Page 232 of Lethal King

“I’ll do whatever I want,” Leander snidely remarks.

No. I can’t lose Rian. I won’t.

I’ve already lost too much. Gabriel. Drago. Now, it looks like Tytus might not make it either.

It’s like there’s a sharp seesaw cutting through my heart. Every time I find something to latch onto, something warm and hopeful, the other end comes down and a new wound opens up.

Gaining love only gives you something more to lose. No matter how hard I’ve been trying to deny it, Rian has given me that something to lose.

He’s given me love.

Fuck.

Why don’t I hate him for that?

“You fucking leave him alone!” I cry, tears welling up in my eyes.

Leander ignores me. Walking up behind the doctor, he stares down into the now open suitcase.

I can’t see what’s inside. But I can imagine.

“Boss!”

For a split second, not even one of Leander’s guard’s barging into the bedroom can rip his attention away from whatever’s in the doctor’s suitcase.

When he does eventually look back over his shoulder, it’s with an annoyed reluctance.

“What?”

“We have company.”

My fallen heart freezes into place.

Leander’s entire face contorts in disgust.

“Who!?”

That finally tears him away from the table, and I’m given a brief glimpse of what’s inside the briefcase.

I don’t see much, except for the tip of a long syringe…

“I don’t know, sir. It looks like they’re—”

“What do you mean you don’t know!” Leander’s roar draws my attention away from the doctor’s morbid lab.

I see the guard who came barging in. He’s holding out a tablet. Leander rips it from his hands.

“I’ve never seen this person before,” the guard mumbles, stepping back.

Staring down at the screen, Leander starts to pace back and forth. I stretch my neck, trying to get a good look. But it’s impossible.

“How the fuck did they find us?” Leander grumbles, furious.

“It’s Rian, isn’t it,” I rasp, desperate to know.

“No,” Leander instinctively sneers. “It’s not your precious lion.”

“… Tytus?”