enough to go in search of her, and when I found her, well… let’s just say, she doesn’t have a good fucking poker face. Not with me anyway.

“Well, it’s done now. I made the call without you. We need to go.” She shrugs like her taking matters into her own hands is no fucking big deal and tries to step past me, but I bare myteeth in a hiss, gripping her arm and dragging her nose to nose. “If you think for one fucking minute that I’m just going to let you go off and meet him alone, then you are fucking delusional.”

She scoffs, ripping her arm from my grip and poking me in the chest with a sharp jab of her finger. “And if you think that’s what I want, you’re delusional. I never said I was going off to meet him alone, we stick together, remember? I just made the call early instead of waiting for tomorrow. The rest of the plan can still go ahead. It just has to happen now.”

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