Play Along

I step back and his man grabs my arm and I yank it from his grip. “Don’t fucking touch me.” I growl.

“Good. I’m glad you’re dying. It will be a blessing to the world,” I snap as I lift my chin in defiance.

He tips his head back and laughs out loud. “I do love your drive.”

I glare at him. “Just die already.”

“There is something I want from you before I do, and then you can die right along side of me.”

My eyes hold his.

“You will marry the man that I have picked to take over my empire.”

Fear pumps through my body and I begin to hear my heartbeat in my ears. “No, I won’t,” I snap.

He smiles darkly. “Yes. Yes, you will.”

I shake my head. “You are fucking crazy. Why would you possibly want me to marry your understudy? What could you possibly gain from such an arrangement?”

“A bloodline heir. I want your son.”

24

I smile from shock, I think. That is the craziest, fucked up thing I have ever heard.

A frown crosses his face and I see a trace of a weakness. “You think this is funny?”

I laugh a deep belly aching laugh. “Your stupidity insults my intelligence.”

He watches me intently and he lifts his chin in defiance.

“You didn’t think to check with me on that arrangement?” I smile.

He glares at me. ‘I don’t need to check anything. You will do as I say and you brought this on yourself when you killed my brother.”

“I will do nothing of the fucking sort!” I yell. “Who the fuck do you think you are?”

He narrows his eyes.

“Now untie her and let her go, or I am going to kill you.”

A broad smile crosses his face and he raises his eyebrows. “You?” He smiles, his eyes flicker around to his gophers and he points. “She’s hilarious.” He laughs and his monkeys all start laughing, too.

“Is that a threat Roshina?”

I step forward and spit in his face. “That’s a promise.”

He slaps me hard across the face and I smile darkly. “How does it feel to have your own flesh and blood hate you with everything that she has?”

His face drops as he wipes the saliva from his cheek with his forearm. That disgusting act felt better than it should.

“Mom left you.” I lean forward and raise my eyebrow as I whisper. “Do you want to know why?”

His eyes flicker to the men around us and I know I have hit a nerve.

“Let her go.” I gesture to Stace’s mom.

His eyes flash to her tied to the chair.