Page 58 of His Ruthless Queen

I glare over my shoulder. “His death would have been slow no matter what. Now?” I grip the kid’s collar, yanking him up with me as I stand.

The barrel slides under his chin, and I pull the trigger. There’s no round racked, so it doesn’t go off. There’s just a silent click. He doesn’t flinch, and that gives me my answer. Stupidity over fear for this one.

“Now, I’m going to suffocate you,” I say, my tone cruel. “Drown you until your lungs expand and your heart stops. Then, I’ll bring you back from the between. And if you still don’t answer me, I’ll do it over and over again. Kill you, bring you back. See how tough you are then, huh? When you’re faced with death, over and over.”

He stares past me at nothing, his jaw set. He’s tough, but I’ll make him crack.

“They say death by fire is worse than drowning. Should we put that to the test?” I drag him toward the back of the building, right where the edge meets the dock. There’s a small boat tied up.

“What do you need?” Declan asks, watching the wheels in my mind turn, no doubt.

I turn to him, my heart beating too fast. “I need a defibrillator.”

“I … guess I’ll call Haley?” He nods slowly, his brow drawn with skepticism.

I shove the kid toward Corbin. “Hold him. I need to go get some rags and water.”

“Listen, dude. I’m all for some stoic, meaningful torture.” Corbin takes our victim. “But I don’t think we have time for this. Let’s just take his teeth out one by one until he gives in.”

“Sean’s working on a lead,” I say. “This is more to kill the time, and hopefully get answers first.”

Corbin nods, his gaze falling toward Yuliya, who’s following Declan toward the entrance. I disappear through the back, grabbing a hose and leading it back into the warehouse. Corbin is still holding the little shit, but his gaze is back on me.

“I’m trying to figure out why you did the blood oath,” he says.

I ignore him, setting the hose into a bucket I found. Then I start walking around to find rags. He doesn’t shut up. Why would he? He’s probably a spoiled rich kid that grew up never being told “no”. People probably loved his charm, thought it was endearing to hear him speak about nothing and everything.

“I was going to marry her, you know? So if it was about keeping her protected, getting her out of Vasiliev’s grip? It was handled. But if this is about something more? About what she means to you, then I need to know, Jameson.”

I stop, one foot frozen in the air as I was about to take a step. My neck snaps to the side. “Don’t fucking call me that.”

Not even my mother calls me by my first name. No one but Saoirse. It sounds wrong coming from the governor, and makes me feel even worse. Like cement is being poured into my body, rendering me from even breathing. She’s out there missing, alone and scared, and there’s nothing I can do to take her pain away.

“Right, I’m sorry. Only Saoirse can call you that.” He nods, his smile gone.

But that way he speaks with his eyes, the way he says everything with just a single look is there. He knows he’s pushing my buttons, and he doesn’t give a fuck.

“Callum will honor the oath,” Corbin continues. “He’ll see it for what it is, and she’ll be yours. If that’s what you want.”

I narrow my gaze, not believing he’d be so cool with his own contract becoming void. He and Callum set this up, he benefits from it. I may not know how, but he does. It doesn’t make sense he’d walk away from it.

“And you?” I ask. I rummage through an old box, finding what I need, and head back for them. “You’re going to just walk away from whatever deal you struck with Cal?”

Corbin’s lip twitches, as if he’s indifferent to the entire thing. “She was going to make for an easy way into the White House. Young, beautiful, smart. Career driven. She’d have been a good fucking First Lady. But she can’t be dedicated to any of it, if her heart isn’t there.”

I take the kid from him, forcing him onto his knees.

“I’ve wanted this since I was a kid. I’ll do anything for it,” Corbin continues. “Saoirse would have, too.”

I roll my eyes. “I sense a ‘but’ in there.”

“But,” he says, his tone dropping. “I’d like to fuck my wife, and have her look into these pretty hazel eyes, have her trace my sweet, good-looking face while I pound into her, and not have her imagining the guard in the next room that she’d rather be blowing.”

I stand, readying my fist to punch him, but he just laughs, taking a step back.

He rests his hands on his hips, and wipes the smile from his face. Yuliya and Declan are coming back in, and that only makes him raise his voice, so everyone can hear what he has to say. “Man the fuck up, Scotty. Because Iwilltake her if you don’t. I may not enjoy the way she moans my name, knowing it’s yours she wishes she was saying. But I’ll do it. Because I’m a fucking bastard. And Saoirse is a woman that will look good on my arm. She’ll gain me the votes I need, and she’ll kick ass in the Oval Office.”

“Are you done with your pissing match?” Declan asks.

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