Heartless Hero (Crowne Point 1)

“I’m going to take everything from you,” I said, voice soft. “Until you regret ever making me believe you were different.”

Until you regret making me believe I could have something more.

“I won’t play your games,” she said, a slight stammer to her words.

I bit back my laugh. Abigail Crowne was a master at games, but this time I’d be the one to ruin her, break her to pieces, build a safety net with rotting promises.

I’ll take everything from her. Her family. Her dreams.

Her heart.

Until there’s nothing left.

“Princess…” I ghosted my touch at her collarbone up to her throat, forcing her neck back, flush against me, ears to my lips.

“You’re not a player. You’re a pawn.”

Four

ABIGAIL

“Up and at ’em, Reject.” Theo threw open the windows. Yellow-gold morning light assaulted the shadowy corners of my room.

He eyed the porcelain lamp by my bedside, now muted in the morning glow. “Still afraid of what’s under the bed?”

He shot me a twisted, red-lipped grin, and heat crept up my cheeks, embarrassment drenched my blood. Only he knew why I slept with the light on. He knew and was using the memory as a shard to stab me.

I quickly slammed the light off and deflected. “You’re not supposed to come into my room. I could have you fired.”

“I wonder who they’d believe? The misbehaving heiress or the nothing-but-exemplary bodyguard tasked with watching her reject ass.”

I glared at Theo, willing it to turn him into ashes, pushing past how his street clothes fit on his muscular yet lean frame. His hoodie, gray jeans, and tennis shoes were designed to blend in, but he stood out like a model on the runway.

Theo Hound was undeniably gorgeous, and he was also dead set on ruining me.

He was supposed to be my person, and instead he left me like everyone else. I wasn’t ever a very good Crowne. I never filled my room with extravagant purchases like Gemma, or played games with the desperate like Gray, but when I saw Theo, I took him.

Last night I’d trusted him, and once again he’d betrayed me. I’ll never make that mistake again. From this point on, Theo Hound is enemy number one. I don’t care he’s been charged to guard my life. If I let my guard down, he’ll ruin me.

I know it.

If my glare affected him, it didn’t show. In fact, his blush lips curved. “Sleep well?”

“I hate you.”

“I don’t know how I’ll go on,” he said without any emotion, turning his attention to my ornately carved wood desk. There was only one thing atop it, my laptop—Mother liked to keep things neat. When he began opening drawers, I darted out of my bed so fast I forgot I was in only a small slip of a nightgown.

I slammed the drawer shut.

Our hands touched over the cool metal handle, Theo’s stare on mine, as my heart rose into my throat. I couldn’t fight him off. If he wanted to open that drawer, he could.

Inside it I had a secret: college applications. A belief I could do something, be someone, better than arm candy, better than the last name Crowne and the girl I’d been raised to be. It was a fairy tale, a fantasy, but I liked to look at the applications and dream. The same way people who drove by our manor on tour buses did, I bet.

“What do you think you’re doing? You can’t just tear apart my room.”

“Actually, I can

.” Theo took a step closer, pressing me against my desk, until my back bit into the wood. “I’m not like your other guards, Reject. You can’t scare me away. Your secrets are mine. Your mind is mine. Your body is mine. How else could I protect you?”