Page 31 of Serpent King's Prisoner

I cursed under my breath, pacing between the potted ferns and blooming hibiscus. Alex always played it fast and loose, but Knuckles—damn him—should’ve known better. He understood what this space meant to me, how fiercely I protected it.

Yet they both had disregarded the sanctity of my rules without a second thought.

As the anger bubbled within me, I couldn’t push away thoughts of Abby. The intensity we shared, the fire that burned between us—it had been real, undeniable. And then she saw me, saw the monster I tried to cage during those hours among the flora.

Saw the man who could kiss her breathless one moment and orchestrate violence the next.

It was all too much—a complication I didn’t need. But instead of suspicion, instead of doubting her innocence, I blamed my own damn luck. Luck that had been on a steady decline lately, like a gambler on a losing streak, tossing dice and watching them roll snake eyes every damn time.

With a sigh, I adjusted a vine that threatened to overwhelm a neighboring plant, my touch gentle despite the turmoil inside. This wasn’t about Abby; it was about me, about the life I led and the choices that came back to bite.

“Control,” I muttered to myself, the word hanging in the humid air. I needed to regain control over the situation, over the shop, over my feelings for a woman who just days ago was a stranger.

And now? Now she was the wild card in my carefully constructed deck.

My prisoner…even if she was the one who had me in her clutches, whether she knew it or not.

If I was in control, she would already be dead.

Pulling out my phone, I texted one of my guys to keep an eye on the apartment. I couldn’t afford distractions—not when there were moves to be made and pieces to put back in place. Abby would be safe; I’d see to that. But the rest? The rest was up to me and the game I was born into—a game that didn’t play favorites, even for the heir apparent to the Golden Serpents.

And as I stood there, surrounded by the beauty that I’d built and the ugliness that I’d inherited, I knew the line between the two was blurring. For the first time in a long while, I was unsure which side I’d end up on when all was said and done.

The bell above the door to the shop chimed, a sound that once brought a sense of peace, now a herald of potential trouble. I turned sharply, my hand instinctively reaching under the counter for the gun I kept there as someone strode to the back, where only I was meant to tread. But it was just Alex, his silhouette filling the doorway, dark eyes scanning the shop before landing on me. He leaned against a shelf, arms crossed over his chest.

“Nice place you got here, Nathan,” he said casually, though his gaze darted around with thinly veiled contempt. “Not exactly what I’d expect from the Serpent’s Fang. I mean…flowers? Really?”

I ignored the jab. “What do you want, Alex?”

“Word on the street is some girl went missing from Fusion last night.” He watched me closely, looking for a tell. “You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you? I figure Ba would tell me if we were dipping our toes into kidnapping.”

My jaw tightened, but I kept my expression unreadable. “Why would I care about some girl from Fusion?”

“Because when something happens in our territory, it’s bad for business if we don’t know about it,” he said, pushing off from the shelf and stepping closer. “Especially if it’s one of ours who took her.”

“Then I hope the Serpents had nothing to do with it,” I replied coolly, meeting his gaze head-on, my heart betraying nothing of the chaos Abby’s presence had wrought.

“Hope’s cheap in our world,” Alex shot back, a smirk playing on his lips. “Information’s gold.”

“Then go mine elsewhere,” I said, my tone final. “This shop is clean, and I intend to keep it that way now that I’ve had to mop up the blood you spilled on the floor.”

For a moment, we stood there, two brothers locked in a silent battle of wills. Then, as quickly as it had come, the tension broke. Alex shrugged, the smirk still in place.

“I don’t get it, man.”

“Get what?” I asked, feigning ignorance.

“This,” he gestured around the shop. “All these flowers, this…facade. You’re not fooling anyone, especially not me.”

I narrowed my eyes at him slightly. “What’s your point, Alex?”

He shrugged, “Just saying, you’re acting all high and mighty, but I can see it, Nate. You’re getting soft. This place, pretending you’re a businessman and not a killer…it’s making you weak.”

“Soft?” The word left my lips like a bullet, laced with a warning. “You sure about that?”

“Positive,” he said, his confidence unwavering. “And let’s be real, if you ever decide to step down—or if you slip up—I’d be more than happy to fill your shoes as heir to the Serpents.”

I clenched my jaw, fighting the urge to knock the smug look off his face. Alex always had a way of getting under my skin, knowing just how to prod at my defenses. But I couldn’t let him see that.

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