Page 34 of Ruthless Kings of Havoc

“Why don’t you stop reading my fucking mind,” I snap and shake off his hand. It pisses me off how easy it is for him to chuckle and shrug away my brewing rage.

“I don’t need to be a mind reader to see how infuriating it is that I’m going to be joining your dynamic,” he reveals as if I couldn’t figure the obvious out. “Whether you like it or not, the wheels are already in motion.”

“There can’t be four Ruthless Kings,” I argue. “Domino hasn’t been kicked out.”

“First of all, there very well can be four Ruthless Kings,” he begins. He speaks as if he’s so fucking knowledgeable.It’s driving me mad.“Do you believe that bodyguard of a brother is simply following our Ruthless Damsel for shits and giggles?”

“Dolcezza isn’t a Damsel.”

“You’re saying she isn’t a young unmarried woman being chased by a bunch of crazed, selfish bastards, yearning to have a Queen as stunning and powerful as Precious Gem at their side to rule not one but three Empires?”

Three?

“To the world, Gemini is all but a Ruthless Maiden attending Leighton Royal University to appease us overly privileged bastards while we play a game of House and gamble in the realms of academics,” I summarize.

“Ah, yes,” he agrees. “To the world of blind fools who think they’re the shit because they’re related to one who owns anempire. Or those cocky fuckers with one or two million in their bank accounts.”

He pulls out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, admiring the matte black design that shimmers even in the dim light. The brand alone is one only millionaires can afford.

His has a red seal.

Only three Empires can even afford such high-quality cigarettes.

“Better yet, the royal adolescents who dare mock and gleam at a shimmering diamond whose yet to get cleaned after years of being hidden in the depths of the earth.” His gaze seems far as if he’s envisioning something from the past.

He must have had an interaction with Dolcezza from the past. Maybe…

His word of speech is in riddles, as though he’s far wiser than his years, yet his youthfulness proves he’d had to grow up far too fast.

No wonder why Gemini said we’re far more alike than I’d like to admit.

It nudges me the wrong way,

He offers me a cigarette, leaving me to stare at the black foiled wrap with a red-golden tint to accentuate the high quality of the tobacco.

The craving is hard to resist, but I also understand what this gesture means.

An alliance he’s willing to entertain.

I fight the smirk that tugs on the corners of my lips, but the warning signs of safeties being switched off only have my competitor smirking defiantly, his free hand raised once more in warning.

To not blow my head off.

Despite the very obvious blade at the pulse point of his wrist.

“Tell me.” There’s my unhinged, deep voice filled with possessiveness. “Why did you put my Dolcezza on the ice?”

There’s a question that I can’t get out of my head. It’s been repeating itself, whispering endlessly day and night, without a valid enough answer to appease its desperate curiosity.

I checked the cameras. Reviewed the footage again and again.

He may have hired enough people to tamper with the cameras in that entire space, but no one can ever detect the devices I created.

The ones whose sole purpose of existence is to track my beloved Evangeline.

“I’m not even surprised by your stalking skills,” he confesses. In fact, he sounds fucking proud. “I wouldn’t expect less from a Benedict. Your mother was rather skilled in that department. That’s how she tracked your father, yes?”

I don’t answer, but it’s getting rather tricky to stop my blade from digging into his flesh.

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