Page 89 of Cruel Devotion

This burning need to reclaim my agency hit me.

I gritted my teeth.

They are craz, and this is bullshit.

If Banks, Lei, and even Leo thought they could slide me here and there on the board, then I had to hurry and learn the game.

Once I did that, then I would redefine the rules for myself.

In chess, you can still win as a pawn. They better stop messing with me.

Meanwhile, I had just mentioned the Mountain Mistress title to Lei and his eyes didn’t betray surprise.

Instead, they narrowed ever so slightly.

“Lei. . .” I took a deep breath. “You knew?”

Lei’s jaw clenched, a cold, impenetrable mask slid into place—the very same hard façade he reserved for his people during these gatherings.

That reaction sent a chill down my spine. “Lei?”

His Adam’s apple bobbed as he cleared his throat like he was wrestling with words that seemed reluctant to surface.

I held his gaze, willing him to answer. “Did you know that your father was setting us up?”

“On some level.”

“On some level?” I tilted away from him. “What level?”

“I knew that his putting the tracker on your neck, was for me to find you.”

“What? How did you know that?”

“Because my father wouldn’t put a tracker on a random gorgeous woman for no reason. Additionally, Chanel was Black. You’re Black. I figured he was trying to. . .”

“What?”

“Give me some form of a compromise.”

“What the fuck?” I shivered. “And Mountain Mistress? That’s serious. Maybe, Yan has some of it wrong—”

“I doubt it. I had already figured that we were meant to be unknowingly intertwined by Father’s Grand Design. I just never wanted to contemplate it too much.”

“But that’s not okay. We can’t just—”

“Monique.” Lei moved closer to me, so close that I could feel his breath on my lips. “It doesn’t matter.”

This time, I shivered again, but it had nothing to do with fear. “It does. . .”

“It doesn’t.”

“How can you say that?”

“My father brought us together but we will decide whatever. . .wedecide. It’s onlyourchoices that matter.”

“But are we not still his chess pieces followinghisplan?”

Lei frowned.

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