Page 9 of Broken Queen
That the best way to manipulate people is through flattery?
I blinked slowly. “What?”
“Everything can be taken from you in an instant. A bullet in the brain. One pill more than you intended. A slice of a blade right across your carotid artery.” He dragged his finger across my neck as if his hand was the mouton of a guillotine, holding the blade ready to decapitate me. Chills ran down my spine. “You see, love, with a party like this, I couldn’t miss one of these while I had access to the property.”
I held my teeth together, keeping my posture straight. There was an opportunity, and Hazard grabbed it. I liked that; I would do the same.
“But the real question is,” he added, “what do you want, my queen?”
My pulse increased, and I squinted, like his motive would be revealed if I studied him hard enough. But he remained the same; a muscular red headed man with brown eyes and a permanent smirk on his face. His jaw popped again, then his lips went back to their stern, yet amused, expression. The atmosphere thickened between us, like the air right before a storm breaks. Hazard knew I could have him killed if I wanted. I already had an assassin indebted to me personally, and that wasn’t counting the rest of the contract killers I had access to through the Marked Blooms Syndicate.
But Hazard didn’t care.
“I’ve got something to show you,” he said. He motioned to his side. “Come with me, love.”
If I stayed at the Masquerade, the rest of the night would be the same, listening to members congratulating my husband, while I politely nodded, pretending like I wasn’t furiously jealous of him.
Why not follow this strange man into the darkness?
I matched his footsteps through the grass, then he verged to the side, heading toward the supplies shed. A ladder was propped on the back of the building. He climbed up, and I followed, my bare feet curling against the metal bars.
On the top of the roof, a sleek sniper rifle was aimed at the banquet hall. Hazard bent down, peering through the scope, then tapped his side for me to join him. I scowled at the implication that I’d come to him like a dog.
“You can take out anyone. They won’t even know what hit them,” he said.
Irritation evaporated from my mind as my body flushed at those words. At one point, someone had suggested that my father replace the windows with bulletproof glass, but he was far too proud to change a building that had been in our family’s history for years. He was too confident in his invincibility. I kneeled down, the roof tiles slick on my skin. Inside the crossed scope, there was a man and a woman. Logan’s bright blond hair and a dainty brunette. His fingers wrapped around her hips as he thrust inside of her. Beauty marks speckled her back like a constellation. I understood why he was attracted to her. I didn’t fault him for that.
But we were supposed to be faithful. That’s what our marriage contract said. It was part of how we were connected to the Syndicate.
Power swelled within me as I played with the trigger, the metal subtly shifting under the pressure of my finger. All it would take was one little thrust of my finger, and he’d be gone. I lowered the scope, aiming at his chest, barely above the brunette’s soft little head. Logan pulled out, erupting on her back.
I let go of the trigger. Angling the scope, I found a man in the back of the room, his expression full of dread. He was dressed in white. Logan was participating in another initiate’s sacrifice, then. Messing around with the little brunette didn’t count on the night of a Masquerade.
Goddamn loopholes. I wanted to shoot him anyway. Stand around and be his wife? Why don’t you stop screwing everything that moves, husband?
But I wasn’t the kind of woman to get my hands dirty. Blooms manipulated other people to do the work for them. It was why my mother urged me to get on the board and actually do something about this mayhem.
But sometimes, I wanted to do the killing myself.
I pulled back from the scope. “Who would you kill?” I asked.
But there was no answer. Hazard was gone, leaving me with the rifle on the rooftop. The gun was still in my hands. Power vibrated through me.
Hazard had given that to me, but he had still left me alone.
CHAPTER 3
Hazard
To anyone who asked, the Bloom Estate was considered perfection. A manicured lawn. Multiple buildings and facilities. An enormous garden off to the side. A new pool. Even apartments for a few of the staff members. And like the rest of the city of Fairview, the sun always shined. Rainy days didn’t exist here.
It took me over ten years to finally find someone who knew that women were disappearing into Fairview’s famous private community, Opulent Gates, owned by the Marked Blooms Syndicate. Now that I was here, I wasn’t going anywhere.
Gore Bloom, the director of the Syndicate, wanted a new private gym, which meant that the entire upstairs library and adjacent guest room would be remodeled into a home gym, with new insulation and walls, to help with heating and cooling. As I swung my hammer into the wall, pulling out the last contractor’s insulation, I angled to the side, staring out the window at the green grass. Even watching the lawn grow was better than remodeling for some rich prick. This shit was boring.
To get my blood pumping, I wandered over to the supplies shed and instantly caught sight of a white bikini. Zira. Her golden skin shined with oil, and I salivated over the sight of the curves of her breasts and thighs. But then I remembered that white-haired mother fucker groping her breasts at the Masquerade like she was a foosball table before he clicked the guillotine’s remote. He didn’t deserve to look at her, let alone touch that pretty body. I’d have to take care of him later. I shoved him out of my mind, trying to focus on the good things, like how sweet Zira probably tasted. Her blond hair was tucked into a bun on the back of her head, heavy and daunting.
I strode over to the pool. Kneeling down, I dipped my fingers in the chlorinated water, imagining the queen soaked. What would she do if I threw her in?
