Page 133 of Savage Little Queen

Matteo nodded to Klaus, who slammed the knife through the top of my hand. I let out a scream at the intense pain, the blood trickling out. Klaus removed the blade, and I sucked in sharp breaths.

Fallon trembled beside me. He would be next. It’s just how these games were played. Once Matteo had his fun with me, he’d move on.

The crack of one of his men’s fists met Fallon’s already battered face. He let out a soft cry at the impact, blood gushing from his nose.

“Please,” Bianca choked out. “Don’t.”

Matteo smiled again. “Ready to negotiate, Dominic?”

“Y-yes,” I said. I wanted Bianca and the babies safe. Whatever it took.

“You are the reason I have nothing. I was forced to be a father to a bastard son my father sired with my wife, a woman I did not love. You are a stain on my fucking existence. You are what’s wrong with everything in my world. And you need to pay for that.”

I glared at him, not saying a word. He could blame me for everything all he wanted, but it wouldn’t change that none of it was my fault. I never asked to be born. I didn’t fucking ask for any of this shit.

“My entire life was ripped away from me. The woman I truly loved. The family I’d already made. All of it. Gone. I was left withyou.”

I exhaled, holding his angry stare.

“Now you owe me for that.” He twisted his fingers in Bianca’s hair, making her cry out as he tugged her head back. “I want this.”

It took me a moment to realize what he was asking of me.

“No,” I whispered. “You can’t have her. She’s mine.”

“I thought you’d say that.” He nodded to Klaus again, whose blade slashed across my chest in a blazing, blinding pain. Blood seeped through my shirt and trickled down my body.

Bianca sobbed harder on her knees, and Fallon was beaten even more.

The torture went on for hours, it seemed, Bianca’s cries growing louder with each wound I endured. With each crack ofbone from Fallon, who lost consciousness sometime during the middle of it all, Bianca’s name on his lips.

Klaus backed away from me so I could see Matteo again.

“You need to understand. If you don’t submit, I’m going to kill your whore, but not before I carve the children from her womb so you can watch them die with her.”

I clenched my teeth so tight my jaw spasmed.

“So. I propose this. Give her to me. I let you live. You can find love again. I’ll keep your whore at my side. Alive. Taken care of. You can suffer until your dying breath, knowing I had her. “ He smiled. “I want you to know what it feels like to love someone and lose everything like I did. I want you to suffer with it as I have. In exchange for you walking away, I’ll keep her alive. You both get to live. Even the Russian you care for. You can take him home and suck his dick. Doesn’t that sound like a fair exchange?”

“No,” I whispered.

Klaus’s fist met my face again with another sickening crack. My head lolled on my chest for a moment before I lifted my chin, my eyes so swollen I could barely see through them.

“Bianca,dolce principessa,” Matteo cooed, leaning down so his lips were at her ear. “Dominic doesn’t want to play nicely. He wants you and your children to perish. How does that make you feel?”

She let out a soft sob.

That was the furthest thing from the truth. She’d be tortured and hurt if Matteo took her as his. I’d rather she die than suffer that fate. I meant it in the beginning, and I meant it still. I’d follow her in death the moment I got the chance. Fuck him, and fuck this world.

“Take his eyes,” Matteo said, straightening. “They remind me of his useless mother anyway.”

Klaus approached with his knife. I breathed out, my body too weak to do much of anything, even if I could.

The blade touched my cheek, cutting me.

“Please. I’ll do it. I’ll do it!” Bianca shouted. “Me for the lives of the kings.”

Klaus’s blade sank deep into my skin, making me shake from the pain.

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