Page 51 of His Ruthless Queen

I try to shove away the insecure thoughts as Finn turns on the water in the sink. “Did you eat enough, Miss Murphy?” he asks, eyeing me as he rinses the dishes.

I roll my eyes. Scotty’s probably told him to make sure I’m not starving. “You don’t have to do that, Finn. I’ve got it.” I shove him away with a bump of our hips, but he doesn’t budge.

“You shouldn’t get that wound wet,” he says. He reaches for my wrist, pulling the wound eye-level to inspect. “So weird. I could have sworn Scotty left here with a matching bandage.”

I yank my hand from his grip. “That’s odd,” I say, turning away.

Finn’s eyes burn into the back of my head while I grab a glass and fill it with a pitcher of infused water from the fridge. I force myself not to face him. My cheeks are burning. I wear my emotions in my facial expressions, even when I try not to. Finn will see right through anything I say.

“Ma’am? Can I say something?”

I shrug, taking a sip of my water before I turn around. “You can say whatever you’d like. You don’t have to ask permission to speak to me, Finn.”

He offers me a grin. “Your brothers don’t tend to take criticism from the help.”

I raise a brow. “You’re not the help. And my brothers are stupid.”

He snorts, shutting off the water and putting the last dish in the dishwasher. When he’s finished, he turns, resting his hip against the edge of the sink. His green-blue eyes peer into mine, as if trying to read me.

Finn’s only twenty-five, but when he stares at you with those piercing eyes that contrast against dark skin, you can feel the old soul in him. It makes me uncomfy, and I squirm under the scrutiny. That must have been what he was waiting for, because he finally speaks.

“Wearethe help, Saoirse. Both my cousin and me. Scotty shouldn’t have done whatever it is he’s gone and done.“ His gaze falls back to the cut on my hand. “Especially when he knows you’re engaged. Have you thought about what this means for him? What your brothers will do to him?”

I ignore the horrible gut feeling, trying to focus on the underlying meaning of what he’s saying. I’ve always known he didn’t like how close Scotty and I were, but the reasoning for it is clear now.

Frog jumps up onto the counter, pushing his face against my elbow. “Down, Frog,” I say, scooping him up into my arms.

I turn back to Finn, holding the cat to my chest. “I don’t appreciate what you’re implying.”

“What am I implying?”

“Scotty’s life isn’t a game to me, Finn.”

“Never said it was.” He holds his hands out in surrender. “I just don’t think either of you are looking at what can happen if this gets out. Of the conse—“

A bang sounds through the house that’s awfully close to the sound of gunfire. “Get to the safe room,” Finn orders, pulling out his pistol from the waistband at his back.

Frog jumps from my arms, leaving a burning scratch mark down my arm. I hiss at the pain, and hurry for the bookshelves in the other room. One of them along the built-in cases is the safe room.

Glass shatters, flying everywhere when I reach the bookcase. I force myself not to let out the scream bottling inside of me. Frog is on my heels, meowing like crazy as I pull back a false book to type in the code that will access the door.

“Got her,” a man says behind me, his Russian accent thick.

My entire body freezes, dread cementing me in place. I squeeze my eyes shut, willing the situation to just go away. He still hasn’t moved toward me. Time is running out, and I fucking suck under pressure. Christ, this code isn’t fucking working.

The keypad flashes bright blue to let me know I entered the wrong pin. My fingers are shaking too fucking bad for this. Why isn’t he approaching me? Is he waiting to see if I get the door open? I have no weapons on me. Nothing but my body to fight him off. And I’m sure he’s armed to the teeth.

Still, I type in the code, as if he’s not behind me.

Frog lets out a frightened hiss, then takes off out of sight. I hate how the thriller movies always kill the poor animals, and my stomach dips thinking that they could catch the cat and put him in the microwave. Or something else equally fucked up, coming from a bunch of criminals.

I should have held onto him tighter, kept him close to my chest so he couldn’t get free.

The keypad clicks finally, and I pull the door open to get inside as quickly as I can. Once inside, I push it closed. I’m almost home free when a steel-toed boot slides in, stopping it from closing completely.

“Going somewhere,printessa?”

“Yeah. Gotta take a leak,” I say, pushing my foot against his. I feign annoyance when his foot doesn’t budge. “Can’t aprincesshave a little privacy?”

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