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I slam into the gate hard, and for a moment, it looks like it won’t buckle open and let me escape. The sound of metal crashing into metal is so loud that I’m sure the whole neighborhood can hear it. I watch as men come running from along the fence line, both my grandmother’s and Diegos, that are still stationed here, waiting to protect the Stratford princesses. They forgot that this particular Stratford princess has teeth and claws and can defend herself.
“Mia!” The sharp cry leaves Theo’s lips, and I momentarily take my eyes off the gate and glance in his direction. He’s bracing his hands on the dash, and a bloody gash is open on his forehead. Damn it! “Put your fucking seatbelt on, Theo!” I grit out before throwing the SUV back into reverse and hitting the gate again.
I can hear shouting coming from all directions. Men are screaming at me in English and Spanish to stop this insanity, but my blood is rushing hot in my veins, and my mind is determined to find my missing king. “Miss Mia, don’t do this.” Adam bangs against the driver’s door window. I press the locking mechanism so he can’t open the door and pull me out. I will not be deterred and confined to my house like a prisoner awaiting a savior.
Theo’s casted hand reaches towards me once again, trying to grip the steering wheel, but I snarl in his direction. “If you touch that steering wheel, I will stab you, Theodore Saint-Lambert.” To prove my point, I pull out the blade and slice his forearm. “Fucking bitch,” he hisses out in pain but pulls his arm back.
Finally, the damn gate buckles open, and the resistance against the vehicle laxes as I push through and my wheels make a purchase with the road. The Range fishtails with the speed I’m going at, but I hold firm to the wheel and right us. Theo’s been thrown back into the seat, and finally, I see him throwing on his seat belt from my peripheral vision. Motherfucker still has some common sense left.
“Where are we going, Mia?” His voice pitches as I race down the highway at speeds guaranteed to end our lives in a flaming crash. Thank God Jared had the foresight to teach Isabella and me how to drive defensively. I guarantee my poor departed stepfather never pictured this is what I would be using those lessons for.
I ignore Theo’s question, my eyes staring forward as we make our way toward the other side of town. We pass the driveway to Casbury Prep in a blur, large houses appearing on both sides of the road before they give way to the town square and shops. I don’t know where I’m going; I hadn’t thought that far ahead. My biggest challenge was getting off the property. Now that I’m free, I’m unsure where to look first. I keep driving until I enter Mateo’s and Finn’s neighborhood. Immaculate lawns space out the large mansions appearing on both sides. The playground of the wealthy and entitled.
I pull up to Mateo’s parent’s mansion and turn to go down his driveway, unsure of what brought me here first. Maybe I just want to see the last place he was physically in. I need to see with my own eyes where he was when he was shot.
“Mia, this is madness. He’s not here; you know that.” Theo’s angry voice vibrates through the car and has the hair on my arms standing on end. What is it about his voice when he’s vehemently furious with me that has my body filling with desire? I need to have my head examined. I shouldn’t be getting aroused at the sound of his voice enraged with me.You shouldn’t be doing a lot of things, but here we are on a fool’s errand, the bitch in my head responds.
“I need to see the last place he was, Theo. I don’t remember asking for your opinion or for you to come with me.” I pull up in front of the house, slamming the car into park, and am out of my seat in a flash, heading towards the side of the house. Diego mentioned they were outside on the back patio when he was taken. That’s where I plan to go first. My legs move quickly into a run, and I reach the side of the house as my breath pants out of my mouth.
Thundering footsteps make their way behind me, then I’m jerked back into a hard chest, and an open palm slides its way across my mouth. “Wait, you reckless idiot.” His low impatient voice slithers across the back of my neck. “You don’t know who’s here. This could be a fucking trap, Mia.”
I nod my head, and finally, he releases his grip around my face. I try to move slowly forward, but he grips my arm and pulls me behind his large frame. We inch forward together, using the shadows to camouflage our bodies. My grip on the blade is tight, my fist clammy and threatening my purchase. Once we reach the back patio area, we stick close to the house and make our way along the wall. Various patio lights illuminate the space, which looks like a war was recently fought here.
There are broken bits of pottery and plants everywhere. Patio chairs and tables are on their sides or backs, stuffing from pillows scattered everywhere. Chunks of plaster are missing along the facade, and bullet holes are riddled all over the Grecian columns that support the covered porch area.
“Fuck” The word is said so low from Theo’s lips that I’m not even sure I actually heard it. We move with hesitation amongst the rubble until we reach the far part of the patio deck. I stare down at a dark red stain on the concrete patio floor, and it has my limbs locking up and preventing me from moving any further forward.
Blood. Mateo’s pool of blood. The one Diego described to me after he was shot and went down hard. My legs buckle, and I land hard on my knees. The pain of hitting the hard concrete, never registering with my brain. I can’t tear my eyes away from the stain—Mateo’s life force. Mateo’s blood is there on the concrete ground, and it’s all I have left of him. The stain is dry as I run my shaking fingers over it.
Theo moves forward and squats down near the blood, his dark eyes, two pools of endless dark blue storms. He trails a finger over the stain, and a whimper leaves my lips. It’s unreasonable and insane, but I don’t want anyone else to touch it. It’s what I have left of Mateo. “Mia…we can’t be here.” The words leave Theo’s lips in a whisper like he, too, is afraid to disturb whatever of Mateo’s presence is left here.
“I need to find him.” My lips tremble, and tears slide down my cheeks. Maybe this was a mistake, seeing the irrevocable proof that he was here, that someone shot him and that his blood sits dark on the hard concrete ground is creating further painful shards in my chest. He’s gone. He’s hurt somewhere, and I can’t get to him. I failed to protect him, despite my promises. Despite him bowing at my feet willingly, someone stronger took him from me.
“I know, but this is not the way we do it. We are in danger here out in the open. We have to head back, Mia.” Theo sighs, standing up, and makes his way closer to me. He grabs my shoulder and lifts me, pulling me into his strong arms. For a brief moment, I feel safe. Safer than I have since my stepfather left this earth.
“We will find him. I won’t give up, either. Someone took him for a reason, and that reason is you.” He grabs my shoulders and shakes me so hard that my teeth rattle in my mouth. “You are what they want, and right now you are just being reckless, exposing yourself and making it easier to grab you.”
I don’t bother to defend myself; I know he’s right. I’m reckless and irrational. I know that my grandmother and Diego’s dad are still actively searching for Mateo. I know they are using all of their available resources to find him. That me just wandering about from place to place hoping to encounter him or some clue of who took him is unlikely. But I just had to do something. I needed to try to reassure myself that he was still alive somewhere. That the fact that we haven’t found his body is because he’s still breathing. He has to be still living. I can’t fathom the alternative. My heart refuses to even acknowledge the possibility that he is dead, and it would be my fault. That he may have been a pawn, laid waste in order to reach the queen.
Coming here, though, and seeing his life force on the ground and how monumental his blood stain is, devastates me. Could he have survived after losing that much blood? Could he have survived a gunshot to the chest, to his heart? I’m doubting my own convictions. Is he actually gone?
Chapter 29
Theo
“We want to prove things, in life, more than we want to disprove them. We want to believe.” V.E. Schwab
Sheshiversinmyarms, but I don’t loosen my grip on her. If anything, it has my body pulling her tighter into my grasp, despite my mind blaring alarms that she’s too close and we don’t want anyone touching us.This is Mia, not just anyone. She belongs to us.
I can’t believe she rammed the damn gate again and escaped the property. A property crawling with guards & Colombian mercenaries. This little Stratford queen will always amaze me and probably lead me to an early grave. There is no way to contain her against her will and woe to those who think they can force her into submission. After all, I have had to learn the hard way at her merciless hands—the sting on my forearm is just the most recent reminder that she will do as she wants.
I try to pull her back towards the side of the house and to the waiting Range, but we don’t get more than a few steps before she pulls out of my grasp again. Frustration fills my body, and my temper threatens to explode. I want to grab her reckless beautiful ass, throw her over my shoulder, and get her home. When I finally get her back to where I can keep her safe, I will take my palm to her ass and give her the hard spanking she deserves for pulling this stunt.
The thought of spanking her pert round ass has a semi-starting in my pants. With her unwillingness to bend or bow, this little queen of mine is determined to leave lasting scars on my heart and soul.
Earlier, when I walked in on her, Finn, and Carter, I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. The way she was taking their punishing cocks, the pretty pink blush across her throat and cheeks. The little moans that escaped her lips wrapped around my fellow king’s cocks. When Finn told her she needed to take my cock, too, I almost protested. I almost turned around and walked away from them, even though it felt like daggers were being stabbed into my heart. The thought of fucking her, of breaching her tight hole, had me glued to my spot and unable to move away from her. The way her eyes watched me, daring me to run from her, had me moving forward, and the little moan that escaped her lips had me freeing my cock. I can’t ever seem to restrain myself around her—my precious control, a relic of the past, where Mia Stratford is concerned.
When I was done and spent in her ass, revulsion filled my skin. I touched her, me, the broken, spoiled, and weak monster that I am. I tainted her once again with my cum, with my very touch. I’m undeserving of her strength, of that beautiful body and that tight pussy. I’m broken, and I don’t want my weakness to infect her like some parasite. Raegan is right; everything I have I now owe to Mia, including my life. I’m a king of nothing; my kingdom burnt to the ground. I have no power now. How could she even want me? I’m soiled goods
