Page 93 of Wicked Princess (Knight's Ridge Empire 2)

“Who says we’re going to tell him?”

“Stella, I don’t—”

“Trust me,” I growl at Calli. Toby, however, is watching me with an amused smirk on his face. He seems more than happy to watch me play his friend.

“As much as I’d love for you to keep going, Princess, I really like my balls attached to my body.”

“Oh yeah?” I ask, moving quicker than he can comprehend, and in less than a heartbeat, I’ve got Seb’s knife pressed against the denim covering his beloved cock. “Open the gun cupboard, Cirillo, and I’ll leave your tiny cock in one piece.”

“You’re a fucking piece of work, Doukas.”

“Trained by the best. Shame I can’t say the same about you.”

“Fine,” he snaps, throwing his hands up in defeat. “But if you’ve lied to me about being able to handle one and you shoot anyone you shouldn’t, I’ll kill you myself.”

“Deal. See, now, that wasn’t so hard, was it?” I say, tapping his chest patronizingly.

“Seb needs his fucking head checked,” he mutters to himself as he takes off toward the stairs.

Calli, Toby, and I all loiter, disbelief covering both their faces.

“I know it’s wrong, I know that, but fuck, that kinda turned me on.”

“Toby!” Calli squeals.

“What you gonna do, shoot me? Nico needs a woman to knock him down a peg or two. Come on, let’s go watch Stella whoop Nico’s ass out on the range.”

“Hell yes.”

The three of us follow Nico toward a side of the house I haven’t been to yet before we go down another set of stairs, proving that I was wrong about Nico’s basement stretching the entire length of the building.

“Holy shit,” I gasp after walking through three secure doors and emerging in a seriously impressive room full of firearms. “It’s like porn.”

Nico scoffs while Toby chuckles behind me.

Scanning the weapons on display, I reach for a 9mm pistol and inspect it, checking it’s loaded before letting it hang at my side.

“You sure mean business with this lot, huh?”

“We’ve got a lot more enemies than just the nutcase who’s after you, Princess.”

“Right. Well, I guess it’s time to prove that I can look after myself then. Come on, girl,” I say, looping my arm through Calli’s. “Let’s go teach you a lesson or two.”

“Oh no, you’re not dragging my sister into this.”

“Fucking watch me. Grab plenty of ammo on your way out, boys.”

The sinking fall sun makes me wince as Calli and I emerge from the house. My previous fear as I looked at the treeline from Calli’s bedroom has diminished somewhat now I’ve got a pistol in one hand and a knife in my pocket.

I’d fucking love for whoever my attacker is to try me right now.

I’ve got a smile on my face the whole way toward the Cirillos’ shooting range.

“You see that house over there?” Calli says, pointing to a roof that I can just make out through the trees.

“Yeah.”

“That’s Theo’s.”