“What did you do?” he asks.
I toss my book on the bed.
“I don’t know what you mean. I’ve been working out and reading—my usual routine.”
He studies me a moment, and I think maybe I’ve gotten away with it. But then he determines my guilt and carries out my sentence a second later by putting a bullet into my shoulder.
I grit my teeth to keep from screaming at the sudden unexpected impact and collapse on my mattress. People say getting shot doesn’t hurt because it happens so fast; that it’s only the pain after the adrenaline has worn off that hurts. Those people are liars. Getting shot hurts. Not being able to fight back hurts worse.
Slowly, I pull myself off the bed and walk to the bars to face him.
“So that’s how it’s going to be. Just shoot me without giving me a chance to fight back.”
“You set my whore free without giving me a chance to stop it.”
“You don’t get to hurt women like that.”
The change in Milo’s eyes is fast and sharp. I’ve only ever seen the look in my father’s eyes when he felt I wasn’t strong enough.
How do Milo and my father share the same eyes?
“I need an heir. I need to fuck a woman and get her pregnant. But since you took away my best option, I think I know the perfect candidate for the job,” Milo says.
“You can’t touch Kai,” I say, throwing my body against the bars to try and reach Milo. But he calmly takes a step backward.
“I think I will. She has strong hips. I’m sure they are big enough to bear my children.”
“Don’t. Touch. Her.”
Another shot. This time I only register the sound of the gun going off, not the sting in my other shoulder. I don’t feel the blood pooling or the throb of my muscles, because all I feel is anger toward Milo. And fear that he might actually take Kai.
He grins. “How do you know I haven’t already?”
He’s lying. He doesn’t have Kai. I can see behind his cocky grin. He wants to hurt me as I hurt him. He needs to get back at me for taking his woman.
“What do you want, Milo? I’ll give it to you,” I say.
“Nothing you can give. I’ll be taking Kai when I’m good and ready.”
“And if you do, I’ll change the documents so your child is no longer my heir. You will never become Black if you take her. She can’t make you her heir.”
Our eyes lock in an endless battle. I’ve never hated a man as much as I hate Milo. I hated my father. Hated him for what he made me do, but it was nothing compared to Milo. Although, I guess my father never lived long enough to threaten Kai’s life. But he would have. He ordered me to kill Kai. He would have made me follow through on that threat if he had lived.
I sent my father to hell. And I plan on doing the same to Milo as soon as it is safe to.
“Yes?” Milo snaps into the phone he decides to answer.
But then he turns his back to me as he listens carefully to the conversation. His shoulders tense, his legs stop moving, and his face grows white.
He ends the call and then turns back to me. And I know exactly who it was.
“Archard called?” I ask.
Milo’s eyes are wide, his lips tense, and his jaw set. He nods slowly.
“When is the next game?”
“Tomorrow.”