Page 55 of Revenge of a Queen

“So, I'll ask again, how far are you willing to go?” he says again taking a sip from his tumbler with his intense stare locked on me.

“As far as it takes,” I reply without pause and he just nods. When he doesn’t speak again, I turn and go back on my way.

I find Elle exactly where I thought she would be. I enter Cassie’s room, where she has pulled the armchair over to the side of the bed, and is curled up in it, watching her daughter sleep. I move silently across the room before scooping her up into my arms and sitting in the chair with her curled in my lap. We sit silently for a while just listening to the rhythmic breathing of Cassie's soft snores, watching the simplicity of her chest rise and fall. I wonder what she is dreaming about. Hopefully, it's of a world far better than this one.

“Hey,” Elle whispers eventually.

“Hey, baby,” I whisper back into her hair.

“Sorry about the loft,” she says softly with a touch of regret in her voice.

I reach down and grip her chin between my fingers and tilt her chin until my gaze can collide with hers, “Don’t ever apologize for the workings of the devil.”

“If it weren’t for me this would never have happened. Zack's right. I should have never come back here. I am putting you all at risk,” she says, trying to pull away from me but I don’t let her.

“I’d risk the wrath of the devil every day, for a minute of you in my arms, little King. Ever since you came back here, I feel like I can breathe again. I will die a thousand times if it means saving you once. So, don’t ever fucking apologize or think about leaving again, you hear me?”

“River,” she whispers, “Look at my fucking life, how could you possibly want to be part of that? It’s not like it’s even just me,” she adds gesturing to Cassie.

I roll my eyes in exasperation, how is she not getting this?

“I love you, Elle King, and in loving you, I will love your daughter with everything I’ve got. Protect her and you with all I am until the day I die. You are it for me, always have been, always will be. I don’t care if I have to kill a thousand men, it will all be worth it to spend my life with you. Having Cassie be part of that just makes it even more worthwhile, even more so when we give her some beautiful little brothers and sisters to play with.”

She closes her eyes, breathing a sigh of relief, “I wish I was selfless enough to let you go,” she breathes into the night before opening her eyes to me, “but I can’t do this without you, River, I don’t want to.”

“As if I would fucking let you,” I scoff at her even thinking she could get rid of me now.

“Pinky promise?” she pleads lifting her finger to mine and I smile.

I twist my own around it as I respond, “On all the fucking stars in the sky, baby girl.”

Elle King is the other half of my soul. She settles something inside of me that I never realized was missing, completing me in a way I never knew possible. What happens now? How do I be enough of a man for these two amazing girls?

How do you go against the devil and survive?

Chapter 32

ELLE

Ibarely slept an hour all weekend and arriving at school I feel like a drunk zombie. I am so exhausted it hurts. We spent the rest of the weekend laying low and getting stuff delivered to the house for the guys, so they could feel at home. They lost everything because of me, because I chose to come back here and seek revenge on those who wronged me. A plan that only a few months ago seemed so simple and easy to execute. I was going to come back, dismantle the Donovan’s’ empire, and leave without a second thought. Move on with life, happily knowing that I had ruined the devil’s dynasty and have zero regrets. Now, not only have I not managed to be successful in my revenge, but I have also painted a target on three more people’s backs.

We came away unscathed this weekend, but what happens next time when we aren’t so lucky?

I feel like I did on the first day of school. As I ascend the steps into Hallows High, I feel that same sense of dread in my gut like I did the first time I took this path. That first day I was worrying about seeing Marcus again for the first time. Now I am on edge thinking that Elliot is going to send someone else to try and finish me off. I am paying so little attention that I smack right into someone as soon as I walk through the door.

“Shit, sorry,” I start, until I look up and lock eyes with Cherry.

We both just stare at each other, at an impasse of how to handle the awkward situation we have found ourselves in. Of all the people I could run into, why the fuck did it have to be her? Her face is set into a grim line until she looks over my shoulder. She plasters a huge fake smile on her face, confusing the shit out of me. Until I feel him, he doesn’t touch me, he doesn’t have to, I just sense he is there. Like he is part of me.

“Cherry,” he says in acknowledgement, coming into view and looking at me, “Everything okay here?” he asks.

She smiles wider, “What? Oh, of course it is, Elle just bumped into me, but I’m sure she didn’t mean it right, Elle?” the tone of her voice is so fucking fake that all I can do is just stare at her in bewilderment.

“I’m sure it was an accident, right, Ells?” Marcus says and I swing my gaze to his to see if he is really buying this shit and it seems he is. The other two Rebels join us and sense the tension and look at me as if I’m causing it. What the fuck?

“Anyway, I best get to class. You guys all have a nice day,” she says with a sickly-sweet smile, before she turns and sashays away into the sea of people who were all pretending not to watch our interaction.

I stare after her in disbelief, when Marcus cuts into my line of sight, “Don’t get stabby. She deserved better than what we did to her, at least she is being nice.”

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