Page 6 of Reign of Four

I blink through my unshed tears until they fall from my lashes, clearing my vision and bringing me face to face with my reflection in the tablet screen. Pain lances through my chest at how utterly violated I look, and I draw a shaky breath, tearing my gaze away to return Liam’s stare. I don’t know what he wants me to say. Yes, I’ve been a bad girl, or no, I think you’re full of shit.

I know I should pick the safest option, but I’ll do anything to keep Liam away for longer. If it takes his anger to make that happen, so be it.

I swallow, but it does nothing to ease my dry throat. “I think you need a reality check. You can’t keep me locked up down here for an entire week.” I jerk my shoulders, tugging at my bindings. The chair legs scrape an inch across the floor.

The damned fool never bolted the thing down, which means that he’s either inexperienced at this, or he had to make do with what he had in a pinch.

Tying me up might not have been planned, after all.

“Did you expect me to come with you willingly?” I laugh hard enough that I fight a coughing fit as fresh tears spring to my eyes. “You actually think I’d choose you over them?”

The corner of Liam’s lips twitch. “You chose me before. You’ll choose me again.” He crosses the distance between us and bends at the waist until we’re eye level, then brushes his knuckles against my unmarked cheek. “In these next seven days, Valentina, you’ll forget all about them. You’ll remember the love you have for me, even if I have to pluck out each and every one of your ribs—” his free hand brushes up the ladder of my ribcage—“to pull it to the surface.” His fingers idly grab at my chest, like he’s imagining reaching inside to grasp my heart in the palm of his hand.

As his eyes travel my naked body, he hums in appreciation, brushing his knuckles against the top of my breast.

My stomach twists in knots, but I swallow all of my disgust to look him in the eye. Saying his name is like forcing poison down my throat, but I do anyway, damn near desperate to shift his attention.

“Liam.”

His hand hovers over my breast, twitching with restraint as his blue eyes flick up to my face. There’s a thin layer of sweat breaking out across his neck, a hint of pink tinting the shell of his ear.

I focus on his eyes, the same eyes I used to gaze into and wonder what the future held for us. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine anything like this.

Liam was always meant to be boring, kind, and safe. A fling for fun. Never anything long-term. Just a means to an end. An itch to scratch. A man who would love me enough to overlook my muddied past and keep me content.

Someone to help me forget about Andrei.

As I look into Liam’s icy blue eyes, he is all of those things, yet none of them at all. He was never enough for me—was never meant to be enough—because I’d already decided the man I really wanted, the man who was hand-picked for me, had to be wrong. If Andrei wasn’t enough, then neither could Liam be.

An ache burrows deep in my chest. I was such a fool back then, taking men at surface level, not looking deep enough to see what dark secrets remain hidden beneath the surface.

I won’t be made a fool again.

I glare at my ex as revulsion pulses through my veins, thick, heavy, nauseating.

There’s one thing Liam needs to get through his thick fucking skull. Well, two things, but I don’t have a bullet to give him right now.

I hold my breath as he leans in close enough to kiss. My resolve hardens alongside the air trapped in my lungs. When our lips brush, I finally speak my mind. “I will never love you. Seven days or seven lifetimes—nothing will change that.”

Liam hovers over my lips, a low hum catching in the back of his throat. I thought he’d be angry at me for rejecting him, but it’s like I barely dented his armor. It still shines bright against the whites of his eyes. “Resist all you like, zhena, but in time, you’ll remember how we used to be. How good we are together.” He lowers his lips to my jawline, curving against it with featherlight kisses. A shiver rolls down my spine, and I clench my fists to keep from shaking. Disgust roils in my gut as his breath ghosts across my face.

“I can be a generous man, Valentina, and an even better husband . . . if you’ll let me.”

When he dares to press a kiss to the corner of my lips, I close the distance and capture his mouth, surprising him with a real kiss. I suck his bottom lip between mine, and when I feel some of the tension in his body ease, I bite down hard. Copper spills into my mouth, and Liam grabs the first thing he finds—my neck. His grip tightens until he closes off my windpipe and makes it impossible for me to breathe.

But I don’t dare let go.

With a snarl, he tears his lip free, blood dripping past his lips and staining his chin. He spits, blood and saliva splattering across my face and chest. “I’m going to enjoy taming you,” he hisses, “because when you finally submit to me, it will be exquisite.” He shoves me away from him with a hard push on my neck, releasing my throat and storming to the door.

“Is that all you’ve got?” A laugh spills from my chest, cracking dryly in my throat. Liam’s blood lolls across my tongue, and I swallow it down, letting it ease some of my discomfort. It’s not water, but fuck, does it ignite a fire in my blood. When I have his attention again, I give him a lazy, lopsided smile as my pulse races through my veins. “My father would have never chosen you, y’know. For pakhan.”

I know my words have hit their target when Liam’s entire body freezes; even his chest stills as he forgets to breathe. No one wants to hear that they’re unfit for the title of king, especially from the late king’s daughter.

I dig the barb deeper. “You’re only holding the crown because my grandmother gave it to you. No one is going to respect you, Liam, no matter how much you pretend otherwise.” I think back to how easily my grandmother controlled her guards in the rose garden—how they followed her every move, without her even having to say a word.

That is real power. She doesn’t have to hide behind anyone to walk these streets. Liam will have to duck and cover with how my men are coming after him.

He’s playing a dangerous game, trying to take over an established criminal empire. A pawn dressed as a king. A pawn from another Bratva, seizing power in ours only because he has its future queen hostage.

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