Page 46 of The Broken Queen

It had been drilled into my head since a young age to never show any signs of weakness, yet this man stripped me bare right in front of him. He knew how to manipulate me to get exactly what he wanted.

“Do you want to know why I’m here?”

I lifted my gaze and met his straight on. “Yes.”

“Then get dressed.” Within minutes he was out of the tub, dressed and out the door. I was left sitting there wondering what exactly he was going to tell me.

I WALKED OUT OF THEbathroom completely dressed, and drying the ends of my hair with a towel. I stopped when Slade’s back was to me, staring out the window contemplating whatever was going on inside that head of his.

I was annoyed that one, I didn’t get what I wanted from him, and two, he ruined my bath. He wasn’t going to get out of it this time, he was going to tell me everything. It didn’t take him long to start talking.

He turned from the window and tossed a little black book beside me. My stomach dropped, and my teary gaze met his. He kneweverything.There was no more hiding from him, no more trying to figure shit out on my own. He knew all the gritty details, even when I was defiled like a useless rag doll.

His gaze penetrated through mine. He was looking through me, seeing all of the cracks in my armor. I folded in on myself as the frightened twelve-year-old girl came out of hiding. Ineverwanted him to see me like this. That’s why I never told him. I didn’t want him to see me as weak and scared.

“You took my journal?” There was a quiver in my voice that couldn’t be mistaken for anything but fear and caution.

I had no idea what he was going to do next.Torment me with the information he found out? Make fun of me? Hold me?There were a million possibilities, and he was a closed book, so there would be no figuring it out.

He crossed his arms over his chest. “I saw it the other day and knew it had information I needed in there.”

I swallowed and looked away.He had no right.A woman’s journal or diary was supposed to be a private entity that no one could read.He violated that.“You got what you wanted?”

“Yes.” His voice was so deep and magnetic, he was luring me under his spell once again. But I couldn’t fall for it this time.

I stood up and wiped a tear. “Good.” I walked over to the door and opened it. “You can go, then.”

I couldn’t even look at him. So many emotions swirled through me,guilt, shame, anger, sadness, nausea.I had no armor to hide behind. He had stripped me bare, and I didn’t know how to feel about that. I just wanted him to leave,so I could think. Come to grips with the fact that he kneweverything.I waited for him to leave but he didn’t budge. I waited, and waited, but he didn’t move.

“I’m not leaving.”

I looked over to him, still in the same spot he was and slammed the door. “What do you want from me? Seriously. To torment me? Kill me? What is it? I’m tired of playing this stupid game. Everyone wants something from me, so tell me what it is that you want.”

He ran a hand through his short strands. “I need your help, Rav.”

My heart did a little flip. He used my nickname, the one he gave me years ago. I slowly walked back towards him and took a seat on the bed. It felt different. He’d only used that recently when we were touching, but using it right now seemed like it meant more.

He neededmyhelp?That was a first.

I licked my lips, “What do you need help with?”

“Taking down your father.”

Goosebumps raced across my arms, and a laugh escaped my lips.Had he lost his mind?That was a suicide mission. “You’re kidding, right?”

He shook his head, and took a step closer to me, enveloping my space with his woodsy scent. “I wish I was.”Could I do this? Would we make it out of tis unscathed? Did this shift mean he no longer hated me?

I narrowed my gaze. “What are you not telling me?”

“Nothing you need to worry about. I do need your help though, and I’m assuming from everything I read in that journal, you are on the same page as me. You don’t want him to be King, and you don’t want him to have any more power over you.”

“Fine. I’ll help you, if you tell me one thing.” My heart raced.

“What?”

“Why have you been so angry at me? Why didn’t you respond to me when you were in prison? I wrote to you every week and gave you updates on Julianna. I wastryingto get in touch with you. To let you know that I hadn’t given up on you. Just when I thought I was getting a lead, you were gone. You disappeared from the world doing God knows what and couldn’t even tell me you were okay.” I blew out a breath, “I had to find out you were back from our daughter.”

He rubbed his lips together and took another step closer. “I blamed you for ruining my life.”

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