Page 86 of Brutal King

“Anyone with questionable loyalties has been replaced. Simple as that.”

“What about you?Youswore your loyalty to me,” he hisses at Declan. “And yet, here you still are. A fucking traitor.”

“I swore my loyalty to the family,” Declan retorts. “But you never understood what it is to be a McKenzie. To rule. To be respected and feared. Instead, you marry the enemy. And for what? You couldn’t even bargain a fair treaty.”

“You’re a traitor,” Rowan says. “And you’ll die like one. This dickwad helped you?” He lifts his chin to me. “Is he your new minion?”

Pushing aside any emotion, completely omitting it from my expression, I grin. “You hear that, Scar? I’m a minion now.”

From behind me, she snickers, “If you’re a minion, what does that make me?”

Rowan turns to her, then back to me, and his eyes widen as he realizes who I am. “Gideon Black.”

“That’s my name, don’t wear it out.” I take a step toward him, and as I do, he attempts to strike. But the two men flanking him grab him before he can. He struggles against them, almost freeing himself, until a third man comes to help.

“You’ve got my attention,” he sneers.

Two hours later, Rowan is sitting in the Kingsbrook library, tied to a chair of course. I watch him through the camera feed as he stares at the last painting Father had commissioned. It’s one where he’s leaning against a desk, his thick arms crossed over his broad chest. The painter made him seem larger than he was in life, but I suppose there was no other way to depict how much power he held when he was in a room.

Sofia comes into my study and stands behind me. Peering at my phone, she asks, “How is he?”

“Angry.”

“Did you kill Louisa?”

“I left her with Declan and his men. They’ll do it for me.”

“So you can keep your hands clean.”

I smirk. “I could spare a hundred lives and my hands would never be free of blood.”

“You’ve killed that many?”

“Yes.” I get out of my chair and pour myself a glass of whiskey. Liquid courage. “I should go in there.”

“Good luck.”

“Do you mean it?”

“Does it matter?” She sighs. “I mean it. If only because I wish it were Luca in there and I had a chance to speak with him. I envy you.”

“Sofia—”

“Go talk to him. I’ll be in my room.”

Two guards flank the doors to the library. They move aside as I enter and shut the door behind me. Rowan doesn’t turn to me. Instead, his focus remains fully on the portrait.

“That’s Father.” I tell him. “Stephen Black. Handsome, wouldn’t you say?”

Rowan shrugs in a dismissive way. “He’s not ugly.”

“Hewasn’tugly,” I correct. “Or have you forgotten, your uncles were involved in his murder?”

“Andyouwere involved in theirs. You’re even now?”

“Is that your way of pleading for your life?”

“I’d never beg you for anything.” Scanning his surroundings, he asks, “Is this where you’re going to do it?”

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