Page 25 of The Scandal You Started
“V.”
She wasn’t particularly eager about the idea of being Dominic’s Guardian, but if it saved everyone else from his unjust insolence, she’d take the job. It was less about self-sacrifice and more about her stubbornness and determination to take on difficult cases. Plus, she had said she wanted to work with the marquess when Victor had first told her and George about him.
Be careful what you wish for, Rayna.
Panic flickered through Victor’s eyes as he shook his head. “No, Rayna. Dammit, no.” He sounded more pleading than unbending. “You promised me!”
She smiled softly. “I didn’t promise you anything about this.”
His face twisted like he wanted to scream and pull his own hair out. “I won’t—no. You can’t. No, no.No.”
“I can do this.”
He shook his head rapidly, a stifled sound of frustration slipping out.
“Every time I think I might have changed my mind, she reminds me why I never want kids,” George muttered in the background.
Rayna threw him a glare. “Fuck off.”
He smirked and nodded his chin at Victor. “Look at how the vein in V’s forehead is ticking.”
Ash opened his mouth, and she immediately put up a finger in warning. “If you say‘blood pressure,’Ash, I’m going to knock you to the floor.”
Ash’s ruby-red eyes danced as he curled his smiling lips into his mouth.
“V,” Rayna said in his silence.
With a huff, Victor turned his head away. “Ask Monty,” he grumbled.
She raised her brows at the older man. “Monty, are you okay with this?”
Monty twiddled with his salt-and-pepper moustache before sighing. “Yes. I suppose I am.”
Satisfied with his response, she fortified her shoulders and swivelled to face Dominic.
“River, can you come here please?” she called.
The slim, awkward man slunk to her side in silent steps.
“You will apologise to everyone,” she then said to Dominic, “and I will be your Guardian. On the condition that River will work with us as an additional part-time Guardian, and if you so much as even speak badlyabouthim let alonetohim, you will be sent back to your time immediately. Do I make myself clear?”
He smiled at River, and it was anything but kind. “That shouldn’t be a problem as long as River is not under the same roof as us.”
River cleared his throat and looked between them. “Yeah, that—that’s fine.”
Hardly missing a beat, Dominic faced the others and bowed his head. “I sincerely apologise for my offensive actions,” he uttered before lifting his glimmering gaze to her. “Is that sufficient enough for you?”
A growl bubbled in her throat at his easy-going tone, but she gritted her teeth and gave him a single nod.
He spread his shoulders wide as his mouth quirked in a satisfied smirk.I won, he was declaring, and, fuck, did it piss her off.
She reacted to her ire and jabbed a finger into his chest. “Let’s get one thing straight, shall we, Dominic? From here on out, you’re under my care, which means you will do what I say, when I say it, exactly as I tell you to. And seeing as you wanted me to be your Guardian, you’ll do so without complaint.”
His smirk widened into a toothy grin as he bent into her. “I have never taken orders from the King of Khaas himself, sweetheart. But there is a first time for everything, is there not?”
Outside the room
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” George asked once he, Victor, River, and Monty had stepped back out of Lord Norland’s quarantine room.
