Violent Triumphs (White Monarch 3)

“I deserved the slap. The kiss was as real as anything else between us. It should’ve been our moment, but I let him steal it. I regretted my mistake immediately.” He moved a strand of my hair from my cheek. “And the wedding dress. I didn’t know it was Bianca’s when I ripped it.”

“You had it fixed,” I said.

“But it will never be the same.” Somehow, his gaze darkened even more. “That’s all I’m sorry for, though, no matter what kind of monster it makes me. I can’t apologize for anything that’s led me here. I took you off the course of a life that might’ve been right for you and brought you down a treacherous road. My dirt road with all its bumps and potholes.” He spoke with the satisfaction of a child who’d been caught stealing dessert after he’d filled his belly. “I’m not sorry for the things I should regret—the tattoo was fucked up, but every time I see it, I swell with pride to see that you’re mine. De la Rosa men are scum, but I have broken you free of one only to chain you to another.”

“And you’re not sorry,” I clarified with some amusement.

“To say so would be a lie—I’d do it all over again.”

“I have a regret,” I said. “Well, I have a few, I think.”

He kissed my forehead. “Throw them away,” he said against my skin. “They aren’t worth voicing.”

“I have to say one, then I’ll throw it out.” Cristiano had demanded one thing of Diego and me before the wedding, and I hadn’t given him that. It had to have been important to him. I blinked up at him. “I wish my first time hadn’t been with Diego. I thought I wanted it . . . I thought he was worthy.”

“I don’t give a fuck that he had you first,” Cristiano said, shocking me into silence. “It means nothing. He means nothing.” He ran his tongue along his top row of teeth. “It will be the thing I think of when I finally put a bullet in him, but still, it means nothing.”

I couldn’t help a small smile. “And if I beat you to it?”

“You have to find him first.”

“You don’t know where he is?”

He shook his head. “If he’s working with Belmonte-Ruiz, then he could be with Max. I hope one leads to the other.” His assessing eyes met mine. “But nostalgia is a funny thing, Natalia. If Diego were standing here now, you wouldn’t be able to pull the trigger. Too much history there.”

Tucking the sheet under my arm, I popped up onto one elbow. “Give me more credit than that. My blinders have been ruthlessly ripped off. I’d laugh in his face if he tried to talk his way out of it.”

“And you know he would.”

I touched Cristiano’s stubbled cheek, running my finger along his square, angular jawline. I’d never denied his beauty, no matter my resentment toward him. Now, I was free to revel in it. I didn’t want to wait any longer. “And you know what I’d say to him?”

“Tell me, mi amor.”

“That his brother fucked me better than he could ever hope to. And that we’re sending him to an early grave.”

“Then I suppose I’d better fuck you, so as not to make you into a liar . . .” Cristiano bit his full bottom lip, and the small tell of his arousal made my stomach clench. “I’ve waited a long time for this.”

“I know.”

“I don’t mean sex.” He leaned into me until I fell onto my back, and his darkly handsome face looked down on me. He tugged the sheet to my stomach, and I sucked in a breath as cool air caressed my nipples. Licking his lips, he ran a finger between my breasts, eliciting my shudder. “I’ve waited for you to stop acting like a princess and start thinking like a queen.”

“Nothing less would do for my king.”

“I wasn’t a king until you came along. Me coronaste. You crowned me.”

I stopped his hand before it dipped underneath the sheets. “You can’t just storm the castle walls. You need a strategy.”

He moved his hand up to tip back my chin and graze his thumb over my bottom lip. “What should ours be, mi reina?”

“Invade, plunder, and destroy until I beg for the king’s mercy,” I said softly, letting my breath caress his finger. I pushed his chest. He rolled onto his back, and I threw a knee over him to sit astride his hips. “You took me as your prisoner. But you made the mistake of falling in love with me. And when you least expect it, I will claim my throne.”

“Nothing would please a peasant like myself more.” He gripped my hips and pulled me over his crotch. I inhaled as my naked clit slid along the erection straining his underwear. “But there’s more to being a queen than sitting on the king’s scepter.”