Page 26 of The Queen
“Then defend it.”
I blink, taking the gun he presses into my hand as men rush up the stairs.
Turning, I fire without a second thought. Eighteen and a killer.
It’s what Dad made me.
“Smart. Capable. Cunning. You are everything this family needs to survive.”
The steel of my gun is cold against my skin, a reminder of the life I lead. I stand in the shadows of my father’s study, the same place where I learned to play chess with lives and loyalties as pawns and knights. Each memory, a lesson etched into my being, shaping me into the leader I am now—unyielding, strategic, prepared for the onslaught of this treacherous world.
I am the queen, the ruler of this underworld chessboard, and I play for keeps.
It’s time to move my pieces across the board and checkmate the enemies who think they can dethrone me.
Groaning,I lift my hand to my head as James crouches next to me. “You okay?”
“I’ll live,” I murmur, shaking off the weird ass sequences of flooded memories that hit me while I was out. Things from my past that defined me and made me who I am.
Rising to my feet, I shake off James’s help and round on Felix. He is smirking at me and my apparent weakness, but he doesn’t know it’s because I haven’t eaten properly in three days, nor that I’ve barely slept, nor that this entire shitshow has literally taken the floor out from under my feet.
“Foster,” I growl. “You little fuck. So, you are working with her.”
“Nah,” he shrugs. “Can’t stand the bitch. But doesn’t change anything. I want power. Real power, Eliza, and you are going to be the one to give it to me.”
“In your dreams.”
“You want my mother delivered to you on a platter? I’m your guy.”
“No.”
“Do not believe that,” James states, pointing at him while glaring at me.
“I just said no,” I murmur patiently which leads to further glowering.
“You really think you can play both sides and walk away with your skin?” James spits, his anger radiating in waves as he turns back to Felix, ready to rip into him.
I slide in between them, my presence like a barrier of ice. “Back off, James.” I can’t afford to have our tempers flaring at each other now, not when there’s a bigger game at play.
My eyes lock onto Felix’s, and he knows who the apex predator is. “If you betray me, I’ll personally peel the flesh from your bones.”
“Understood.”
“Why do you hate your mother?”
“Because she was consumed with hatred for your mother, her sister, for taking the man she was in love with, who left her with a kid to raise.”
“Dad said he didn’t know.”
“It wouldn’t surprise me. My mother is a vengeful sort, and she likes it ice cold. I have no doubt she was waiting to use me to get to him.”
“Sounds like a real peach.”
“Rotten to the core, maybe.”
“Despite that, you want her dead?”
The question hangs there.
