Page 17 of Cruel Crown

Bastian dropped the cocky smile from his face. He brought his hand to his face and looked ahead, trying to see if he could spot any methods of transportation. I knew that’s what I would do.

“Look, I know you want answers, and I get that. Daphne, she’s cryptic, but she never does anything without reason. If you’re going to see things through her eyes, you have to keep feelings aside. There is something big going on, and it could be catastrophic for many countries. There’s a war on the horizon, and it was your life in order to get a chance to save millions.”

When he put it that way, it made me feel like a selfish bastard, but only for half a second—she was still going to pay.

She was Sekten and she kneeled for no one? Well, I guess I’d have to show her that she would kneel for me.

“Why did you guys do a double attack?”

“It was the only way the Colombians and Mexicans would trust us. Nothing brings allies faster than when they aid you in battle.”

He had a point. We made it to the town in silence. People looked at us warily, but money spoke to all languages and all kinds of people. We got some food and a ride. Now all I had to do was bide my time before I struck.

***

By the time we made it to the airstrip, the luxury jet was waiting for us.

“Your friend hates me,” Bas mused as we got closer to the jet. The stairs were down and waiting for us.

I looked at Bas and the jet again. It was black and red, and on the tail, it had a red diamond with the wordRemington.

“You know Falcon?”

“Daphne and I paid him a little house visit.”

I should have figured he was with her that day. Ren should have told me himself though.

We climbed the stairs and I felt excited, yet anxious about what was to come. The cat-and-mouse game Daphne had been playing had ended. Now it was a whole new game where she crowned herself queen. Didn’t she know that people loved dethroning queens and watching them bleed?

“What the fuck is he doing here?” The words came from the cabin of the plane. I sighed before I turned to look up at Ren, who was glaring at Bastian. The fucker behind me was smiling at him, which only deepened Ren’s scowl.

“I believe you two have already met,” I said.

“Oh my God!” was screeched from somewhere in the cabin. “What happened to your face?”

“Princess,” Ren growled as his cute little girlfriend came barreling down the aisle so she could hug me. She was an heiress to a diamond empire—tiny little thing, but she was full of rage.

Her hands then came to my face, her fingers tracing lightly over bandages that protected my eye.

“Who did this to you? We are going to kill them—” I snorted at the rage on her delicate features. Ember, noticing I wasn’t alone, turned to Bas, cocking her head. “Who are you?”

“I don’t get a hug?” He grinned at her, which made Ren stand up from his seat.

“I don’t know you,” she replied as she looked him up and down. “Do I?”

She probably did know him or had heard of him a while ago. Bas had been keeping a low profile for years, but they probably ran in the same circles.

“Ember, go to the room,” Ren said in a stern voice as he gave her shoulder a comforting touch. Ember rolled her eyes.

“First, you leave New York in a rush and go to Italy without telling me why…” My head swung to look at Ren. “…and now we’re picking up G, who looks like he almost got killed, and yet, you don’t tell me shit. I should leave you all fucking stranded here.” Ember pushed me aside and strutted to the back of the plane where I imagined the bedroom was.

“What happened?” I barked.

Ren kept blocking the way for us to take a seat and glared at Bastian.

“Why is he here?”

Bastian’s grin only got bigger. He threw a hand over my shoulder. “We’re kinda together right now.”

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