Page 31 of Twisted Kings

“Did you kill that bastard?” he asked, still cradling Thea’s head in his lap. I wanted to rip her from him, but the pain in my back from where the bullet hit my Kevlar vest was unpleasant, to say the least.

“Which one?”

“Torrance, but also Francesco. I’m an equal opportunities guy. Neither of them deserve to live.”

“I didn’t see di Luca, but I knocked Torrance out when we found Thea and her sister. Was just about to empty my magazine into his bald head when some fucker shot me in the back. There wasn’t time to do anything but run after that, so sadly, he’s stillbreathing. He’ll have one hell of a bad headache when he comes round, though,” I smirked.

Dario snorted. “I bet he will. I’ve seen you fight.”

My eyebrows shot up. “You have?”

“Yeah. There are a few videos on YouTube. You’re good,amico.”

My smirk fell away. “Let’s get one thing clear, asshole. We’re not friends and nor will we ever be friends,” I growled. “You fucked my girl over and I won’t forget that.” He recoiled at the venom in my voice. “Just because we worked together to rescue the girls does not mean you get to stick around. Once they are safe in Ireland, you can crawl back under the rock you came from. Are we clear?”

I wasn’t sure whether Thea would forgive him for throwing her under the bus, but I didn’t much care. As far as I was concerned, the Italian fucker was toast. He wasn’t my friend and never would be.

He nodded and turned away, but I noticed how he continued to cradle Thea’s head like she was the most precious thing in the world to him. Jealousy burned my throat, but I swallowed the acidic taste back down.

Now was not the time to assert my claim on Thea. She needed medical help, which was waiting for us on the plane. Once she came round, it was up to her to decide how she wanted to handle the Dario situation.

If she told me he needed to die as payment for his sins, I was more than happy to end the fucker.

15

Landon

Sitting around in a house overlooking the ocean while other people risked their lives to save my woman felt wrong. I should have been there. On the front line. Proving to Thea that I cared.

After the shitty way I’d behaved the night she went missing -sorry, got kidnapped by an insane mobster hitman - I wouldn’t blame her for hating me. Hell, I hated me too.

“Landon, for fuck’s sake, stop pacing around the room like an eejit,” Eden snapped.

Milo ignored the both of us. He was in his zone. The zone where he did his techy thing and cared little about the world around him. The noise-canceling headphones probably helped.

“I can’t help it,” I told her.

“Well you’re making me nervous, so quit it!” Her snappy tone cut through my anxiety. Since when had Eden become such a sassy little spitfire? Before she became friends with Thea, she never spoke to any of us. If I’d looked at her a year ago, I knew for sure she would have ducked into a room to avoid my attention.

I guess meeting Thea had changed all of us.

Milo was less of a social misfit these days. Kyril was less grumpy. Even Cassian had been in a better mood lately. At least until Dario dropped a grenade on us all.

Thea’s arrival had been good for us. All of us. Even me.

I couldn’t recall the last time I read any of my DMs. Before Thea, the daily DMs from thirsty bitches were a fertile hunting ground. Sure, Abernethy was in the middle of nowhere, but I spent enough time in the city to schedule regular hookups with hot women.

And if that wasn’t an option, there were enough girls on campus to choose from. Girls like Polly, who never said no to a booty call late at night, when I needed some stress relief and my hand wasn’t cutting it.

All that had changed since I met Thea. She was the only girl I’d thought about since the day we met. If I couldn’t have her, I didn’t want anyone else.

Thea always assumed I was joking when I called her my future wife. I wasn’t joking. As far as I was concerned, she and I were end game. No matter what my father thought.

“Fuck,” Milo muttered as he watched his screen.

“What’s gone wrong?” Eden jumped up from the bed, spilling her chocolate milk everywhere. Declan’s housekeeper, Mrs O’Malley, was going to be thrilled. I’d already dropped cola on the cream carpet in the living room, and that shit stained.

“The local cops are on their way. It seems someone finally managed to get through to a higher-up officer.”

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