Page 21 of Deviant Reign (Knight's Ridge Empire 6)

Reaching out, he pushes the door open and nods into the room, allowing my eyes to drop to the ink on his neck. It looks to be the tail end of a snake that finishes behind his ear. It’s pretty unique, but I still can’t place him.

“We’re not going to hurt you, Emmie. We just need… we need you on side.”

“And locking me in a dark room is the way to do that?” I hiss.

“I’m not the one making the rules, Princess. Take your time, but don’t try anything stupid. The window is locked, the glass is toughened. There’s no point even trying. And if I think you are, I won’t hesitate to drag you straight out and throw you back into that room.”

I hold his eyes for three seconds, but he never backs down.

“Fine,” I hiss, stepping into the room, although I can’t deny that the clean, fully equipped bathroom before me isn’t a welcome sight.

Glancing back at the guy, I let a soft, appreciative smile pull at the corners of my lips.

“Thank you.”

“Be good, Princess. I’ll be waiting.”

With that warning hanging in the air, he closes the door and leaves me alone once more.

Only this time, I’m not in a dark, dank room.

Wasting no time, I race forward and turn the shower on as hot as it’ll go before stripping out of my dirty, blood-coated school uniform.

It’s not until I’m naked that I realise there’s something else missing.

Lifting my hand, I press my palm against my chest where my necklace—my ring—should be.

“No,” I sob, grief washing through me as I realise that I’ve lost a part of what Theo and I shared, despite the fact I mostly want to forget it ever existed. That ring symbolised more to me than our sham marriage. It reminded me of the couple of good times we had. Because there were a few.

A tear slips down over my cheek as I mourn my loss. Maybe it’s how it should have always been. I should have taken it off the second Cruz escorted me out of that hotel and forgotten anything between us ever existed.

Maybe whoever these arseholes are, are doing me a favour.

My freezing skin burns and tingles the second I stand under the torrent of hot water.The wound in my shoulder hurts like a bitch, but I use the pain to ground me, to keep me fucking sane.

I have no idea where I am, who’s holding me here, or why, but as I tip my face up to the stream, I forget all about it as the dirt, grime, and stupid decisions from the past however many hours washes down the drain.

Despite telling me that I could take my time, long before I’m ready to get out and return to the dark cell they seem to have decided is my room, there’s a loud knock at the door.

“Emmie, you still in there?”

“No,” I call back with a smirk.

“Time’s up, Princess. I need to get you back to your room.” There’s a little panic in his voice that makes me smirk.

“Are you breaking the rules right now?” I call back once I’ve turned the water off.

“Unless you want us both staring down the barrel of a gun, you’ll hurry your arse up.”

“Jeez, keep your hair on.“

“You don’t even know if I’ve got any,” he shoots back.

“Yeah, fair point,” I mutter to myself, grabbing a towel that’s hanging on a rail and drying myself off.

“You decent?” he shouts again before the handle twists down and a pile of clothes pushes through the gap.

“No, but that doesn’t seem to be stopping you.”