Page 13 of Vicious King

“Yeah.”

“Okay. I’m just going to change my clothes, and then we’ll go.”

He nods but doesn’t move to get off my lap. He’s fiddling with my shirt the way he used to when he was tiny.

“You’re a good mommy.”

Cue the tears.

“And you’re a good son. You’re my favorite son.”

He smiles up at me. “I’m the only one.”

“Doesn’t make it less true. Let’s go get dinner, and then we can snuggle down and watch Iron Man.”

“I have to do a math sheet.”

“Not tonight you don’t.”

Three

CARSON

I’ve been following them for three days, made easier by the fact that I bought the house next door. The old woman on one side of her put up a fight and wouldn’t sell, but the young couple on the other side of Rina didn’t even blink an eye. They took the three million—roughly ten times what the house is worth—and were out within twelve hours. They left the furniture for me, so I could just slide right in.

Best three million I ever fucking spent.

All my men are back in Vegas. I didn’t bring anyone with me because I don’t need them here. I need them taking care of things back home.

“How’s it going?” Julian asks in my ear as I stand in the window that looks over to Rina’s house and watch her bustle back and forth in the kitchen. She licks her thumb, and it makes my cock hard.

She looks amazing.

“She and the kid are fine,” I reply. Christ, I don’t know what to say. My wife is alive and I have a son. And the thing is, I can’t be mad at her for keeping him from me all this time because she thought I was dead too.

We were both royally fucked over, and I can’t wait to make someone suffer for it.

“That’s it?”

I sigh and drag my hand down my face. “I bought the house next door so I can keep an eye on things. They seem to have a pretty normal routine, I guess. Not that I would know what that looks like from experience. The boy goes to school, she goes to work, then they come home and have dinner and do it all again the next day.”

“Are you saying it’s boring?”

I chuckle. Fuck no, it’s not boring. It’s the best goddamn thing I’ve ever seen in my life.

“No.”

“Are you going to stalk her for the rest of all time, or are you going to go introduce yourself to her?”

“Fuck.” Rina picks up a knife and is chopping vegetables when the boy runs into the kitchen and hops up on a stool. She smiles at him so fucking sweetly, I have to rub my chest. I don’t know his name. I wouldn’t let anyone tell me. I want her to tell me what she named our son. “What the hell am I supposed to say?”

“Yeah, I get it. I guess ‘Surprise! I’m not dead!’ isn’t the way to go.”

“You’re a goddamn riot.”

“Try to talk to her without the boy around first. That’s the right thing to do.”

I want to scoop them both up and take them home with me, where they belong. I’m not a patient man. I don’t usually wait around for what I want. I fucking take it.