“Yeah?”
“I’m really sorry about what happened at Matteo’s—”
“I know. It’s OK. Truth be told, I knew in the back of my mind it had to happen. I didn’t want it, but I knew. Dom is a good guy. He’s taken care of me here. We grew up thinking the kings were bad. Matteo was bad. I mean, Matteo is definitely bad, but the kings? I fell in love with one. Stefan. Then Dom rescued me. He could’ve let me die. The Matteo thing is in the past. Dom wasn’t an asshole during it. I was just so scared. And ashamed. I didn’t want you to have to see that, Bianca. I didn’t want you to have to see Dom dothatwith another girl.”
“I know. I know,” I said, squeezing her hand. “We know this world is cold and cruel. I want you to know I’m OK. We’re all OK, right?”
She gave me a watery smile. “Yeah. We’re OK. Or we will be. I hate Matteo De Santis. I’ll do whatever it takes to rip him from this world. I swear it on Stefan’s grave.”
I hugged her again, a cold chill racing through me at her words.
I sure hoped we’d be OK. It was nice to talk to her.
It felt good to also know we had another ally when it came to Matteo De Santis.
He had to go.
I had a feeling Natalia Vasiliev would be part of his swan song if she had her way.
And so would I.
* * *
“Keep your head up. A De Santis bows to no one,” Dominic said as he led me through campus. “The lords think they have us by the balls. They’re only getting us warmed up.”
“And the horsemen?” I asked, my heart thudding hard.
That damn Cole.He was a lunatic and needed to be locked up. At least Ethan had some empathy and knocked my ass out. And Enzo. The devil reincarnate.Who the hell used a person as a pincushion?The Fox guy seemed the sanest of all if I had to pick one who wasn’t completely off their rocker. He was just present mostly.
To think, they had a girl they loved. A girl probably a lot like me. Maybe she was tougher. She’d have to be a tough bitch to deal with them. I only needed that night with them to know how much of a handful they most likely were.
Good for her.But I did pity her because I knew if Dominic had his way, the horsemen wouldn’t be long for this world, or he’d take her like they took me.
When Dominic’s phone rang, he pulled it out of his pocket and answered it. He looked to Levin. “Take her back to our room.”
He released me as he stopped to talked to someone, who I assumed had to be Vincent’s dad based on the friendly greeting in Italian.
“You OK?” Levin asked, winding his arm around my waist as he led me away from Dominic. “You look lost in thought.”
“Just thinking about the horsemen,” I said.
He tensed, and a scowl marred his handsome face. “Fuck them. I plan on making their deaths as slow and painful as possible. Fucking De Luca.”
“Does it have to be that way?”
Levin’s brows furrowed as I glanced at him. “Bumblebee, they used Vin in a game of hide the knife. Theytook youfrom us. There are consequences to every action, good or bad. They’re going to pay.”
“They have a girlfriend. I don’t know her name, but I know they love her. I can’t imagine how much it would hurt her if you hurt them—”
Levin tugged me to a stop and spun me to face him. “Look at me.”
I stared up at him. A tremor of excitement rippled through me as he gripped my chin.
“There’s a saying. It goes, all’s fair in love and war, and when the horsemen take the ones you love, the horsemen have to pay the price.”
“I think you added onto that first bit.”
“I did.” He clicked his tongue. “But you’re our girl. Ourqueen. No one fucks with a kings’ queen. The fact Vincent nearly lost his life over it is enough to want their hearts in a fucking box. We can’t let this go.”