Page 111 of Unforgiving Queen

I closed my eyes and slept through the night for the first time since I shattered both our hearts.

* * *

I woke up to the faint scent of cinnamon and a leg thrown over mine. Almost as if she were staking a claim. I was perfectly fine with it too. I was hers; she had always been mine.

I traced my finger over the smooth skin on her thighs until I felt it become bumpy and or raised. I narrowed my eyes and shifted so I could inspect it better.

Were those—

No, it couldn’t be.

Yet… they looked too perfect to have come from anything else. They didn’t appear recent, but still my chest twisted at the thought of Reina hurting herself. That. Wasn’t. Okay.

I returned my pensive gaze over the horizon.

Sunrise spread vibrant colors, casting an orange palette across the sea. After I kidnapped her yesterday, I drove to my helicopter that was on standby, then flew us to Monaco where my yacht was docked.

And here we were.

A new day. A new chapter. I just had to get Reina to trust me again, and it’d be the two of us against the world.Together.

I watched her sleep, her gold hair fanning across the pillowcase. I brushed a stray lock of it away from her face and traced my finger across her delicate jawline.

“I’m not letting you go,” I whispered.

An edge of warning rang in my brain, but I ignored it. I’d lock her up and throw away the key until she stayed of her own free will if I had to. The man I’d been before the lies and deceit knew what I was doing was wrong, and still I didn’t stop. I wouldn’t be able to coerce her into forgiving me and giving me—us—another chance if I set her free.

Besides, I was sparing her and Dante from the true nightmare that awaited them.

She shifted slightly, giving me a glimpse of the scar on her right shoulder. I’d harbor the guilt that scar represented for the rest of my life.

I reached for my phone and checked on my business dealings. Everything had been running smoothly, but I liked to keep my finger on the pulse. When I moved on to the summary report of my cousin’s shipment, my lips tugged up. I’d paid off some Feds and had another one of his shipments disrupted. Another one of Perez Cortes’s, to be precise.

This constant bullshit with my cousin and Cortes bothered me. The bodies of women—the clones of Reina we recently found—kept nagging at me. There was something brewing, I could feel it in my bones.

And then there was my cousin who I didn’t trust further than I could throw him, but now even less so. Itsuki had his hands in Sofia Volkov’s bullshit, Cortes’s flesh trafficking, and who knew what else.

It was time to end him, but not before I won over my queen.

I was just about to put my phone away when a message from my captain filtered through.

Your packages are on board.

A whimper yanked my attention from my phone and I found Reina writhing in the sheets.

“No, no, no.” Stark terror drenched her voice and a deep frown creased her face. “Mamma, please.”

Sweat coated her upper lip and her delicate features were full of pain as she thrashed, her legs gripping my torso like she was holding on for dear life. She whispered unintelligible words, but all I could focus on was the way seeing her in pain gutted me.

I grabbed her by her shoulders and shook her. Her eyes flew open and her blue irises were as dark as the deepest oceans. Like Dante’s. The resemblance was so strong it felt like a gut punch. How had I never seen it before?

Slowly, the deep dark blue turned into aquamarine, leaving nothing but shattered innocence staring back at me.

“Breathe.” I squeezed her shoulders, and only then did she slightly relax. She inhaled a lungful of air. “What were you dreaming about?”

She sank her teeth into her bottom lip and my eyes followed the motion. Then she slowly exhaled, her lips pursed and her eyes narrowed.

Shoving against my chest, she snapped.