Page 52 of Malevolent King

“Hate you? I’ll never hate you. It’s impossible. I know who I am to you… and I know you’re too smart to forget that. Smart, cunning, and strong. And under it all… kind. You fascinate me. In case you haven’t realized, I’m the villain. I deserve to be caught. Don’t forget that.”

She was stunned by the confession for a moment, and those tears grew brighter. One dodged her attempt to blink it away and dipped down her cheek.She wiped it away, and I wished it was my hand swiping her cheek.

“You’re crazy, you know that? So, you’re saying you forgive me?”

“I will always forgive you, Sofia. I’ll always understand you. Like I said, we aren’t like other people. No one gets you like I do. Fight it all you want, but we both know the truth. You’re mine, even inside your own head.”

She let out a half-laugh and offered the fork loaded with pasta to my lips. “I’m glad to see my father’s captivity hasn’t dulled your confidence.”

I chewed slowly, my teeth tender on the right side. I hid my wince from her. I didn’t want her to feel guiltier than she already did.“Just call me a cockeyed optimist.”

She smiled. It was a small thing, but precious. Next, she lifted a bottle of water to my lips.“It’s not drugged,” she blurted. “In case you’re wondering.”

“Well, I wasn’t before,” I muttered. Instead of drinking, I pressed my face against her hand. The shock of her warm skin was heaven.

She jerked as if I’d grabbed her. The electricity leaped between us. It was always there, simmering under the surface, and when we touched, it ignited. The days of her being able to deny that were swiftly passing.

I rubbed my cheek against her wrist.“If you want to comfort me, touch me.”

“I can’t. I don’t know who is watching.”

I glanced over her shoulder at her bodyguard. He was staring impassively at the wall in front of him, giving her privacy.

“No, not Angelo,” she added.

“Your father? Who are you afraid of? Is it Silvio?”

Her breath caught.Bingo.

Frustration filled me. She was a prisoner in this creepy fucking mansion with the man who had been trying to touch her since she was seventeen. A man other than me.If there was any reason to bust out of these restraints and take the fucker down, it was the danger of what he could do to Sofia.

Anger stroked along my nerves. “When I get out of here, he’s finished. Protect yourself in the meantime. You know how. You’re stronger than you realize.”

Sofia fed me more pasta, and the gnawing pain in my empty belly finally shifted. The food gave me the strength to heal faster, and then I could better withstand Silvio’s revenge. I didn’t think Antonio could keep me long, thanks to his ongoing business with Kirill.

“Why is the only person in my life who believes in me the craziest one?” she muttered after a long moment. She looked at the blood spattered down my chest and winced. “You’re a mess, and you only just arrived. You probably shouldn’t have killed so many men on your way out.”

“Yeah, you’re right, but hindsight is twenty-twenty,” I teased her.

Her lips quirked, and it felt like a reward. “I feel obligated to tell you that Gino is alive and well and soaking up the accolades of trying to stop you single-handedly.”

I grinned. “Of course he is.”

She narrowed her eyes at me. “You’re telling me you knew he survived?”

“I’m telling you that when I shoot to kill, I don’t miss.” My smile tugged at my painful jaw, and I muttered a curse as it cracked softly.

“Does it hurt?”

“It’s just a tickle. Don’t worry about me. I can take it,” I told her.

“I’m not worried,” she protested quietly, but the look in her eyes betrayed her soft heart. Even after everything she’d been through, living in this house of horrors, she was still so kind, even to me, the villain in her story.

“I guess you regret saving me now, right? You could have let me fall.” There it was, her guilt and worry all rolled into one loaded question.

“No, I couldn’t have, and we both know it, whether you want to admit it or not.”

“Meaning?”

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