Page 116 of Reign of the Queen
Raegan stands up from the sofa and heads to the open doorway that leads to the fragrant outdoor patio area.
“Why? Why wouldn’t she be able to go through with it now, Rae?” I question, my stomach tying up in knots.
Raegan gives me a sad smile. “Cause she’s falling in love with you fuckers too.” With that statement, she walks out the door and doesn’t look back.
I roll Raegan’s words through my brain a couple of times. Is it possible that Mia is falling in love with us too? I’ve seen the way she watches each of us, especially Theo. I think if there was a possibility that she’s falling in love with any of us, it’s him. While that hurts my heart a bit, it still gives me hope. She may not be falling in love with me, Mateo, or Finn, yet, but there may still be time.
That is, if leaving behind Theo and his sacrifice doesn’t break her entirely and make her resent us.Damn it,I just can’t make my heart and my head agree. I know that we have to get out of Casbury, and I know we have to protect Mia at all costs. That’s what Theo wanted; he made his wishes very clear to each of us. Her over everything, protect her, keep her safe. That’s what he tasked us. I can’t turn my back on that.
Leaving him behind feels like a betrayal. Leaving him behind knowing that his sick son of a bitch father is torturing him while we’re safe with his girl feels like crushing defeat and cowardice. I don’t know how I will be able to live with myself after this. I know I promised Theo that I would stay sober. That seems like an impossible reality if he doesn’t survive.
I hear angry voices in the hallway just as I feel vibrating from my phone in my back pocket. I’m just pulling it out as Mia walks into the room. Her face is flushed, her startling blues eyes filled with fire. Someone has pissed off my queen, and she looks like she would like nothing better than to cut off some damn heads.
“What happened?” I inquire, moving closer to her and repocketing my phone.
She grabs a pillow off the sofa, shoves it over her face, and screams into it. Her rage is palpable even from where I’m standing. I want to reach out and pull her into my arms, but honestly, I’m afraid that in her current state she’ll either go for my throat or my nuts.Why is that thought so hot?
Once she’s done screaming her frustrations into the pillow, she throws it across the room and sits on the sofa. “She won’t send in a team to try to rescue Theo. That would be starting a war, a declaration of her going after the Saint-Lamberts rather than them coming after us. Tom and Clark agree that sending in a team blind would likely result in multiple deaths, especially with Theo’s dad’s underworld connections. They can’t even remotely guarantee that Theo would be alive at the end.”
“So that’s it? We just run and leave him behind?” I clench my hands, wanting to break everything near me.
She grabs a fist full of my hair and pulls me toward her. “Listen to me, Carter, I don’t want to leave him behind. I certainly don’t want to leave him there with his father. I don’t know how to get him out. I…I don’t know what to do. He asked us to run, Carter.”
I lean my forehead against hers, and she releases my hair—tears trail down the side of her face. I link my fingers with hers and sit there, watching her emotions break over her. Her body wracked with sobs that she’s trying hard to keep in. She loves him; it’s obvious to anyone looking at her right now. Even if she doesn’t know it herself, she loves him, and she knows he’s being hurt. Hurt to protect her, to protect us, and no matter how much wealth and power her family name has, it’s not enough to save him.
“He’s strong, Mia. Vincent has tried in the past to break him and never succeeded. We have to believe and hope that this time won’t be any different. He will manage to escape his dad and come to us.”
“Do you really believe that Carter?” She trails her hand through my thick hair.
She’s desperate for someone to reassure her that Theo will survive and will reunite with us. Even though I don’t believe it, I’m almost certain that Vincent Saint-Lambert will finally have what he’s been trying to accomplish for years. He will break his son, and I don’t know if Theo will survive that. Even if he somehow manages to survive, who will he be at the end?
I don’t tell her any of those thoughts though, because I know once I do, she won’t leave Casbury. She won’t leave him, and she’ll risk herself to go get him. That thought hurts my heart. I want her to want me the same way she does him. “Yes. He will find a way out, Mia. He’s a fighter. He will come back to you, back to us.”
She leans in and brushes her lips against my cheek in the softest touch, just the bare whisper of her soft lips against my whiskered cheek. Then she leans back and releases her fingers from mine, wiping away the tears from her beautiful face.
“I’m going to talk to Raegan and then pack. We are leaving here just after ten to get to the private hangar where my grandmother’s plane will be to take us to Manhattan. Get some rest, Carter. It’s going to be a long night.”
I watch her lithe form walk out the door. I think to myself, there walks my heart, beating outside of my body and trapped in a girl I’m not sure even loves me or who she really is.How did I fall so hard and so quickly for this girl?
The phone vibrates in my pocket again, and I pull it out, opening the text messages app. My blood runs cold; my hands start to shake when I realize it’s from my dad. Opening the message, a whole bunch of pictures starts to load. I almost drop the phone when I realize they’re pictures of Theo, so beaten and bloody that he’s practically unrecognizable in the photos. I get to the last one; it’s a selfie of my father next to him. Theo’s out cold but bleeding everywhere. One of his eyes is swollen, and his face is black and blue. It looks like he has large bruises and cuts all along his upper body and legs. My father’s face is next to him, sporting a huge, satisfied grin. I’m going to kill that motherfucker with my own hands.
My stomach lurches, and I have to jump up and run to a large plant Mia has in the corner. I vomit out everything I’ve managed to keep down today. When there’s nothing left to bring up, I swipe the back of my hand across my mouth and allow my body to fall to the ground on my knees.
There’s a message from my father after all the pictures. It has a cold sweat pouring down my back. I read it and then have to read it once more to ensure I’m reading it correctly.
Asshole dad: Come alone tonight. It’s you we should be punishing, not him.
You can’t escape your punishment, boy.
Come take your punishment like a man, and we will release him.
He’s the sole heir to Saint-Lambert.
He will live, but in what state of body and mind, is up to you.
You, on the other hand, I have a fucking spare heir.
Come ready to meet your maker.
