Page 80 of Lethal King

That’s one thing Drago and I both have in common right now—though I wish we didn’t.

“What do you want?” I hear Tytus ask from behind me.

“I want to help,” Drago’s feeble voice returns.

“And how are you going to do that?”

“He already did it,” Leander steps in. I don’t turn around. Instead, I stare out over the ocean. Moonlight sparkles over the water. The world feels empty.

“How so?” Tytus returns, filled with skepticism.

“By recruiting me.”

That’s enough to spin me back around.

“So you aren’t providing Drago to us,” Tytus sneers. “He’s provided you to us.”

“Something like that,” Leander chuckles. “But he’s also providing me with something.”

Those lifeless blue eyes glimmer in the moonlight, glowing as they set themselves on me.

I freeze.

“What?” I manage to choke.

“You.”

Tytus is the first to rip his gun out. I’m not far behind. But my hands are still shaky and limp. The steel feels like a hundred-pound weight as I try to aim it.

“So it’s a fucking trap,” Tytus roars, pointing his barrel at Leander.

I lift mine towards Drago. But my arm is already shaking.

“No, please. My son. It’s not,” Drago begs.

Every last one of Leander’s guards have also whipped out their guns. Half are pointed at Tytus, and half are directed at me.

Cold sweat drips down my forehead, replacing the hot tears.

“Think of it more as a partnership,” Leander steps in, sounding awfully confident for the only person without a weapon.

Waving his hands, he tries to get his men to lower their weapons. Only a few of them comply.

“I’d rather think of it as your death sentence,” Tytus growls, straightening his gun.

That only draws more attention to him. The men who had lowered their weapons retrain them onto Tytus.

“I’ll slaughter all of you,” I hiss.

“Come on now, I can’t be that bad,” Leander smirks. “Listen, a marriage would only combine our wealth and power. I have an army too. Together, we can kill Rian Kilpatrick and take control of the American underworld. Then, we’ll be unstoppable. Hell, I might even accept a divorce after certain terms are met…”

My skin crawls at the implication. A furious fire flares up inside of me.

Why are all these greedy fucking men only ever interested in marriage? Have I not made it clear that I’d rather slit their throats and mine before I submit like that?

Leander doesn’t even know me and he’s already trying to cage me for life. Fuck. At least Rian has had the common decency to work for it.

“No one gets to kill Rian Kilpatrick but me,” I snarl.