Page 10 of Violent Reign (Violent Kingdom)

But that’s a problem for the future. Because she has to survive what he’s done to her first.

“Did you try to kill my father?” I blurt out suddenly. “Did you - was it you with… that girl in the basement?” I can’t even say her name, although as long as I live, I’ll never forget it.Penny. I’ll never forget her eyes. I’ll never forget the way she cried and prayed to a God that never answered her, only to let a madman shoot her in the head in her most vulnerable, hellish moment.

“What do you think?” Nathan asks, sounding genuinely curious.

I spread my palms wide, blinking back tears as I shrug my shoulders. “I have completely lost the ability to fucking think, Nathan,” I snap in response.

“Fair,” he says, as if I’m accusing him of parking his car in the wrong spot, or failing to remember to do the dishes. “We can talk about all of that later. For now, ground rules.”

Ground rules, I heard him saying years ago, before we snuck out of my dad’s house to go to an underground club with a shady reputation.“We’re moving into the Capulet mansion in the morning. That’s where we’ll stay for the time being.”

Homesickness grips me around my throat and drills into my chest. No. Not the Capulet mansion. Plenty of fucked-up things have gone on in my life, but it’s always been home. A pretty fantasy, isn’t it? Nathan has been in that house a million times. Inside my bedroom. Slept beside me in that bed. He’s seen me undress. He’s done more. It’s hard to keep taking in the reality of it, over and over again. But it’s just a house, isn’t it? And it’s a house I know intimately. Perhaps there is safety in familiarity. It doesn’t seem worth arguing over, in any case. “Okay.”

“I thought you’d like that.” He reaches out for my face, tucking a stray strand of hair behind my ear. His gentle touch makes me want to retch, but I hide it. Barely. “For my part of the deal, I’ll keep Rome alive and unharmed as long as you don’t try to escape or tell anyone any of our little secrets.”

“Tell me where he is.” I tumble forward, getting close. I don’t want to. It’s the last thing I want. “Just tell me where he is, and I’ll go along with anything.”

Nathan shakes his head, smiling indulgently at me. He puts a finger to my cracked lips. “That’s not really how leverage works, Aves. And anyway—” A knock sounds at the door. Eliza? More Capulet security? “Our guests are here.”

“Guests?” I don’t like the sound of guests anymore than I liked being tied up on Nathan’s bed. Fear squeezes at my ribs. The air pinches from my lungs.Breathe, Avery.

Nathan goes to the door and pulls it open. “Hey, guys. Come on in. She’s right here.”

The couch hems me in when I try to scramble back out of view—there’s nowhere to go. Two men in neat black polo shirts and khakis shake hands with Nathan at the door. “Is this Avery?” one says, striding over. “Great to meet you. You don’t have anything to worry about today.”

I shoot Nathan awhat the fucklookand he grins back. “What does that mean?”

“We know how worried you must be after your ordeal. Trust us—you’re not going to get lost again. Your fiance called us and explained everything you’ve asked for. Good news - your family will always be able to track you now.”

Myfiance?It’s like watching a car crash in slow motion. “What?” I open my mouth to protest, just as Nathan lifts the ipad - the one that was just before streaming video footage of an imprisoned Rome - and shifts it further along the coffee table. With emphasis. He holds my gaze for a moment, and I clamp my lips shut.

Fuck.

The guy in the black polo goes on about security options and privacy measures and I don’t hear a damn thing he says. Everything is buzzing in my ears, sweat beading at the back of my neck.Tracking me? GPS? Fuck. Double fuck. What the fuck?

It all sounds very benign and theoretical until one of the guys pulls out a tiny rectangular chip and places it in my palm. “It’s so small, you won’t even know it’s there,” he informs me. “It’s really the best way to make sure you can’t disappear again. We just need your signature here.” He hands me a clipboard with a disclaimer form attached, a bright red X where I’m supposed to sign.

Nathan wants to put a fucking tracking device inside me. “No,” I protest, setting the clipboard down beside me and handing the tiny chip back to the guy. “Absolutely not. I’ll just use my iphone to be tracked, or one of those apple watches.”

Panic screams inside me, at fever pitch.Don’t let them put that fucking thing inside you.

“You told me how much you want this, Aves.” Nathan saunters around by the side of the couch and kneels down so that our faces are inches apart. “I know you’re deathly afraid of blood and needles, but you’re going to get this. It’s the best thing for you. These guys are experts. They’ll make sure you don’t even see or feel what’s happening, okay?” Then he leans in and brushes a kiss across my temple as he mutters a horrific threat only I can hear.“I’ll kill him if you don’t. I’ll do it myself.”

I grit my teeth as I stare over his shoulder. “Here,” he says more loudly. “I’ll help you lay down. You don’t have to worry about a thing.”

I could refuse. Nathan probably wouldn’t force me in front of these guys. ButRome.

I sign the piece of paper on the clipboard as Nathan holds it steady. I don’t even read it. Why bother? I don’t have a say in this either way.

I let Nathan guide me down onto the couch. “Nobody will ever lose you again.”

By nobody, he means him. The men in their khakis don’t bat an eye. Gloves snap onto wrists, the case opens, a scalpel and a big-ass hypodermic needle come out.

No. Don’t cut me, don’t cut me.

“You won’t feel a thing,” one of them says, and a pinprick in the side of my neck guarantees it.

Not feeling a thing is a hundred times more horrifying than feeling all of it. Whatever’s in the needle makes it hard to talk and harder to yell. I’m screaming in my own head, louder and louder and louder.

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