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“You’re right,” she agrees. “Maybe it’s just that tiny quiet voice in my self-conscious that makes me wish I could… help him?”
“You can’t change, Domino, Selfless Canary.” I use my right hand to cup her cheek, caressing her flesh, which brings her a bit of comfort. “You’re too good for that selfish bastard. If he can betray me, he’d toss you to wolves at any chance he gets.”
“I know, but...” She still wants to give him a shot.
“You want to test him?” I offer, gaining her attention. “See if he can win our bet.”
“Bet?”
“He agreed to make love with you. Not by force. To take the steps to win you over. That was the challenge he took upon himself when we barely knew you. When we just assumed you were a placeholder.”
It feels shitty to say now, but it is the truth.
“But… isn’t there not much time with the Gala so close?”
“We’re not giving him the opportunity to win you over at a slow build, Verena,” I emphasize. “Didn’t Zander make love to you first? Genuinely. Not for any sort of gain? That was only what? A few days of knowing one another?”
She can see my way of thinking.
“Domino has to have the intention of wanting you. Not as a pawn who helps him to the finish line, but as a woman… a Ruthless Queen who can stand at the sides of her Kings. If he can’t acknowledge how valuable you are, than he’s as lost and desperate for an empire he doesn’t deserve to claim as his own.”
“So, we just need an opportunity to see what he’ll do,” she quietly whispers. “I could do that, but… what if…”
I realize this could be dangerous.
No. It could get fucking messy and triggering.
“If he dares try to hurt you, it’s game over,” I growl. “You call the first number on your phone. Whether that’s me, Zander, or Warren. I don’t fucking care which one of us you call, but you tell us immediately and ensure whenever you do plan this moment,we’re nearby. We have you on the tracker. I can get Kian to rewire things, so Domino has a different signal.”
“So, what if he wins the challenge?”
“He won’t.”
We share a look. Despite the offered vision of Domino potentially overcoming his sick tendencies to see Verena as a woman with so much fucking potential, I really can’t see him winning this.
Not when I know the truth about his shitty father.
“But if he does, we’ll offer a simpler repercussion for his association with causing you trauma in the past.”
“You’ll still punish him,” she concludes. “I’m not arguing or protecting him. I’m just curious.”
“If you think I’m punishing him for throwing me under the bus, that’s not the reason why I want payback.”
“It’s not?”She really doesn’t see how cute and hot she is when she pouts so adorably like this.“Then why go through the fuss?”
Instead of answering, I turn away and walk back to Danny, realizing he passed out.Probably from the blood loss.Rolling my eyes, I pull the knife out, making him jolt from unconsciousness.
He’s manically looking around, but I’m returning to where Verena is sitting and dangling her feet up and down.
When there are but two steps between us, I offer her the knife. She arches an eyebrow at me, looking between the offered knife and my calm expression.
“Because you’re the property of the Ruthless Kings of Carnage,” I declare with this newfound sense of pride. “It’s about time anyone and everyone realizes that.”
“Ares,” she whispers my name as if it’s forbidden. “What… should I do with the knife?”
I point to my left bicep.
“Mark me up, Sweet Canary.”
