Page 113 of Fortress of the King

It’s not like I’ve ever been in a situation like this before, yet there’s a sense of calm in the room. Like when the hunter has caught the gazelle, and he’s just playing with it for a while before striking. I know he will do it. That’s how he operates. I just don’t know how.

Instead. I taunt him. “You would have done it by now,” I retort. He’s my only hope; there are no two ways about it. “And I don’t really think you want to do that, do you, Angelo?”

It’s like I can feel his fury from across the room. Like he’s a volcano, simmering and ready to erupt any minute.

“Rule number three. You will do every fucking thing I say, without a debate, without so much as a blink of an eye or any backtalk. If you think you can sit here and outsmart me and keep me talking while you try to figure out what move comes next, you’re done, Rayne. We’re at checkmate. You lost, and you’re mine now, and I’ll do whatever the fuck I want with you. Do you not understand? There’s nowhere else to run.”

I fold my arms over my chest. “And if I refuse?”

“You say that like you have a choice.”

“You won’t hurt me,” I whisper.

He places the crystal tumbler on the side table as I inadvertently scrunch the sheets under my fingers.

Please don’t come over here…please don’t come over here…

“You really don’t want to test me.”

“Have you killed a woman before?” I ask, trying to meet his gaze, but I still can’t see his eyes.

“You know the answer to that, and you’re forgetting something; I’m the only person who can help you find your sister, and it’s still debatable if I’ll even do that.”

“You bastard!”

He chuckles. “That hurts, and here I was thinking we shared something special.”

I feel my eyes pool with water and swallow hard to stop the tears. I’m at his fucking mercy, and I don’t care.

“I’ll do anything,” I cry. “I will doanyfucking thing you want, Angelo! But I have to… I have to…”

“Kill me,” he says helpfully. “Funny thing about that when my heart’s still beating.”

“Tell me what to do, and I’ll do it. I’ll fucking do it,” I beg.

He tsks again. “You don’t take direction very well, do you, little fox?”

“Why do you keep calling me that?”

“Because that’s what you are. Sly. Cunning. Disguised well, yet flawlessly beautiful.”

“I don’t know who took my sister,” I fire back angrily. Fury rises through me. I may have hurt him, and gotten closer than what I ever intended, hell, I fucking enjoyed it, but I’m no killer. That’s why I hired Enzo… “Enzo…”

“Ah, yes. You see,Carina,Enzo has been my best friend since we were in diapers, he told me everything. Do you know how hard it was to fuck you knowing you hate me?”

“I don’t hate you,” I whisper. “One thing I never did was hate you.”

“You can’t even say it, can you?” he taunts.

My mouth goes dry again. I open and close it again. I hear him snicker.

I’d like to think that Angelo appreciates strength over weakness, and I can’t show him just exactly how weak I really am.

“I can say it, but it doesn’t mean anything.”

“So say it.”

I steel myself. “Kill you,” I say, the words feeling like poison on my tongue. “I was supposed to kill you.”

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