Page 21

“You say that now, Aria, but in a few weeks, when I’ve broken you down, you’ll be singing a different tune.”
“You will never break me.”
“It’s cute that you think that. Want to know what I was up to?”
“Not really,” I say.
“I was out causing some chaos. I planted the idea in your father’s head that Viktor Smirnov was behind your kidnapping. Viktor and Dante are on uneasy terms right now. It wasn’t hard to break it.”
I strain against my binds. “What exactly happened?”
“News travels fast. Apparently your father tried to kill Viktor in his efforts to get you back. That didn’t work out. Viktor is not dead and he’s officially declared war on Dante and Erik all over again.”
My jaw drops open. Finn is a lot smarter than I thought he was. At first, I just assumed he was some chaotic criminal but now I see that he has a brain on him. “That’s why you kidnapped me? To make those men go to war again?”
“Pretty much. Smart, isn’t it?”
I ignore his comment. “And my father? Is he all right? Is he alive?”
A low, dangerous grin spreads across Finn’s face. “What if I told you he was dead? How would that make you feel?”
I force my face into a neutral expression. Finn cannot know I love my dad. He’ll use any sort of weakness against me.
“I don’t care if he’s dead,” I respond. “I just want to know. I’ll be getting a lot of money when he dies.”
“Mmm.” He approaches the bed and stares down at me with his handsome smirk. “Your dad is alive, unfortunately for you. I guess you won’t be getting all of his money any time soon.”
I try to hide it but I can’t stop myself from visibly relaxing. My dad is alive. There’s still some good that can come out of this.
But he could have died in his efforts to get me back. He went after Viktor. But what happens when my dad goes after Finn?
Finn cups my face and I hold still, barely breathing. “You’re a little liar, princess. You’re happy your dad is alive. I just might have to kill him for the fun of it. Just ask my brother’s wife, Elena. I killed her dad without even blinking.”
I remember hearing about that from Dante. How much fear and chaos Ivan Romanov’s death caused.
What would happen if my dad was dead? How much chaos would that cause?
“But,” Finn says, letting me go, “I don’t have any plans to kill Elio. He hasn’t done anything to piss me off. Unlike Dante. Unlike Viktor. Viktor is going to be pissed when he finds out I pinned this on him. But as long as it creates a war with Dante again, I’m all good.”
“You would sacrifice yourself to get another war?”
“I would do anything to bring down the men who have pissed me off. I don’t take it lightly.” His eyes sweep over me in a way that I hate.
But I also kind of like.
There’s power in Finn’s look. Knowing he likes what he sees. There’s power in my own body.
“I think your clothes are done,” he says. “If you want to earn the right to wear them again, you’re going to do a little something for me. Got it?”
“Does it get me off this bed?”
“It does.”
I hate his smirk and I know I can’t trust him no matter what but I’m itching to get out of bed. My arms are aching being held above my head like this.
“Then let me go,” I snap.
Finn takes his sweet time untying the ropes around my wrists and ankles. This time, I don’t bother trying to attack him. I feel too tired to anyway.