Page 46 of Ruthless Prince

Slowly, I lower my arm. “I?—”

Nico rushes at me, grabs the gun from my hand, and points it at me. “I wasn’t sure if I could trust you. Now, I know I can’t.”

My stomach drops to the floor. “Nico …”

“I understand why you’re doing this, son. But I won’t have you killing me. Walk.”

“What?”

“Walk.”

After a beat, I walk out of the office. Nico leads me toward a set of stairs at the back of the house.

“Nico, what’s going on?” Aurora asks, rushing toward us. “Why do you have a gun pointed at our son?”

“Because he tried to kill me. And he needs to be locked up until I can get to the bottom of this.”

“No! You can’t do this.”

“Aurora, I have to.”

I can hear the pain in my father’s voice. It makes me feel even more like shit.

Nico walks me down to a basement that has a single cell in it. “Get in.”

I do as he says, and Nico shuts the door behind me and locks it.

I grab the bars of the cell. “Please. At least save Ellie for me. Ellie Moore.”

Nico stands up straighter. “Ellie Moore? She’s your wife?”

“Yes. And her father wants you dead, but she’s innocent. Save her for me. Save her for herself. She’s innocent in all of this. Please.”

“We have to,” Aurora says, glaring at her husband. “Nico, we have to.”

He sighs deeply. “Fine. I’ll save your wife. But I’m not letting you out of this cell until I know I can trust you.” He grabs Aurora’s arm and guides her out of the basement.

And I’m left alone.

I can’t do anything to save Ellie.

ELLIE

I pace around the living room, waiting for Vincent to return. All I can hope is the assassin doesn’t kill him.

“Can you find out who sent the assassin?” I ask my father.

“I can try.”

“Good.” My father and I have always spoken in pleasantries with each other for most of my life.

But right now, it’s driving me crazy.

I need to get to Vincent. I need to know he’s all right.

“Father, I want to go to Nico Mancini’s home. Vincent is there. I have the right to officially meet his parents.”

“You’re going to remain right here,” he responds, sitting down on the couch. He has a book in his hands, and he begins to flip through it, not even looking at me.

---