Fatal Princess by Ella Miles

Beckett

The look on Ri’s face as I run to her will haunt me for all of my days. Her gaunt face, tear-streaked eyes, and stern frown broke my heart. I can see how I’d broken hers. Not just broken, but I shattered her heart beyond repair. The damage I did—I won’t be able to fix it, not as long as I live.

The thought shatters what’s left of my own heart as I watch her disappear into the tunnel.

It’s clear what Ri thought—I was going to kill her. She didn’t see the truth. For that, I can never be forgiven.

Gage snaps the door shut behind her as I reach the guys.

“Where is she going?” I ask.

The guys all look to Gage. He’s the one who appears to be making the decisions at the moment.

“Somewhere safe,” he answers.

I take a deep breath. I want to know where. I want to go to her immediately, but we have bigger problems at the moment.

“Promise she’ll be safe,” I ask, my voice cracking, my body screaming to run after her as I stare at the space in the wall where she disappeared.

“Ri will be safe. No one knows about this tunnel except us, Caius, and his father. This was an emergency escape for the leader. She’ll be safe,” Gage says.

I nod.

“Who was attacking?” Lennox asks.

“The Retribution Kings. They were mad with what I did.”

“Our own people were attacking? Are you sure?” Hayes asks.

I nod.

“Jesus Christ. We need to get out of here then,” Hayes says.

I agree.

“Beckett!” her voice sends chills down my spine. It’s a voice I’ve longed to hear again. I’ve wanted to hear her voice for so fucking long, but now it sounds like nails on a chalkboard.

I turn in time to see Odette and Caius running toward us. They’re out of breath when they finally reach us.

“How the hell are you alive?” Lennox asks, staring at Odette with anger in his eyes.

I look around the group, and it seems everyone except for Caius has a stern glare on their face as they stare at Odette.

“We need to get somewhere safe first, then Odette can explain what happened. We can go back to my place,” Caius says, placing a comforting hand on her back.

“No,” I say.

All eyes are on me.

“We go to the cabin. It’s further away and safer. Your condo will be the first place they look,” I say.

Caius opens his mouth to argue, but he sees the look on my face and doesn’t say anything.

We all start jogging out toward our cars when I feel a hand brush against mine. I glance down to see Odette’s fingers threading through mine.

My hand goes cold at the sight, and I harshly pull my hand away.

She frowns at me.

I don’t want to think about the truth—we are still legally married. And yet she’s tricked me and lied to me—god knows what the truth is.

We make it to the SUV, and all pile in. Lennox takes the driver’s seat, and I take the front passenger seat. I don’t want to sit for an hour next to Odette while we drive.

Gage and Hayes climb in the back, and Caius sits next to Odette in the middle row, comforting her like she just survived extreme torture. Although from the looks of her, she looks pretty damn healthy to me. Not a mark, scar, or bruise is visible on her skin.

I turn on the radio as soon as Lennox starts driving, making it clear to everyone there will be no talking until we get to the cabin. I should be thinking about the repercussions of my actions. About the men that will be coming after us or about how Odette is alive, but all I can think about is Ri. I hope like hell she’s run far, far away from here.

Because if I have to watch her forced to marry another man when the games are over, I’m not sure I can handle it. I’m not sure I can handle watching her go through any more pain.

Lennox pulls up to the cabin far too soon.

“It’s safe,” Gage says from the backseat.

We all climb out and head inside, going straight for the liquor. I pour myself a drink, not bothering to ask anyone else if they want one before walking out onto the back deck.

I need plenty of fresh air and a lot of fucking alcohol in my system before I have this conversation.

Odette is the first to find me outside.

She walks toward me with her arms outstretched, expecting me to welcome her home. She expects me to hug her, to love her again. But the truth is I’m not sure if I ever loved her in the first place.

Instead of holding her, I lift my drink to my mouth as I stare at her. She gets the hint and stops.

“I—” she starts.

“Wait until everyone else is out here. That way, you only have to tell your story once.”

She frowns. “You don’t want privacy?”

“No.”

I pace on the deck while she quietly takes a seat on one of the wicker chairs. Everyone else files out quickly and sits on the various chairs and benches. I’m the only one who remains standing, leaning against a post.

“Start talking, Odette, and don’t leave anything out,” I snap, more fury spewing out of my lips than I realized I had.

She looks to Caius and then back to me, taking a deep breath. “Before our wedding, there was a death threat against me, a plot to kill me. My father’s condition was poor, and we knew he wouldn’t survive much longer, so we couldn’t postpone the wedding.”

“Who is we?” I ask, interrupting.

Her eyes flutter to Caius. “My father, Caius, and me.”

I frown. Caius knew more than he was telling me—the bastard.

I take a long sip of my whiskey.

Odette fidgets with the ends of the strands of her hair, but she continues. “We knew you and I needed to get married and initiate you in as the leader as soon as possible. But we also had to protect me, so we also changed the date of the wedding—to throw everyone off. And as soon as the wedding was over, I needed to disappear.”

“Disappear maybe, but die?” I growl.

“Disappearing wouldn’t have helped. They would have still come after me. I had to die in order to stay alive. And you had to think I was dead—everyone did—in order for our plan to work. If you weren’t devastated, no one would have believed I was dead.”

I have so many questions, but I start with, “Who are they? Who wanted you dead and why?”

“Vincent Corsi. He’s been trying to destroy the Retribution Kings for years. We cause the most conflict with the various gangs when we take retribution into our own hands. My father almost started an all-out war between the gangs, and Corsi wasn’t happy about it. He wanted to teach my father a lesson in retribution to show that he had all the power in this city. He wants the Retribution Kings under his control, so he called for my death.”

“You knew Odette was alive?” I ask Caius.

“No, I didn’t. I knew that her life was at risk and that she was going to try and disappear, but after I saw those horrible photos, I thought she was dead—same as you,” Caius says.

I don’t know if I believe him, but I want to hear more of what Odette has to say.

“How did you fake your death? And how did Ri come into this?” I ask.

Odette sighs.

“I hated leaving on our wedding night, but I knew that’s when it had to be done. I needed blood—a lot of blood. So I drew my own blood and spread it around the room to make it look like I’d been dangerously close to death when I was taken. But I needed an attacker, someone Caius and my father wouldn’t recognize. I couldn’t just use anyone.”

“How did you rope Ri into this?” I ask, losing patience with her.

“After she interrupted our wedding, I knew she was exactly who I was looking for. I didn’t realize she was a Corsi; that was just a bonus. I just thought she was a scared girl in need of some money. Once I told her my story, she agreed to help me without payment.”

She takes a deep breath and then continues. “I knew you’d go downstairs to get my medicine, so that’s when I had Rialta come to my room. She pretended to fight me, to threaten me. She did cut my skin and make me bleed, but I was willing to endure that in order to survive.”

“So then you spent your time on some private island living the good life while everyone here thought you were dead? The fake photos of your bloody body were a nice touch. Whose body did we bury? Did you kill someone to pretend they were you?” I rage.

I’m pissed, beyond pissed. I can’t believe she would do this to me. I can’t believe I ever loved this woman. I can’t fucking believe I fell in love with a monster.

“The body was a woman who died of cancer, similar age and build.”

I shake my head as I pace. “Where have you been all this time?”

“My plan was to run, to always be running. I’d wait tables, bartend, clean houses, pick up any job I could to survive. I thought I’d be giving you a better life. You could take over as leader—I knew you’d be amazing at it, Beckett. You deserved to be the leader, needed to be the leader of the Retribution Kings.

“But I also knew that you deserved to find someone who didn’t lie to you, someone you chose to love, not a fake like me. I did love you, and I still do, but I didn’t think I was enough. So I thought the best plan was to fake my death—save myself and let you live your life.” Her voice is practically shaking now.

Caius goes to her and puts his arms around her shoulders, tucking her into his side. He stares at me like he can’t believe I’m not the one holding her right now.

Everyone else stays in their seats, though, watching her closely. I can’t read any of their faces. I don’t know if they trust her or not, but I know what I believe.

“Stop your tears. You chose to leave. You chose to keep me in the dark when I could have easily protected you and kept you safe. You ran. You chose to go it alone. You didn’t give me a chance to decide if I really loved you despite the lies.”

Odette pushes Caius out off her shoulders as she stomps toward me with fire in her eyes. I don’t cower. I don’t back down, even though I’m pretty sure she’s about to slap me.

“You have no idea what I’ve been through these past few weeks!” she yells.

“And you have no idea the pain I’ve been through!”

She frowns and pulls up her sleeves, revealing a plethora of scars and bruises on her arms. “I was free a grand total of one week before I was taken. I was tortured and raped and abused. My life was threatened every night, and I wasn’t sure if I was going to wake up the next morning or die in my sleep. I’ve spent every day regretting my decision. Every day realizing the mistake I made in not trusting you. It’s made me realize how much I love you. I’d do anything for you.”

I narrow my eyes as I study her bruises—they’re real enough, but that doesn’t mean I believe her story.

“How did you escape?” I ask. She grew up in this world. She could have had as much training and skill as Ri, but I doubt that.

“I was released with a warning to you. You have to step down as leader of the Retribution Kings. Otherwise, they will kidnap me again and actually kill me.”

Her story is a mess, full of reasons not to believe her. Not to mention she has never told me the truth in her life, so I don’t trust a word she says without undeniable proof. Even then, I’m not sure I’ll believe her, not when I saw a video of Ri killing her, and it turned out to be a lie.

But I have one question left. There’s only one question that could give me some answers.

“Who took you?”

Her nostrils flare as she thinks of the evil who took her. “Enzo Black.”