Page 23 of The Broken Queen
Benni picked up a glass of wine that hadn’t been smashed and tossed it in my grandfather’s face. “He’s also a dirty, rotten Fed.”
My grandfather was FBI? Well, that sort of explained a lot, but why didn’t my mom ever tell me anything about him?
“You really didn’t know?” Markos asked.
“I’ve never met him before.”
My focus was still on my grandfather, now soaked with wine and bleeding from the glass. I tried to summon some sympathy for him, to care that my blood relation was on the table, bleeding out, but the only person in the room I was worried about was Alex.
“Prove it.” I heard the sound of a gun being cocked, and then the cold, metal silver pistol was set on the table next to me. “Shoot him in the head.”
My glare snapped up to Adrian’s adoptive father. “What?”
“This is your gift. Your grandfather never left the bureau. I was going to kill him myself or allow Benni and Renzo to have their fun, but I figured as his granddaughter you’d prefer to extend more of a merciful kill.”
No. I didn’t know him, but he was my family.
“Markos, stop this,” Adrian seethed.
So, my fiancé wasn’t in on whatever this plot was, that or he just didn’t like it.
Markos’s mouth twitched as he met Adrian’s gaze, but he didn’t waver.
“Take the gun and shoot your grandfather in the head.”
“Where is Rylie? Please, I want to see her, you said I could see her—” My grandfather began thrashing and screaming, but Benni stepped closer and placed a cloth napkin in his mouth.
Adrian began yelling at Markos in Italian. I caught pieces of it.
Outrageous. We just got engaged. Why are you doing this?
Stop this now.
I could only stare into the eyes that I’d more than likely inherited. Blue like the ocean. Blue like my mother.Blue like her father.
“Is this not a gift?” Markos barked in response to Adrian.
The two continued to argue while my grandfather gaped at me. Tears leaked down the side of his face, and his thrashing around had resulted in even more cuts from the glass. The more they argued, the longer this man was stuck inside this agony. There was no way out for him, and perhaps that was the message Markos wanted to send me. He could get to my family and even force me to harm them, and he’d leave me with no other choice because if I used the gun on Markos, I knew someone in the room would kill Alex.
I was stuck, and this man, who was related to me, was trapped here, at my mercy.
Standing from the table, I leaned closer and stroked my fingers through my grandfather’s thinning hair. “Shhhh.”
There was no exit strategy for me. If I didn’t do this, then they would torture him, and for whatever reason, I couldn’t stand the idea of him being harmed in such a way.
“I’ll do it.”
Adrian paused his rant that had increased in volume. Markos continued to glare at Adrian as if he were angry and disappointed that one of his adopted prodigies would go against him. With the cool steel in my hand, I wrapped my finger around the trigger.
“Pres,” Alex whispered from across the table.
Adrian’s warm hands found my face as he turned me away from the sight of my grandfather lying there. “You don’t have to do this. I’ll fix this.”
I was moved by the redness in his eyes andthe way his hands shook. This upset him, greatly. Even if he knew I wasn’t desensitized to this world. To the harsh reality of being among men like Adrian and his brothers, it still bothered him. Something in my chest melted a tiny bit more for this man I was bound to marry. While he didn’t have my entire heart, he had my loyalty. I slid my palm against his cheek and muttered, “I can’t stand the idea of him being tortured. Let me end this for him.”
Adrian’s eyes moved across my face in panic. “I didn’t know.”
I believed him.
