Page 75 of Reign of a Billionaire

“For you?” I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose. Her confusion was grating on me. “What do you mean?”

Reliving this was a bitch. I felt responsible for not saving her. For not protecting her. Our secret love turned into a tragedy.

“She loved me. I loved her.”

I anticipated Liana’s move, but not the savagery in her eyes. She practically flung herself across the table. Pressing the barrel of the revolver against my forehead, her other hand wrapped around my throat, those golden eyes—so fucking familiar—glared at me.

“If you loved her, why didn’t you protect her?” she hissed. “I should kill you.”

The same guilt that had been eating at me for years stared right back at me through her eyes. Liana had been broken and put back together, but deep inside, those cracked pieces were in no better shape than my own.

“You should,” I agreed evenly, my hand on hers, holding the pistol in place. “But you should also question why you have such gaps in your memory.”

“Fuck. You.” Her voice trembled with fury. “I remember everything worth remembering.”

“Except for me and large chunks of your sister’s life.”

Chapter 38

Liana

“Time to die,” I gritted, the anger returning with a vengeance and flooding my system. It didn’t matter that this man had given me the most mind-blowing orgasm I’d ever experienced. It didn’t matter that he made me feel all these things I’d never experienced before.

The need to finish this made my hands tremble. The only problem was, I physically couldn’t pull the trigger. And judging by Kingston’s expression, he knew it.

“Go ahead,” he urged.

His grip remained on my own, the slightest pressure of his finger on the trigger. Silence dominated the space between us. Every single cell in my body itched to carve this man’s heart out. If only I could give in to the darkness and let it happen.

Why?Haunted whispers clawed at my skull, piercing my temples and wrecking me from within.Why can’t I kill him?

My mind was trapped in a maze, unable to find a way out, and this man was to blame. So many emotions and thoughts burst through me, and I didn’t have what it took to process them all. I wasn’t coping, and what mattered most in this moment was keeping this man from witnessing it.

So I closed my eyes. I could feel tears burning. Each breath I took suffocated my lungs instead of breathing life into me. The metal became unbearably heavy, and my hands shook with every passing second.

“Do it, Liana.” More force on my trigger finger. My eyes snapped open, meeting his dark gaze. I yanked my hand away, then aimed. Terrified at what I’d find if I let him in, I pulled the trigger.

Bang.

And missed.

The gun slid from my fingers, falling on the ground, the thud of it loud in the silence of the aftermath.

“This was your last chance at shooting me.” His voice held a dark edge to it. “Fair warning, though. The next time you aim a gun at me, it will be the last thing you ever do.”

Oh God.

So many confusing feelings washed over me. Kingston Ashford was the only man I’d ever hesitated in killing.

I… was losing my mind. What good was I if I couldn’t even kill my captor? Bile rose in my throat and suddenly the food I’d eaten churned in my stomach. A sharp, piercing pain shot through my temples.

Images of Louisa broke loose. Me. Our faceless bodyguard.

That last memory hit me so quickly, I clutched my head from the pain of it.

“Stop sketching him.” My sister seemed agitated as I finished another drawing, smiling dreamily. “Mother will lose her shit if she finds it.”

I chewed on the tip of the pencil, ignoring her and the faraway noise signaling Mother and Ivan’s gladiator games. Each time we attended, their brutality resulted in fresh nightmares.