Page 5 of The Broken Queen
I kicked him again. “I hate you.”
Tears streamed down his face, mixing with blood and dirt, and something inside me cracked, making my own fall.
My chest heaved as sobs worked through me, shattering my vision and bruising my heart. I dropped to the ground, landing on my ass hard enough that my teeth slammed together, then I swiped at my face and reached for my brother.
“I didn’t mean that.”
He croaked in reply, “You should.”
But I didn’t. “You’re a good brother, Kingston. You’ve always watched out for me. Always made sure I was okay.”
His eyes remained on the sky as more tears tracked down his cheeks. It was silent between us until he let out a shuddering breath.
“I know I messed it all up, but it did hurt. It hurt that she was taken from us when we left, and that it felt so impossible to save her from this fate Scotty and Kyle forced her into. It hurt that she didn’t trust us enough to give it up. Even without our love, she always had our friendship, and she should have trusted us. She pushed us out, Gio, and when I found out how long she’d waited to contact us…something in me just snapped.”
He was still mad about all of it; meanwhile, I just didn’t care anymore. Presley was my soulmate, and none of this shit was worth losing her.
“Well then, let her go, King. Release her and go live your life, start over, and let El Peligro go. Go find that happiness that she seemed to find.Start over.”
His head tilted, those amber eyes muted and dark as if the light had gone out in them.
“What would you do?”
I met his stare and gritted my teeth. “I’d stay. I’d rather be a wraith here, haunting all she’s ever known so the second she walks back into this world, every inch of it is covered in my prints. She won’t be able to escape me, and if she wishes to stay away, then she’ll have to face me to cut this rope she’s tied around our souls.”
Kingston let out a shuddery breath. “What if she marries him?”
I shook my head. “Don’t give a fuck. The things he will give her won’t ever hold up to what we have. You can’t trade diamonds for stardust, can’t erase a childhood like ours, where our hearts grew together in the same garden. We have time, and Adrian won’t ever win against that.”
Kingston finally sat up and wiped some of the blood from his nose with the bottom of his shirt before letting out a sigh. “So, what do we do?”
“We?” I quirked a brow at him. “Thought you were leaving.”
His face lowered, and I already knew what was going through his head. He was in love with Presley, and everything I had just said was mirrored in his own heart; he was just too fucking stubborn.
“I’ll help you get her back. It’s the least I can do…”
“And then?” I repeated, trying to force him to say exactly what it was he planned to do, so I could call him out on his shit.
His black hair shifted as the wind blew. “I’ll walk away. She’s yours, Gio. I promise you that.”
It was wrong, and if I knew Presley at all, I knew she’d never go for that.
Regardless, I accepted my brother’s hand when he lifted it for me to take.
Chapter 3
Presley
The breeze carried hints of citrus and salt as it tugged my hair loose and wrinkled the long curtains on either side of the balcony. I stared out at the vast sea, watching the white capped waves, wondering what it must be like to be created and undone so quickly.
The sky was bright and beautiful, and yet somewhere in my heart, a storm hadn’t stopped raging. An anger roiled deep within my core, mixing with hurt and regret.
Regret that I had given so much to the twins, so easily. Regret that this new role was still difficult for me to accept, because after everything, I still cared, which meant they still had a hold of my fickle heart.
Pushing down my emotions, I turned away from the balcony and made my way down the steps back toward the suite that I now lived in .
“Morning,Bellissima.” Adrian’s smile extended across his handsome face as he stretched, allowing the sheet to slip down to his tapered waist. I wore a silk robe, covering the matching night slip Adrian had gifted me.
