Violent Triumphs (White Monarch 3)

My breasts swayed, and my long hair pooled on his chest. “What then?”

“You have decisions to make. The fate of four men rests in your hands.”

I curled my fists on his chest. The whimsy of our dreamy bed and the early morning hours gave way to a brutal reality. Only one man had paid the price for my mother’s death. The others awaited my sentence.

What kind of queen would I be? Fair and forgiving or cunning and ruthless?

Cristiano took my right nipple between the tips of his forefinger and thumb. I sucked in a breath when he tugged, and pleasure traveled down my stomach, ending right between my legs. “Even in times of play, you can’t forget there are enemies to be dealt with. You’re safe with me, but you should never completely drop your guard.”

Just like in physical combat, the fight was ongoing.

“Vicente made the call,” he said, “but he and his family are nobodies now. They’ve paid for their mistakes.”

I froze, my heartbeat reverberating everywhere from my ears to my pussy. “Are you saying he’s not to blame?” I asked, incredulous. “That I should forgive him?”

He pushed some of my hair behind my ear, but it fell forward again, curtaining us from the rest of the world—my new favorite thing. “Simply demonstrating that you can rule two ways. With the truth you want or with the facts. And the fact is, you won’t gain much satisfaction from killing three old men and an innocent teen.”

“So I should let them go?”

“That’s up to you. Most men would say kill all four.”

“What would you say?”

His eyelids fell as he slid a hand up my spine and applied pressure to my upper back. I leaned in until we were face to face, my breasts smashed into his bare chest, my clit pushing against him at a new angle. “I’m most men.”

“No, you aren’t. I thought you were the worst of them, but you’re fair.”

“Is it fair that I’d kill a man for his grandfather’s sins?”

The grandson. If Vicente was to be believed, his nieto, Gabriel, was smart. And he had his whole life ahead of him. “You would?” I asked.

“We’d be fools to ignore history. There’s too much at risk to let any of them live. The betrayal festers—look at Diego.”

“Look at you,” I said, threading my fingers in his hair, putting our lips centimeters apart. I wanted retribution—not just for myself, but for my husband, who’d suffered—and it would be so easy to lump Gabriel in with the others. To turn my cheek as he paid for his family’s sins. But I’d be ignoring Cristiano’s history, which was also my history. “You didn’t stick by your father out of familial duty likes others would’ve. You chose good over bad. Maybe Gabriel would too.”

“True. But here I am, doing everything in my power to avenge Bianca’s death. And I’d do the same for you. The grandson may not feel resentful now, but that doesn’t mean he won’t.” His hand dipped to cup my right ass cheek. A little lower and to the left, and he’d be able to ease the pulsing ache that’d been growing between my legs for longer than I cared to admit. “Being a leader goes far beyond wearing a crown and making demands,” he said with a squeeze. “No decision is ever easy. I’ll make this one for you if you ask me to, but don’t get used to it.”

He wanted me to stand on my own two feet and take ownership over this life. If I’d been paying attention, that was what he’d been asking of me all along. But after years of trying to smother my curiosity and stay willingly in the dark, I was done with that. I wouldn’t let him decide for me.

I shifted my weight on him. “I’ve known what I wanted to do since I woke up.”

“Yeah?” He tilted his head. “Tell me.”

“The grandson can live. If you see fit, he can work here in the Badlands for you.” I met his eyes. “The rest can die.”

He stilled. “Natalia . . .”

I made a fist in his hair and stared into his eyes so he knew I meant every word. “I don’t care how you do it, but finish Vicente and each of his brothers. I want to dump their ashes at the base of my mother’s grave so their worthless souls can spend eternity kissing her feet.”

I had watched my mother die, and every single person involved was going to pay.

Including, if I had my way, the son-of-a-bitch who’d ruined my life.

15

Cristiano

I had never been more aroused in all of my thirty-four years. I deserved a medal for my abstinence since Natalia’s arrival. With the way she was grinding against my dick, and with her order that I execute three men in her name—I was on a rocket ship headed for the moon. She was ready for me; I could see it in her eyes as her hair fell around her face, begging to be wrapped up in my fist.