Ruthless Princess (Mafia Royals 1)

He opened it.

Three karats.

Bile rose in my throat as I took the box and looked down. The ring was inscribed, “My heart for yours.”

“Take it.” His teeth snapped like he was ready to go feral. “Take it; I can’t look at it. I can’t—”

“It’s done,” I said softly, tucking the box against my discarded shirt on the bench.

“She’s gone,” he whispered. “And so am I.”

My body chilled at his admission.

Because I knew a part of him would never be the same, and that her death would unleash something otherworldly into our family.

“I wish it was me,” I admitted, taking a swig of the other bottle of whiskey and handing it to him. “I want you to know; I would have died so you could be together. I still would.”

Ash chugged the whiskey and stared me down his expression bitter. “If you knew the truth, you wouldn’t say that.”

“The truth?” I frowned as he passed me the whiskey back. “What truth?” Chills erupted on my skin at his dark expression.

“It was me.” His voice was hollow. “Me and Claire. We were given instructions to break you and Serena apart. My dad knew about you guys, and he knew it was only a matter of time before the rest of the bosses found out and killed you for breaking one of their biggest rules. And selfishly, I didn’t want to lose my best friend. I wanted to make my dad proud. That first day at Eagle Elite, when we made our statement to the students and the staff, I goaded you into making out with that girl in front of Serena. I pushed you when you started stripping her in front of the faculty, and then Claire taunted Serena, both of us knowing full well that in order to make a statement, you couldn’t choose each other, but also knowing that you pretending not to love Serena would break her heart. Claire was so fucking obedient, going along with it even though I could see it killed her to do it. But you guys broke the rules, so the only way to keep you safe, to keep both of you safe, was to put you in a position where you had no choice but to choose Family over each other.” He lifted his chin. “I knew you’d take the bait because you didn’t know how to back down, I knew we needed to make a statement, and I knew that Serena wouldn’t show weakness.”

My mind reeled when I thought about that day, where I’d chosen the Family over Serena, where her eyes begged me to choose her, to leave the girl I’d been seducing in order to make a point.

“You’re supposed to be my best friend,” I rasped.

“And Claire’s not supposed to be dead,” he snapped back at me.

With a roar, I threw a punch, hitting Ash square in the face. He smiled through the blood. I hit him again, knocking a tooth out.

Ash just smiled even harder and then said. “You’re pissed. Good. Now hit me harder.”

He’d done it on purpose.

Told me his secret, so that I’d be all in.

So my anger would match his hurt.

I sat up in my bed and ran my injured hands through my hair. I’d wrapped three of my fingers with tape and knew that I probably looked as shitty as I felt. It wasn’t supposed to be like this.

And I’d taken my anger out on Serena. All I kept seeing was her crestfallen face that day we took over Eagle Elite again. The way her eyes begged me to say it was bullshit, that we didn’t have to prove this. Instead, I went along with exactly what Ash had wanted me to do. And the sick part of me liked making Serena angry, liked the control I had over her, preened when I touched another woman in front of her. It was the first time I had realized something wasn’t quite right with me. It was the first time I’d realized I was just like my bloodline: sick, twisted. And I’d done nothing but unleash that same twisted fuck on Serena today.

I couldn’t see past the hurt of all the years we could have been together, and then I couldn’t see past the pain of Ash’s betrayal, and then I couldn’t see past the fear of death if we had stayed on that path.

But now that Claire was gone, all I kept thinking was… I deserve one thing, right? Just one thing that brings me joy in a world so dark and lonely.

And my one thing was Serena.

I’d needed to own her.

Needed her to feel the lack of control I had when I was with her and needed to mark her as mine, so she never forgot.

Instead, I completely lost my mind the minute I touched her smooth skin and almost blacked out during sex because it had been too long.