Page 129 of Kingmakers, Year One

We’re about to rush each other again when I hear Anna screaming, “STOP! PLEASE STOP!!!”

Dean and I stare at each other, breathing hard, our blood dripping down.

I don’t want to stop. I want to fucking kill him.

But I’ll do anything for Anna.

“Alright.” I hold up my hands. “I’ll stop.”

I turn to look at her.

That’s when Dean’s fist comes crashing down on my jaw.

26

DEAN

Anna screams for us to stop fighting, and Leo holds up his hands, signaling his willingness to stop.

He doesn’t get to decide when we stop.

This isn’t over until I say so.

Leo looks over at Anna, looks atmyfucking Anna, after I just fucking warned him. I pull my fist back and sucker punch him from the side, the hardest punch of my life, with every ounce of my fury and bitterness behind it.

The lights go out as soon as I make contact. That was too much for him in one day. His knees buckle, and keels over. He would have crashed all the way down if not for Hedeon Gray catching him from the side, stumbling back under Leo’s dead weight.

I only have a second to enjoy it before Anna slaps me hard across the face. And I mean really fucking hard—it makes my ears ring and my eyes water. I have to blink to make her pale and furious face swim back into view.

“You ASSHOLE,”she seethes.

Anna is burning with fury. I can almost see the sparks of outrage popping off her skin.

And I feel exactly the same. Why doesn’t she see that she and I are the same at our core? I know she has the same capacity for obsession, extremism, violence that lives inside of me. If we were to combine our strengths, we’d be unstoppable.

But she insists on turning back to Leo Gallo again and again.

What will it take to show her that I’m the better man . . .

“I am an asshole,” I tell her. “A brute. A killer. I do what it takes to win the fight. And I won’t ever stop fighting for you.”

I look at Leo, supported by Hedeon Gray.

“He’s soft,” I sneer. “And he has betrayal in his blood. You deserve better.”

I walk away from her, Bram and Valon in my wake.

Bram is chortling as we exit the stables. “That fucking idiot—didn’t see that coming!”

For me, the elation of hitting Leo was short-lived. Already I’m swirling with bitterness again, the image of Anna dancing with Leo burned in my brain. The way she looked up into his eyes. The expression on her face that I’ve never seen when she’s looking at me, not one time.

Leo got knocked out because he was distracted by her. Because he listened to her when she asked him to stop.

That’s how you make a fool of yourself. That’s how you make mistakes that can get you killed—by allowing a woman to twist your judgment. To make you weak.

I’ve already made a fool of myself over Anna. I know Bram and the Penose think so. It’s eroding my authority. They still answer to me, but they don’t respect my fixation on Anna.

They expect me to control my woman. Even if she is an Heir herself.

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