Page 134 of Tyrant (The Villetti Chronicles)

I bit my lip and looked away, remembering I hadn’t told him about meeting Penn. Now I was going to have to fess up to it.

“Um… Penn gave me them.”

Zayn blinked.

“Excuse me, Penn gave you them? Are you talking about my Fixer, Penn?”

I nodded, realising maybe I should have mentioned this to him before.

“He showed me how to use them.”

Zayn looked incensed at my confession.

“When the fuck did you meet him?”

I tightened my hold around Zayn’s waist.

“Well, when I was mad at you after the whole Derek kidnapping thing, he found me in the hallway cursing your name. He didn’t think it was a good idea for me to be shouting about it where anyone could hear me, so he took me into one of the private rooms. Then, to calm me down, he showed me how to pick a bunch of locks. If he hadn’t, then I wouldn’t have got out of that room nor come down here and saved you. We wouldn’t be free of your father. Fuck, Zayn, you’d be dead. He would have killed you. So, I’m not sure why you’re mad at him, but I’m pretty fucking glad I met him.”

He didn’t immediately reply. After a minute, his tense body relaxed and he let out a long sigh.

“You have a point. That fuck still has a lot to answer for, but this? Well, I suppose I have to be grateful no matter how much I’m loath to admit he’s done a good thing.”

I didn’t know why Zayn was so mad at Penn or what had gone on between them. As far as I was concerned, Penn had made sure we got out of this alive.

“He did.”

“Okay, so you got out of the cuffs and the room, then you came down here, yes?”

Zayn clearly wanted to move on and not talk about Penn any further. I would have words with him about it at a later date. Now wasn’t really the time.

“I picked up one of the bodyguard’s guns from the floor, then I walked in here, saw him threatening you and, well, you know the rest.”

He looked over to where his father’s body lay. The blood from his wounds had seeped out into the rug below him.

“I would spit on his corpse, but I’d rather do that in your mouth.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“Is that my reward for killing your father?”

His eyes darted back to me. I opened my mouth for him, sticking out my tongue. Zayn smiled before he leant over me and dribbled his spit onto my tongue. I let it pool there for a moment. Then I slid my tongue back into my mouth and swallowed.

“Good girl,” he murmured. “I’m so proud of you.”

I licked my lip, giving him a shy smile. A noise from outside the room made both of us look around. There was the sound of a door opening followed by footsteps, then a loud voice exclaiming, “What the fuck?”

Zayn and I looked at each other, both recognising who it was. And I wondered how we were going to explain why the two bodyguards and their father were dead.

Forty Five

Zayn

The moment I heard Enzo’s voice, I knew I had to take control of the situation. Letting go of Ari, I moved towards the door. Bending down, I picked up what I assumed was Stefano’s gun. I had a decision to make about how we explained what happened. Only one of my potential choices kept Arianna from any repercussions resulting from her killing Gennaro for me.

I looked back at my queen. I was so fucking proud of her for what she’d done, but this was on me. All of it. The eldest became head of the family when his father died. It was the way of things. I couldn’t afford to look weak in the eyes of the criminal underworld. Perception was everything. If they thought I’d killed my own father, they wouldn’t have a fucking word to say about my rule. We would need that in the coming months. When the power structure changed, it always brought about problems. A show of strength was necessary.

“I need you to stay quiet and let me handle this. I have to take responsibility for his death. No one can know you pulled the trigger. It has to be this way to protect both of us. Do you understand why I’m asking this of you?”

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