Page 106 of Filthy Royal

“Oh yeah?” He stretched out his hand and caressed the top of her head, the strands of red and gold softer than silk beneath his palm.

She trembled beneath his touch, but she recovered fast, jerking her head away.

Except he didn’t allow it, his palm easily keeping her right where he wanted as he raised his other hand.

His thumb pressed against the lush seam of her far too appealing mouth. “I remember when you used these lips to do more than tell me lies. Let’s see if you’re better at answering my questions this time around.”

9

SCARLETT

“Don’t do this.” Scarlett’s heart skipped a beat. Her position on her knees, body tilted forward, wrists chained to the dirt was suddenly more precarious than ever.

“It’s too early for begging.” Damien dragged his thumb slowly across her lower lip.

When Damien held her before—when he called her his good girl—she’d thought that maybe some part of him remembered, even cherished, what they’d once been to each other, but she’d no longer delude herself.

Her gaze flicked to the wet, shiny new bloodstains on the floor, left by Prince Jai.

She had no idea what this older Damien was capable of.

“Tell me what the prince was talking about.” Damien wasted no time. “How can you get me into Darvish’s private headquarters?”

Not a personal question. She wasn’t sure if that was better or not.

“Are you here to turn me in?” Ignoring his question, she asked her own.

“I don’t owe you any explanation, Omega. You’re the one who needs to start talking.”

She refused to let it go. “Did you come back because you found out about the money and wanted to impress your precious Brotherhood?”

One eyebrow raised. “Keeping tabs on me and my family’s rise to the top?”

Not as much as she’d have liked, thanks to Darvish’s strict controls, but even he couldn’t stop some of the bigger news stories from trickling down to her. And the fact that the Skolovs, a bunch of outsider orphans with no familial lineage and little funds, had clawed their way into the most exclusive and powerful crime organization in the galaxy was big news.

“So thatisthe reason?” Scarlett pushed. “The Brotherhood found out about the stolen money and sent you here to punish me.”

He scoffed. “I don’t give a shit what the Brotherhood thinks. They’re a means to an end.” His expression hardened. “Same with you.”

Another deep cut.

While hearing that the Brotherhood wasn’t yet on to her should have lessened the sting, somehow, it didn’t.

“I’m here for Darvish,” Damien continued.

“I wish I could help you bring him down.” The truth leaped from her before she could think better of it.

Her captor took it as a challenge. “Oh, you will.” He palmed the back of her head, his grip menacing. “You’ll tell me everything you know about his operation, his plans, and who works for him before we’re done.” He slid his hand to the chain at her neck and toyed with a few links, the rough pads of his fingers a caress that raised the tiny hairs on the nape of her neck. “Then you’ll take me to him.”

“Or what?” The ceiling shook, and some larger rocks hit the ground, the darkness inside her snapping at its leash, as always. “You’ll do the same to me as you did to the prince?”

Damien’s grip tightened. “I can do anything I want with you, Omega. Keep you chained down here for eons. Break you as easily as I would a pretty icicle.”

“You’ll regret this.”

His entire body stiffened, the tendons in his corded neck bulging as his horns snapped straight and his fangs flashed. “Are you threatening me?”

“No.” She let the truth seep from her once again. “Just telling you what I believe. I-I know you don’t care about me anymore. I understand why, but you can’t have changed that much that you’d relish—”

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