Page 61 of Ruthless King

“Actually, yes,” Nico growls.

“Mmm. That’s good. You’ll need to spend as much time as you can with your wife before you’re thrown in jail.”

Nico doesn’t rise to the bait. If the detectives had anything on him, he’d be in handcuffs by now.

My hands encompass my stomach even more. Now that I’m pregnant, I really don’t want Nico to get arrested. I’m fairly positive he didn’t kill my father, but someone did, and Nico may have played a part in it. I just hope he never gets caught and stays by my side, protecting me.

Chase huffs and walks back over to Morgan, who doesn’t stop looking at me. It’s like he’s waiting for me to crack, but I have too much at stake now. I’ll never crack. I’ve made my choice to be with Nico, and I can’t back out now.

As the detectives walk past our table, heading for the exit, Chase mutters, “Good luck with your baby on the way. You’ll need it.”

Nico stands up and storms over to Chase. “How do you know about Aurora’s pregnancy?”

“I didn’t. I just saw the way she was holding her stomach and guessed. You just confirmed it for me.”

Nico doesn’t hesitate this time—he punches Chase square in the face. I gasp, standing up. Morgan has his gun drawn and pointed at Nico before Nico can do anything else.

“Assaulting an officer,” Morgan says. “Cuff him.”

Chase pulls out a pair of handcuffs and wraps them around Nico’s wrists.

“You baited me into that,” Nico mutters.

“Did I?” Chase asks innocently.

“Nico?” I ask.

“I’ll be fine. This won’t stand, and they know it.” The detectives lead Nico out of the room. The crowd watches him go and then turn their gazes onto me.

I can’t be here. Nico was supposed to protect me, and now, he’s getting arrested. I have no one. Not my father. Not Beatrice. Definitely not Andrew.

I run outside to our car, then drive myself home.

The next morning, Nico is still in jail. I spent the entire night pacing back and forth, considering how to get him out. Only one person I know has enough power.

I knock on Beatrice’s hotel door.

“I take it he’s not dead yet,” she says after shutting the door and blocking the crack with a towel so Jeremy can’t overhear us.

“No. He’s in jail. Can you help him get out?”

Beatrice stares at me for a long moment before laughing. “And expose who I am? Nico would question why your aunt has the power to get him out of jail. No. I can’t do that.”

“But I need him,” I blurt out.

She goes very, very still. “Why would you say that? You’re supposed to kill him.”

“I know, but …”

“But?”

Here it comes. The moment of truth. There’s no holding back anymore.

“I’m not going to kill Nico.”

Beatrice huffs. “Like hell you are. You’re supposed to kill him.”

“No. Not any longer.”

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