Page 107 of His Kidnapped Queen
“Why?” I ask, and it’s a simple question, but Nico whistles like I’ve asked him the meaning to life.
“Because I want what you have,” Nico whispers. “I want to rule the empire, to follow in Father’s footsteps. You’re not special because you’re older.”
“I’m not, Nico, but we could have talked about this.”
“Talked about it?” he asks incredulously, frowning. “Yeah, sure. Father would have instantly said I’m too young, to let you carry the burden. That’s what he always told me.”
“It’s not as fun as you think it is, Nico. It’swork.”
“Don’t you think I know that? I’m ready for it, Luca,” he insists, pointing at his own chest, pacing around.
I breathe in slowly through my nostrils, carefully. Now isn’t the time to fly off the handle. Now is the time to wait.
Be quiet. Still. Like a stone.
The one thing my father taught me that stuck.
It’s like for the past couple of weeks, Nico and I have switched places. I’ve been the loose cannon. He’s made it seem like that to everyone who knows me.
“I’ll have to kill Diego, of course,” Nico says, as if that’s a given. My eyes shoot to his.
“You don’t have to kill anyone, Nico.”
“Of course I do.” He scoffs. “I can’t leave Diego or the cop alive. They know what I’ve been planning.”
“Iknow what you’ve been planning. What do you plan to do with me?”
He smiles. “That’s the beauty of it, Luca. Father won’t believe you. I’ll tell him it’syouwho’s been skimming, who’s had sticky fingers with the coke.”
“He won’t believe you.”
“Won’t he? When I tell him you’ve been using Mama’s old cottage as a safehouse to store acop?”
I grit my teeth. Nico’s right. My father would hate that I’ve kidnapped a cop, hate even more that I was using Mama’s house for storing her. He’d tried so hard to keep her separate from the life, even after her death.
“This all could have been avoided.”
“Yeah, it could have,” Nico agrees, and for a second I think maybe he’s not completely insane. “If you and Father would have taken me seriously, it all could have been different.”
“You’re not going to kill me,” I say, my tone more confident than I feel.
“Probably not. We’ll see. You gonna beg me for your life, big brother?”
I look up at him with a cool gaze.
“Come here and find out.”
Sophia has stopped screaming and I’m starting to panic, my heart galloping away in my chest. I rub my wrists together,trying to use the weathered wood of the post to get some slack. Splinters stick into my skin, but I grit my teeth and ignore it.
“You don’t want to pick a fight with me now, Luca,” Nico warns, but there’s a fire in his gaze that makes me think I can provoke him.
“That’s because you know you’ll never win a fair fight with me,” I taunt, and Nico sets his mouth in a hard line.
I get my hand free just as he comes toward me. When he throws his fist out, I grunt and take it, my jaw absorbing the blow. My brain shakes around inside my skull, rattling against the bone. It was a hell of a punch, but I have to keep going.
I sweep my free hand out and catch him behind the knees. Nico goes down with a yelp, cracking his knees on the hardwood floor.
I hit him again in the solar plexus, wrenching my left wrist free, too, my hands bleeding from the jagged wood. Blood blooms on his white t-shirt, but it’s mine, not his.
