Page 49 of Corrupted Queen

I rise to my feet and walk over to Alexis, stopping with only a few inches left between us. I grab her chin in my fingers and hold her gaze.

“If it’s that important, next time I’ll warn you, but make no mistake—I will be telling, not asking.”

Alexis wriggles out of my grasp. “No, you will ask,” she insists, her voice brimming with authority. “I am not some tool that you get to use when you feel like it and then discard. I am a person worthy of respect.” She points a finger at me. “For the record, so is your son. How dare you exploit him like that?”

Alexis has always been feisty, but ever since I got her back, she has been something else too. Assertive. On a good day, I used to be able to make her cower with a look, and she would listen to me even if she complained about it the whole time. Something has changed in her. She presents a challenge to me now in a way she never did before. It’s like she came back a different person.

She’s right, too, I realize. It was wrong of me to use her and Harry like that, but what choice did I have? I couldn’t risk her refusing.

“I did what I had to do,” I say. “I made a judgment call, and I won’t apologize for that.”

She shakes her head. “If we’re going to do this, Gabriel, you can’t keep playing me like this. You need to start trusting me. More than that, you need to treat me with respect.”

Her eyes sear into mine, plump lips pulled into a frown. Pink flushes her cheeks, and if she didn’t look so downright ravishing, she’d probably look intimidating.

“I’m never going to be the man you want me to be,” I tell her. “I don’t ride a white horse and I don’t make promises.”

“I’m not asking you to be a prince or even just a nice guy. I know that’s not in your wheelhouse.” She sighs, running a hand over her face. “I just need to be able to trust you. And rely on you. That’s all I ask.”

“You keep throwing around the word trust as though that is something either of us is capable of,” I remark.

She frowns. “You don’t think we can trust one another?”

“Why should I trust you, Alexis? And for that matter, why should you trust me? I’m the monster waiting in the shadows, and I always have been for you. Let’s not complicate this arrangement with the pretense of trust.”

Something shifts in her gaze, and I wonder if my words hurt her. Then there it is again, that pesky guilt.

I swallow and push past it. “There’s a fundraiser dinner on Friday. I would be obliged if you and Harry would attend with me.”

This is as close as I will come to asking nicely, though if Alexis knows me at all, she will see my polite request as the demand it is.

“What are we raising funds for?” she asks with a quirked brow.

“The purple heroin crisis.”

I did not want to tell her this part, but of course, it’s unavoidable. The way her features ripple with fury makes me wish I’d never asked at all.

“Are you kidding me?” she growls. “How dare you even attend a fundraiser like that what you’ve done? You only want us there because you know that you’re going to come out looking like a massive hypocrite and you think having your perfect family at your side will distract people from the truth.” She shakes her head with disgust. “I can’t believe you cut all that funding, but you’re fine to swan out and drop a few coins in the bucket as long as the cameras are rolling and you’re wearing an expensive tux.”

Her words are like a thousand paper cuts, but I don’t let it show. I know what I am doing and why I am doing it. She may have a poor opinion of me for it, but that should not be any of my concern.

“What happened to trusting and respecting each other?” I mock.

She licks her lip, and the anger loosens from her brow. “Fine. I’ll think about it.”

The sight of her tongue swiping over her juicy bottom lip, mixed with the heat of the conflict, is more than I can take. I pull her into my arms and slam my mouth against hers, guiding her roughly to the wall.

Alexis squeaks out in protest, pushing at my chest, but it takes less than a second for her to start kissing me back eagerly. Her fingers claw the front of my shirt, dragging me closer. Her lips are soft, softer even than the satin of her cheek in my palm. I pull back, nipping at her lip before releasing it and bringing my mouth to her ear.

“It’s not a question,” I hiss. “There is a lot more at risk than you know.”

She shivers. “Then tell me, Gabriel. Talk to me.”

I wrap my fingers around her chin, gazing down into her eyes. I trusted her once. Could I trust her again?

No, I decide. Not when she looks at me like this, when it seems that fury and lust are the only two things she feels for me. There is too much at stake.

I kiss her again, pressing her harder into the wall, her chest flattening against mine. Alexis moans against my mouth and I tangle my fingers in her hair, pulling at her scalp. I am still so angry at her words, but this anger is laced with confusion. I twist this heat for my own purposes, a spike of lust driving through me.

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