by K. G. Reuss
Bianca
Fallon’s hands tightened on the wheel as we peeled out of campus, rocks and dirt kicking behind us.
“Where are we going?”
“Somewhere,” he muttered. “Put your seatbelt on.”
“What? Do you have a plan?” I fumbled with the buckle as I tried to fasten it.
“Yes.”
My phone buzzed in my tiny clutch, and I pulled it out to see a message from Vincent.
What have you done, baby B?
I dropped the phone back into my bag with shaky hands.
What had I done? What had they done?
When Levin had dropped Dom’s earlier whereabouts on me, I’d nearly vomited on his Italian leather shoes. The knife was only further pushed in when he’d continued unloading their truth and then told me to run.
Now that I had a second to think though, something wasn’t sitting right with me. Levin and his inability to admit his feelings was one thing, but for him to just come out of nowhere with the cruel shit he’d spouted at the dance? It seemed off to me. It hurt like nothing else though. I had no clue what to believe anymore, but the thought of Dom with someone else made me want to vomit. It hurt. Bad. Maybe this was how Dom felt when he pictured me with someone else. I was getting a dose of my own medicine. It tasted pretty awful.
I stared out at the dark scenery whizzing past us, turmoil rolling through my body. There was no going back now. I’d sided with their enemy and had run out on them, but if what Levin had said was true, it didn’t matter. I didn’t mean shit to them. They were just out a plaything, nothing more.
But Fallon? He was here for me. At least I hoped he was.
I looked over at him. He was focused on the road, his body tense. He’d told me to stay away from the dance. It seemed odd for him to be hiding out on campus and able to find me so easily when I shouldn’t have been there anyway. It made me feel uneasy.
“You’re not taking me to Hail, are you?” I whispered.
He did a doubletake. “I’d never take you to Hail.”
I relaxed a bit more. My nasty trust issues weren’t doing so hot in that moment. I’d fallen for a group of guys I’d thought I might be able to have a shot with, who might feel the same. We hadn’t discussed being in a relationship, but it had felt like we were in one. A vision of Dom with another woman entered my head again. I clutched at my stomach as the nausea rolled through me like a freight train.
Not that I had a right to be hurt. Wasn’t I the one who’d let Fallon screw me in a closet after I’d promised to never let anyone but the kings touch me?
Karma. It was splattered all over me in bright red.
“We have company.” Fallon stomped on the accelerator.
I looked behind us to see a car fast approaching.
“Fuck,” Fallon snarled, reaching behind his back into his waistband and pulling out a gun.
I stared horrified at him. “What are you doing?” I shouted.
“What does it look like? See that car?”
Of course, I saw the damn car.
“That’s De Santis’s Mercedes AMG-GT. It’s fast. We won’t outrun him. We’ll have to fight and hope we kill him before he kills us.”
“What?” I screeched, peeking behind us again.
Sure enough. The slick black sedan was right on our asses, and I could see Dominic behind the wheel with Vincent beside him. Another car was behind them.
“I don’t want anyone to die…” My heart thudded hard. I didn’t want my kings to be hurt. They may have gutted me with their bullshit, but I couldn’t help how I felt about them. Sure, I was pissed, but they didn’t deserve to die, and I deserved answers.
“Princess, it’s us or them.”
I stared back at Dominic, noting the hard look on his face illuminated by his dashboard and remembered the last time he’d lost his temper on me and beat my ass with his belt.
A scream left my lips as Vincent popped out the passenger window and raised a handgun. Fallon reached over and shoved my head down as Vincent opened fire, the pop, pop of the gun making my heart thrash violently.
Vincent was shooting at us?
God, they really were going to kill us.
The roar of the car behind them sounded out, and Fallon cursed again.
“Fucking Seeley,” he snarled, jerking the car into the other lane.
I chanced a peek to see Levin in a blue sports car with his gun pointed at us too.
Holy shit.
Levin shot, the bullet shattering the back window of Fallon’s car. I let out a scream and covered my head as diamond bursts of broken glass pinged off my skin. Fallon aimed his gun in Levin’s direction and opened fire. Levin hit the brakes and moved out of Fallon’s range.
Vincent fired at us again, ending the brief moment of ceasefire.
“How the hell did they know where we were?” Fallon demanded, dropping the clip out of his gun and shoving another in. “Are they tracking you?”
“What?”
We careened around a curve. Fallon tore my phone from my bag and thumbed through it quickly before letting out a curse and throwing it in the backseat.
“Your phone. They’re tracking your phone. They have an app installed that can find you. Damnit, I should’ve known. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!”
We whipped around another curve with Dom still on our asses. Levin surged around us, moving a few car lengths in front.
“What’s he doing?” I whispered fearfully.
I didn’t have to wait to find out. He raised his hand in the air, and Dom shot out from behind us to match our speed in the other lane. Fallon shot at them, making Dom slow down.
“Don’t! Please, don’t shoot them—”
“They’re trying to kill us!” Fallon shouted back at me in disbelief. “The fuck I’m not going to shoot them.”
I looked at the speedometer. We were going too fast. Way too fast.
“Fallon, you need to slow down.”
“We can’t,” he said, the car lurching forward as he emptied his gun on Dominic’s car.
“We can’t outrun them. You know we can’t. Please. Stop the car.”
“Bianca—”
“Stop the damn car!” I reached out and slammed the gearshift into neutral and grabbed the wheel just as Vincent shot again. He hit our front tire before firing again and hitting the back one. The car spun as Levin slammed on his brakes. A scream tore from my lungs and I smack my head against the passenger window.
It felt like I was on a ride at the state fair that wasn’t ever going to end. I held onto the oh shit handle as the car careened over an embankment and into the woods where it finally nestled itself against a tree.
The airbags deployed, saving me from eating the dashboard. All was silent around us for several long moments.
“Bianca,” Fallon finally called out hoarsely. “Bianca? Answer me. Please. You OK?”
“Mm,” I grunted amid a whimper. I’d really hurt tomorrow.
I didn’t get to ask if he was OK because my door was jerked open, and I was hauled out into the cool night air by Vincent.
“Don’t hurt him. Please.” I wept as I peered through slitted lids to see Levin and Dominic dragging Fallon from the car and over near us.
I let out a wail and tried to break free of Vincent’s hold as Dominic punched Fallon in the face. For every hit he landed, Levin matched him. Fallon was already hurt, his face bleeding from the crash. He clutched at his stomach with one arm.
Fallon managed to strike them both before they knocked him to the ground and began kicking him.
“No! NO! Please,” I shouted, sobbing. “Please, stop! Dominic! Levin!”
“He deserves it, B,” Vincent said in my ear.
“He doesn’t. He doesn’t. He’s trying to save me. Don’t kill him!” I managed to spin in Vincent’s arms to face him
“Please,” I pleaded, taking Vincent’s face in my hands. “Don’t do this.”
“You’re hurt,” Vincent murmured, his brows crinkled.
I felt the blood trickling down the side of my face and the aches of my body. I wasn’t going to die in that instant, but Fallon might.
“Did you ever love me?” Vincent asked quietly.
“What?”
“Did you ever love me? Us?” he repeated. Torment blanketed his features.
“Of course, I did. I still do. You mean everything to me.”
“Then why’d you do it, B? Why a lord? And why’d you run?”
“Because I love him too,” I whispered, tears trickling from my eyes. “So please, don’t hurt him.”
Fallon cried out and grunted as he was struck again.
“Why’d you run?”
“Levin told me to. He-he said all these terrible things about you all—”
Vincent nodded and turned me in his arms so I could see Fallon on his stomach, Levin and Dom circling him like vultures.
“I don’t like when people die, B. I don’t. But I can’t control any of this. Just know that I hurt too. I hurt for what’s to come.”
My heart cracked at his words.
They stopped striking Fallon. Dom turned to me as Levin lifted Fallon to his knees. Fallon’s face was beaten so badly his eyes were nearly swollen shut.
“On your knees,” Dom snarled at me.
Vincent released me.
“Fuck you, Dominic.” My chest heaved as I glared at him.
“Fuck me?” He rushed at me and gripped my face.
I took a stumbling step back.
“Fuck you, wasp. You lied to me. You betrayed us. Remember what I said? Remember my promise?”
I shook in his hold, remembering his promise to kill me and the person I’d been with. “You lied to me too,” I whispered.
He’d promised no other girls. He’d promised not to hurt me. His promises were shit. Except the one to kill me apparently.
“Now get on your fucking knees.”
I focused on Fallon who was staring at me through his swollen, purple eyelids, his face covered in blood. Levin had a gun pointed at his head, his aim steady.
Defeated, I sank to my knees, knowing there wasn’t a way out.
Check and mate.
Fifty-One
Dominic
Seeing Bianca on her knees beneath the barrel of Vincent’s gun made me ill. If I didn’t have an audience, I would’ve emptied my guts onto the forest floor. Killing didn’t typically bother me, but this? It was eating my soul.
We’d fucked Vasiliev up. He was dripping blood all over the damn leaves. I hated it when they bled like this.
And Bianca.
She was a mess, all tears and blood. My beautiful wasp, trembling as she stared with love at a man I hated with my entire being.
“He’s not who you think he is,” I said softly, drawing her focus from him.
A tear slipped down her dirty cheek.
“He was taking you to my father. He made a deal with him. My father has his sister. He promised to release her if Fallon delivered you to him.”
Her bottom lip wobbled before she snapped her attention back on Fallon.
“Tell her,” I said coolly. “Tell her you’re a lying piece of shit who had no intentions of saving her.”
“I’m s-sorry,” Fallon choked out. “I made a mistake.”
“You-you lied to me?” The look on Bianca’s face put more splinters into my heart. She’d really believed he cared about her.
Fallon swallowed. “No. And yes. I-I wanted to save Natalia. He promised to let her go if I killed you.”
Bianca’s eyes widened.
“B-But then he changed the deal and wanted me to me bring you to him.” He hung his head, his next words nearly a whisper, “That’s why I told you to be with the kings. To be with Dominic. I-I thought he loved you and would save you from his father. Then I’d be able to save my sister. And then maybe—"
“Don’t even finish that fucking sentence,” Levin snarled, moving his gun from Bianca’s direction to Fallon’s. “This is your fault. Everything tonight is because you put your dick where it didn’t belong.”
“I love her,” Fallon ground out, his chest heaving. “But my sister is the only family I have left—”
“You have your piece of shit father,” Vincent countered.
Fallon glared up at him through his swollen eyelids. “My father is dead to me.” He licked his lips and turned back to Bianca. “I love you, Bianca Walker. I fucked up, but I had the best intentions. I swear I did. If Dominic wouldn’t have saved you, I would’ve come back for you. You’re strong. You know you are. I know you are. That’s why I had to make the choice I did. Natalia isn’t like you. She’s tender and weak.” A tear slid down his bloody cheek. “I’ll die for you. And I’m OK with that because I got the chance to love you and feel what it was liked to be loved back by you.”
A soft sob left Bianca’s lips as she quaked on her knees.
Fallon stared straight ahead, accepting his fate. “Seeley, just so you know, I have information about Stefan. I know who killed him.”
Of all the shit I thought he’d say, that was the one thing I didn’t expect. I’d prepared for some begging and bartering, but this? Vasiliev was a smart prick.
Levin’s eyes widened as he looked to me. I knew it was taking everything he had to not pull the trigger. I gave him a curt nod, and he moved behind Vasiliev and bent down. Levin said something none of us could hear before pulling something from his pocket. It was too dark for me to see what the hell he was doing, but a moment later, Levin backed up and kicked Fallon to the ground and dropped whatever he’d had in his hand.
Fallon tumbled forward, hitting the ground hard. Levin aimed his gun at Fallon and pulled the trigger twice.
The wail from Bianca in the darkness sent chills down my spine.
“Fallon! Fallon!” She crawled on her hands and knees in her blue homecoming dress, trying to get to him.
Vincent grabbed her and fought to keep her away from his body, but she twisted and screamed, clawing and hitting him. He let out a snarl as she got his face, sending blood down his cheek from her claws.
Vincent pinned her to the ground. “Behave, baby B. Please.”
“Fuck you,” she shrieked, bucking beneath him. “Fuck you all!”
I shoved Vincent away and snagged her, hauling her to her feet. She swung at me, teeth bared before spitting in my face. I wiped away her spit before I pushed her against a tree and held her there.
“Do you think I enjoy doing this?” I demanded. “Do you think this is where I want to be right now? Do you fucking think, I want this?”
“You killed him! You fucking killed him.” Her body went limp as it shook with sobs.
“He betrayed you, Bianca.”
“He was trying to save his sister.”
“He was going to leave you to an unimaginable hell,” I said softly.
“You would’ve saved me,” she choked out. “I know you would have. It didn’t need to be this way.”
“You’re right. It didn’t, but it is.” I wiped a tear from her cheek. “Why’d you run?”
“L-Levin s-said I didn’t mean anything to—”
“You really believed that shit?” Anger coursed through me. I thought we’d proven how much we cared. I wasn’t an expert on matters of the heart, but I thought we’d put up a good effort.
“Levin said you were cheating,” she whispered.
I swallowed. Shit. Why had he told her that? “I did have my cock sucked by some girl earlier who was forced into it by my father. She was murdered after she finished. I didn’t want it. She sure as hell didn’t. That is the level of hell Fallon was going to deliver you to. And you still love him?”
“What does it matter? You murdered him!” She got her strength back and fought against me again.
I slammed her back into the tree, trying to get her to focus. I leaned in as her teeth gnashed at me.
“I made you a promise, and I kept it.” I pressed my lips to hers, not expecting her to kiss me back and not su
rprised when she tried to bite me. “For what it’s worth, I loved you the moment you ran into me in the hallway on day one.”
I released her, and she fell to her knees, her arms wrapped around her body as it quivered with sobs.
“Levin, I made you a promise too. Take care of her. Get rid of the bodies.”
He gazed down at Bianca, his face expressionless.
I stepped away from her and held my arm out to Vincent, who was barely holding his shit together. My body hummed with desperation and sadness as I sent up a silent prayer for Levin to make the move that I couldn't. If he pulled that trigger, the realization that Bianca would leave this world forever crashed over me, nearly taking me to my knees. A world without her in it wouldn't be a world at all. It would be a hell I wouldn't want to exist in. The alternative for her was worse though if my father got her. So much worse. . .
I forced myself to be strong. “Come on. We need to find Ivanov and those other two pricks.”
Vincent jerked out of my hold and darted to Bianca, wrapping his arms around her.
“Vincent!” I shouted.
“I’m telling her goodbye,” he snapped back, his voice shaking. “So fuck off.”
I moved to Vasiliev’s body and grabbed the necklace around his neck and yanked it off to show to Ivanov. I paused for a moment as the item Levin had dropped caught my eye. I smiled before straightening up, surprised at Levin’s boldness, but not mad about it. I hoped he’d called my bluff. I needed him to because I was too angry to withdraw. Truth of the matter was, I wanted to teach Bianca a lesson, but I needed someone to draw the line for me.
And if he didn’t wind up pulling his punches with Bianca, then that would be a cross we’d all bear. Together. No one fucked with a king without learning a hard lesson. Even those we loved.
“Valentino, war waits for no man. Move it.” I gestured for him to hurry.
Vincent kissed Bianca. She didn’t bite him, but she didn’t kiss him back either. She was empty, accepting her fate.
“I love you,” Vincent said softly into the night before getting to his feet and backing away.
Bianca’s response was only to sob a little more. My heart went out to her. This shit was hard, and I hated it had come to this. I took Vincent's arm and led him away as Levin shifted to stand behind Bianca, his gun leveled on her head.