Page 45 of Vicious Kingdom (Dynasty of Queens #3)

“Oh my WORD!” Janet’s shrill voice sliced through our moment like a knife. “Annaliese Baldwin! In the ladies’ room? With your own husband?”

We broke apart, Annaliese’s cheeks flushed pink with desire. I kept my body angled to shield her from the interruption, rage simmering beneath my skin.

“I know, I know!” Annaliese laughed.

“You’re supposed to be with a caterer, or some foreign dignitary,” Janet teased, ignoring my warning growl. “But I’ll admit, it’s nice to see someone obsessed with their spouse for a change. Oh! What happened to the mirror!”

After an animated exchange of social pleasantries, we escaped the bathroom.

Annaliese sagged into me. “You asked me what I needed? Can we go home, and can I soak in the bath?”

I shifted. “I don’t have a bathtub.”

“Oh, yeah, that’s right,” she sighed. “Just a heating pad and bed then.”

“I have another idea.” I pulled up my phone. “Let’s go.”

Annaliese squeezed my fingers. “I just need to grab my clutch. I forgot it at the table.”

Following her, I shot off a text message.

But then my finger tapped into another app.

The data from yesterday appeared on the screen.

Annaliese had only gone to her parent’s house to plant the same computer software on her father’s computer that was currently allowing me to read her latest novel on her own laptop.

She hadn’t been anywhere else. This wasn’t a random attack. She knew her attacker. Likely someone close to her.

I spun on my heel. Short, measured steps landed me at a table lower down on the social hierarchy.

“Hertz, a word?” I said through clenched teeth.

His wife shot me a disdainful look, but Alfred rose, dabbing at his mouth. “Of course, son .”

I waited until we were at the edge of the room before I stepped into him. With my back to the crowd, I dropped the mask manners demanded and unleashed my fury.

“I’m not your son,” I snapped.

Alfred lifted his hands defensively. “My mistake. No need to get so testy.”

“Who was at your house yesterday?” I demanded, inching him against the wall.

Confusion knit his brows. “What?”

“Quit stammering, you blithering idiot, and answer the simple question.” I fisted my hands at my side to keep from shaking him. “Who the fuck was there?”

“My wife and I hosted a little family get together—which you deigned to decline,” he said snidely.

“Who. Was. There!”

His nostrils flared, but it was fear racing through his eyes. “My brother, his son, and us three.”

“No staff?” I needed to be sure. If I was going hunting, I needed to know my target.

“The butler, the maids, our chauffeur—why are you asking?”

I shoved the man. Hard. I couldn’t help myself. His daughter had been assaulted under his roof, and it was this fool’s job to protect her. Children were more likely to be preyed upon if the father figure was weak.

And Hertz was a disgusting excuse of a man.

“Hey! That’s uncalled for,” he snapped.

“Watch yourself,” I warned.

Not only was he a piss poor father, but he wasn’t above suspicion in my book. Until I found out who, they were all under my radar.

“Leonard?” Annaliese broke the moment.

I pulled back, straightening my tie. “Let’s go.”

“Your husband is an animal,” Alfred menaced through clenched teeth. “You should be ashamed of his behavior.”

Annaliese looped her arm through mine. “And yet he’s the one taking me home.”

Her confidence sent a soothing bolt through my chest, calming the beast inside me.

The bloodlust—the need for vengeance—had not been vanquished.

But Annaliese’s steadfast presence beside me settled it momentarily.

For now, my fury could wait. While she looped her delicate arm with mine, the old man’s accusations echoed, thick with impotent rage.

I cast a final glance over my shoulder, daring him to act.

He didn’t.

His wife pulled him back to their table. We’d gotten what we came for and made a damn public spectacle in the process, but Annaliese still threw him a flippant wave.

She was clear-headed and unflappable. I drew deep breaths to match her serenity.

My wife’s ribcage was a canvas of pain, yet she was the one soothing me. She was bruised, so fragile, yet she played the part of peacekeeper. I’d let the bastard think his words bit, but in reality, Hertz was collateral damage.

Annaliese knew it.

She’d always known it.

As we threaded through the crowd in the direction of the grand exit, I refocused on her. She deserved my full attention. “So, do you want to get a hotel room with a soaking tub? Or should we stop by my brother’s house and use his?”

She hesitated, dragging her heels. Exhaustion weighed on her now that the watchful gaze of society was cut off. “Um, that’s a little weird, don’t you think?”

I shook my head, trying to anticipate her needs. “No. It’s my house too.”

Not my home. Not a place I could exist. But use secretly? That I could do some of the time.

Annaliese bit her lip, weighing the options for a moment. “Honest, I’d just like to go home, Leo.”

Home. The place we dwelled in together.

She kept surprising me at every turn.

“Are you sure? We can—” I started.

“Yes, I want to go to our home,” she said.

An idea tickled my brain, a scene began to paint itself at her words.

I lived in the penthouse because it was close to the office.

It was efficient, practical, expected of a CEO clawing his way up the corporate ladder.

But it was not a proper dwelling. Not a space meant for two.

For us. Maybe it was time to change that.

Maybe it was time to find a palace fit for a queen.

The kind of house our enemies would glance at and know we were united.

Because despite everything, at the very core of our relationship, we were exactly that.

I made a silent vow to start acting like a better man. One who might someday deserve her.

“Okay, cara mia, let’s go.”

Annaliese smiled. Her eyes brightened, a hint of relief in their depths, and she kissed my arm. “Thank you.”