“Leon—”
“After that, I’m pulling you out.”
“You can’t be serious. You need more time to figure out how to take down the Guild.”
I can practically hear Leon tugging at his hair with frustration. “It’s enough. It will have to be.”
“Please, Leon. Don’t do this. As my brother, I understand that this might be?—”
“I am your don first,” he snaps with a cool authority that sends a shiver down my spine. “You might have Mamma’s favor, but I’mrunning the family now, do you hear? You do not have the authority to disobey me.”
With a shaking hand, I hang up the phone, unable and unwilling to listen to any more of his bitter words.
It’s always been like this, us both always fighting to be on top. I might have brushed it off as your normal sibling rivalry once, but I know it runs deeper than that.
Leon always knew he would inherit the Prince’s Hand.
Mammaalways knew I would control it.
I all but fall into bed when I return home, slipping out of my red dress and showering under the most scalding water I can stand as if somehow I can burn the memory of his lips against my skin away.
But the heat only seems to set my anger alight.
Past the shock of the last twenty-four hours, a growing seed of fury seems to have taken root within me.
I pace my room, remembering every word, every touch in that closet.
I’d hate to ruin those pretty little hands.
Every look, every flirtation at the poker table.
You’re hesitating again.
Each memory is a piece of evidence that I pin to an imaginary corkboard in my mind.
The most damning memory of all sits front and center, glaring at me mockingly.
Teo Vitale pushed a man down the stairs because he had touched me.
I turn it over and over in my mind.
Why?
The answer is obvious. At least, it would be for any other man. He’s possessive, and a jealous rage isn’t exactly something unique to Teo Vitale.
But why go to such lengths for someone you claim you would kill?
Unless…he couldn’t.
Unless he’s entirely bluffing. Unless I am actually completely safe around him.
It would be the most ideal scenario. The best, even. I could break him that way, force him to acknowledge that he wouldn’t be able to do it, and consequently give up on the Prince’s Hand entirely.
Because I’d die before he got the information he sought.
And he can’t kill me.
I worry my lip as I think this through.
