Page 9 of Pretty Vengeful Queen

I stiffen.People. The word sends a visceral reaction through me, not unlike the painful awakening of blood rushing back into a limb that’s fallen asleep.

But this isn’t a limb. This is a deeper part of me.

Riley loves Chloe the way I loved my sister Emma, and yes, Rileywoulddo anything for her. She already has. But Chloe said “people.” Chloe thinks that Riley sacrificed herself to protect… people.

People whom Riley loves.

Chloe puts her hand on my arm, cocking her head to the side. “Logan?” she says, searching my face in a way that should feel intrusive, but doesn’t. “I don’t know exactly what’s happening between my sister and you, all three of you, but it’s something, isn’t it? Something real?”

I hesitate, then give her a stiff nod, still reeling from the casual way she used that word.

I am not… lovable.

Other than my brothers, who would die for me, people do notloveme.

Chloe gives me a tentative smile, squeezing my arm one more time—a touch that should repel me, but that, strangely, I find comforts me instead—and then pulls her hand back. “I wasn’t sure about you guys at first. I mean, come on, the Reapers? Your gang has a reputation and the three of you are pretty intimidating, but Riley was different after you guys got me back from West Point the last time. Different around you and Maddoc and Dante, I mean. Different in agoodway.”

“We… are different too,” I admit.

She nods, then sniffles before scrubbing at her cheeks with a self-deprecating laugh. “Good. That’s… that’s good. I never thought I’d see the day she actually fell for someone after all the losers she’s dated. But I’m glad, you know? She deserves a guy—um,guyswho will kick some ass for her.”

There it is again. She’s talking about Riley falling for me and my brothers. Caring for us.

Loving us.

Chloe smiles. “It really means a lot to see how hard you’re all working to get her back. Thank you.”

I go still, her gratitude and everything she’s just implied sending me into a tailspin, completely out of my element.

I want to rub at my chest, thick and tight with emotions that feel too big to fit inside it. But I don’t. Hiding that sort of weakness, learning not to display feelings that I don’t understand and have no strategy for dealing with, is a self-preservation strategy I internalized at a very young age. Instead, I give Chloe a stiff nod.

Then, belatedly remembering certain social niceties, I force my tongue to unlock from the roof of my mouth. “You’re… welcome.”

Chloe grins. Then, thankfully, she stops emoting and turns back to my monitors.

“Let’s find her,” she says with a renewed determination in her voice that bolsters mine. “Where else can we look? There are a ton of places near the plaza here, the one with the fountain, that have security systems, right? Can you hack all their cameras, too?”

“I already have access,” I confirm, refocusing on the search and grateful for the chance to let the bewildering swirl of emotions inside me settle into the background again as Chloe and I pour ourselves into the only thing that matters right now.

If she’s right, if Riley… loves me, there’s nothing to be done about it until we get her back.

So we will. We have to.

I won’t accept anything else.

4

RILEY

I’ve been staringup at the textured bumps on the ceiling of the windowless room West Point stashed me in for who knows how long. I made some noise a while ago, enough to get one of McKenna’s men to come and untie me so I could pee, but other than that they’ve left me completely alone.

I have no idea if it’s day or night. I don’t even know if I’m actually tired or if I’ve just been stuck in here with nothing but my own thoughts for so long that they’ve exhausted me; thoughts that keep cycling through fear, anger, and despair until it feels like my head is spinning and my heart is completely wrung out.

Still, I’d rather die in here alone than ever see myhusbandagain… but unfortunately, that’s not up to me.

I tense when the door finally opens again, expecting it to be him.

It’s not. It’s the last person I’d ever expect to seek me out here.

---