Page 40 of Cruel Crown

When the door to my room opened, hope flailed in my chest, thinking it might be Gideon, but all of that deflected the moment I saw Bastian.

I grabbed the first thing I could reach and threw it at him.

“Fuck did I do?” he said as he deflected the phone thrown his way.

I walked up to him, raised my arm, and was about to slap him when he caught my arm with a viselike grip before I could reach his cheek.

He pulled me so I was closer to him, those dark eyes annoyed. “Careful, D, I bite.”

Standing taller, I raised my chin defiantly and stared him down. “Don’t forget,Imade you, and if I want, I can annihilate you.”

He smiled, all his teeth showing. “You’re so cute when you’re mad.” Bas let go of my hand and patted my head.

Lifting my knee, I hit him in his balls. He doubled in pain, holding on to his crotch.

“Fuck you do that for?”

“Why is he here!” I was seething. He deliberately went behind my back to get Gideon inside the Sekt.

“Hate to break it to you, babe, but you fucked up,” he said as he sat on the edge of the bed, still massaging his balls. “The day you said no, you exposed he was something to you. You’d have to be blind to see the look you both shared. If I noticed, you know Damian did too.”

I stayed quiet because I knew he had a point, especially after what had happened in Chicago. Damian knew there were things he was missing from the ordeal. The smart thing would have been to kill Johnny and then say whatever, he could join. Positive or negative, it didn’t make a difference; instead, I showed something, and now it was going to get used against me.

Bas took hold of my hand. “It can’t be you against the world, babe. The closer I get with Damien, the further away from you I become. I saved him because you need allies—”

“He wants to kill me, Bas.”

He rolled his eyes. “He’ll probably fuck you half to death, but I doubt he’ll kill you… I trust him. Damien could send me away, and I’d know you were in good hands, making going ghost easier.”

That was the plan all along. For Bastian to get close enough to Damien and work as a double agent in my favor. The whipping he’d given me was hard on him, but it had to be done, and I didn’t hold it against him.

“The betrayal was written all over your face. Had you known I’d found him and kept him alive, then you would have been stoic, and Damian wouldn’t have gotten the satisfaction of enjoying your pain.”

“I left him there with hopes that if he survived, he’d hate me so much he’d never want to hear from me again,” I hissed the truth. “By bringing him here, you made him into another chess piece between Damian and me.”

“You need to stop thinking of the worst outcomes and start trusting that we all know what we’re doing. You cannot win a war all on your own.” He squeezed my hand lightly.

“If this goes wrong, I’ll kill you,” I vowed.

Bas smirked, not caring that my threat was real. “Yeah, sure, whatever. Now help me out and massage my balls.” He dragged my hand to his crotch before I could protest.

“Really, you’re hard? I thought you were in pain.”

“What can I say? I’m just a little fucked-up.”

I removed my hand from his hard-on and patted his cheek. “It’s a good thing you’re pretty.”

“Beauty and brains, baby.” He grinned proudly. “Now that you got reacquainted with my dick, you can tell me…I’m bigger than G, right?”

Without answering, I turned around and left my room. There was someone I had to go see before practice today.

Gideon

My eyes kept searching for Daphne but kept coming up short. I knew she wouldn’t be happy with me, but I also didn’t know what she would do or say about it. Who knew, she might not care. When she didn’t show up for breakfast, I was itching to go find her, but I knew I couldn’t risk trailing after her.

“You’re ready for today?” Francesca’s sultry voice whispered in my ear.

“Ready for what?” I replied with a smirk.

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