Page 112 of Fortress of the King

I can’t see him properly, but I can imagine him raising his eyebrows. “So speak.”

I wince at his tone, but I can’t expect anything less.

I clear my throat. “I don’t want to insult you by saying that I wanted things to end this way, but for what it’s worth, I never would have attempted to kill you, Angelo. I did what I had to do, and that doesn’t mean that it didn’t rip me apart in the process.”

He scoffs. “Yet, you went to the drop. You put the poison in your purse, ready for the kill.”

I know he’s testing me. Baiting me. And who can blame him? I would too.

“I had to, Angelo. I had to make it seem like I was still playing the game. I had to stay one step ahead.”

“And just what game do you think we’re playing here,Carina?”

The way he says my pet name is like poison rolling off his tongue. It’s changed, no longer laced with a warmth I once knew.

“I don’t know anymore,” I whisper.

He uncrosses his leg from his knee and leans forward. “Well, lucky for us both, Iknowthe game. I live and breathe it, just as well as I know how the next part will play out.”

My heart races so hard in my chest I’m sure he can hear it. “And that is?”

He tsks. “Patience, my dear little fox. First, I need to tell you the new rules.”

My eyes dart around the room, only one way in and one way out. He probably has the place surrounded, probably has guard dogs for all I know. My eyes land on the pitcher of water on the bedside table.

“May I?” I ask, nodding to the glass that sits next to it.

“Of course.”

I pour a glass and quickly drink it down. It feels like I haven’t tasted water for an eternity.

When I’m done, I place the empty glass back on the side table.

“Rule number one,” he says as my eyes land on him again. “If you try to escape or attack me in any way, I’ll kill you.”

My eyes go wide as I realize we’re not in Kansas anymore. My worst nightmare has come true, and he means business.

This is the Angelo Medici you don’t mess with. The tyrant I’ve never known.

“You can’t get away anyway because we’re secluded, so save yourself the trouble. I took you out of the city,” he goes on. “Two. You will not speak unless spoken to, and you will not try to explain yourself and make excuses for what you’ve done. My patience is waning, and my temper is barely hanging on by a thread.”

“Did you find the letter?” I blurt out, ignoring his rules.

I guess not. If he did, he wouldn’t show it anyway. Anything that we ever had is gone. I betrayed him – in his eyes, I’m a traitor.

“You’re already breaking rule number two,Carina. I’d watch that mouth of yours.”

“I need to find my sister,” I whisper-shout. “If you feel the need to punish me, hurt me, keep me captive for the rest of my life, you can do it, but I have to get her back. She’s innocent…she’s lying there somewhere, probably being raped and tortured. Hell, she could be dead by now!” A shudder runs through me at such a thought; it’s quickly replaced by anger.

“What makes you think I won’t kill you first?” he muses.

My heart races at how he would do it.

A crime of passion?Would he place those large hands of his around my neck and squeeze?

Would he use a blade, slice across my neck, and watch me bleed.Or would he just shoot?

I should feel terrified.

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