Page 34 of King

The heat of his body against mine is not helping anything either and that dark, hungry look in his eyes is sending warmth between my legs.

“Look at the damn phone.” He growls and I flinch, lifting it up to see whatever he wants me to see.

A message.

Unknown: you have a traitor in your midst. She wears a crown as though she is your queen, but she’s there to tear you down from the inside out. Beware the woman who smiles so sweetly.

I squint at the message in confusion. “What is this?” I mutter, reading it again.

“It’s a message. And it’s obviously about you. A clear warning not to trust you.” He says roughly as he grabs his phone back.

I shake my head. “Giovanni, I don’t know what they’re talking about. Who sent it? Whose number is that?”

“The number is hidden. What difference does it make? Someone is trying to warn me about whatever it is you’re up to.”

“But I’m not up to anything.” I huff in annoyance.

He stares at me with his jaw set.

“Stop doing that.” I snap, pushing him again, trying to create some space between us so that I can think clearly.

“I’m not ignoring this.” He says, gesturing towards his phone.

“Oh - what? You’re going to believe some coward who doesn’t even want to reveal who they are - instead of trusting me?” I say in defensive. “If it was a message from someone you knew I wouldn’t blame you for being wary - but this asshole isn’t even showing their face. Why would believe it?”

He sneers, pulling his mouth tight as he turns away from me. I sigh in relief to have some room to breathe.

“Giovanni, something is going on here.” I sigh again. “I’ve noticed strange things happening.”

“Mm.” He huffs, reluctant to hear me out. “What strange things?” he mutters, annoyed.

“Someone is watching me.”

“What?” he snaps, rolling his eyes. “No one is watching you, Zina.”

“Someone is. When I walk around the estate the camera’s move to track me. They follow my movements everywhere I go. Someone is watching me.” I insist.

He shakes his head.

“The guards would only be doing that if I gave them instructions to do it. And I certainly didn’t. Although - after this warning, perhaps it’s something I should do.”

“For fuck sakes, Giovanni. Listen to me. I’m not crazy. I’m not imagining the camera’s tracking me. I’ve seen it with my own eyes.”

“There is no one in this house watching you, Zina. No one cares where you go and what you do.” He snaps. His eyes are shooting into me like steel rods. The way he’s looking at me, as though I’m the enemy, as though there is hate in his heart - it reminds me of the day he broke my heart.

I was twenty-one, completely in love - madly, crazy in love. And he was looking at me just like that. His words are still crystal clear in my memory. “You need to stay away from me and stay away from my family.”

I argued with him. “I don’t understand. Why are you doing this?”

He grabbed my arm and pulled me close so that the heat of his breath brushed over my face. “I never want to see you again, Zina. You are nothing to me. Nothing. Is that clear?”

I shake my head to get rid of the memory. It was a long time ago, but it still shatters my heart when I think about it. It was the most brutal rejection. Only a day before, we were lying on the grass near the harbor with my head resting on his shoulder and his arms wrapped around me. Just one day before - he told me he wanted to be with me forever. That no one would ever tear us apart. He told me we were meant to be together.

My heart is racing, each beat is a pulse of agony as I try to let go of the memory. It’ll always haunt me, like it has for years. Sometimes it makes me angry. Sometimes it makes me cry.

Two days after he rejected me I found out I was pregnant. I fought with myself, at war with my heart and my mind, deciding whether or not to tell him. I wanted to get revenge against what he’d done to me. His cruelty.

But I couldn’t. When I watched him with his sons and his wife - I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t tear a family apart and hurt Bella - it wasn’t her fault he’d made promises to me.

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