Page 47 of Ruthless Prince

“Please. I just want to be treated like an adult.”

“You will remain right here.”

“Or what?”

He snaps his book close. “Or I will lock you in your room.”

I know he means it, too.

All I can do is sit here and hope Vincent somehow saves me.

A knock on the door makes me jump.

With a frown, Father gets up and answers it, and to my shock, Nico Mancini stands on the other side.

“I’m here for your daughter,” is all he says.

Father scoffs. “My daughter is staying right here.”

“I’ll kindly ask you to move once more, Mr. Moore, before I shoot your brains out. My son told me you wanted me dead. It’s a courtesy I haven’t killed you yet.”

Father doesn’t move. He doesn’t run. He doesn’t give me up so I can have a chance to live my own life.

No.

His response is to pull out his own gun and aim it at Nico’s head.

Chapter

Seventeen

ELLIE

“Father, what are you doing?” I ask.

“You’re mine, Ellie. No other man will take you from me. Including him.”

Nico stands up straighter. “Your daughter is a married woman, Mr. Moore. She’s married to my son. I’m going to take her to my home where my wife is. She will be safe. You don’t need to do this.”

“He was supposed to kill you,” Father hisses.

“Vincent?” Nico asks. “He told me. He did try. Right now, he’s currently locked up for failing at his job.”

I gasp. Vincent locked up by his own father? That’s something familiar to me. It makes me feel even more connected to him. The urge to save him and be with him is stronger.

“Get in the house,” my father snaps.

“Why? So you can kill me? I don’t think so. You’ll have to shoot me in cold blood on your front porch where anyone could see.”

“I’ll do it for him,” another man says.

Looking over Nico’s shoulder, I see … the assassin.

“Who are you?” Nico demands.

The assassin smiles. “Just a nobody hired by a someday who wants you dead.” Then he whips out a gun and shoots Nico in the arm.

Nico jerks back inside the house as my father tries to shut the front door, but the assassin kicks it down and barges in.

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