Page 65 of Tarnished Reign

“He posted in a group I’m in on the dark web sometimes, you know, with orders, stuff he wanted. I can give you the group details and tell you how to find it and the names of the people he chats with. The things he likes. The sick stuff he’s into. I can write it all down.”

“You just earned yourself a reprieve. You’ll stay here but you might be useful, so you live to see another day. I’ll even feed you,” I tell him.

He stares at the grate. “I’m not going down there?”

“No, not today, and not so long as you continue being helpful. I want you to sit down and start writing. I want to know every member of your group who is left in my fucking city. Names, addresses, places they’ll go to hide out. And I want Ari most of all. I also need to know your name in that dark web group, how to access it, and how to fool this Prince fucker into thinking I am you. Get writing.”

He sniffs but nods.

“One thing I want confirmed. You didn’t touch Adriana, did you?”

“No, never got the fucking chance. You got there before I could have my fun. I wasn’t going to fuck her anyway as the auction pays more for virgins, so I was only going to make her suck my cock.”

The rage in me bubbles to the surface with the way he casually talks about assaulting my Littleblue, but I need him alive because he might be the key to flushing out this mysterious Prince figure.

I use my self-control to not kill him and call the men back in from outside. “Feed him, water him, put him in the basement so he can’t get out but can lie down and sleep.”

“You promised.” Dorian shrinks back.

This man who brought terror into so many women’s lives is a sniveling little mess. “Relax, you’re going through the door into the normal basement room. There’s a bed, a toilet, and a light.”

“No rats?”

“I mean, I can’t guarantee it, but dude, it’s just like a built-in garage or something. Chill the fuck out.”

He nods and sniffs.

“Eat and get some strength up. I will need you focused because we aren’t done yet.”

I turn on my heels and stalk outside with Virgil. I want to get back to Adriana.

16

ADRIANA

I’m nibbling at the plate of delicious food but trying not to spill any on the dress, so I’m not really enjoying it. I’m also feeling increasingly self-conscious amongst this close family of which I'm not a member, when the outside door opens, and heavy footsteps stomp down the hallway.

Dimitri and the older man he left with stride into the room.

I'm so relieved to see Dimitri that a grin breaks out across my face.

This man is quickly becoming my safe space, and that won’t do.

“Come eat with us,” Jacob says to both men. “Virgil, you look like you’re tired; come take a load off.”

Virgil looks at the table groaning with food and smiles. “Don't mind if I do. It looks delicious.”

Jacob finished grilling about ten minutes ago, and Dimitri’s mother, who has instructed me to call her Vera, has made a large salad and vegetable side dishes to go with the meat.

Dimitri takes the seat opposite me at the table, and his gaze locks on mine as he studies me. I'm wearing the dress that Nataliya put me in and feeling rather overexposed in it. The straps are thin spaghetti straps, and one of them keeps falling down my shoulder, so I'm constantly hiking it back up. His gaze drifts all over my face, as if seeing it for the first time, and then down the column of my throat to my decolletage where it hovers for a beat, before snapping up to meet my eyes.

“Doesn't she look nice, Dimitri?” Nataliya smiles cheekily at her brother as she glances between him and me.

“She certainly looks different,” Dimitri says.

My heart sinks. I had hoped that he'd see me and find me absolutely ravishing in this fancy dress and with a face full of makeup.

“She looks wonderful,” Vera says. “I've been telling her what an absolute stunning girl she is. Like a fairy tale princess.”

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