Fatal Princess by Ella Miles

Ri

“What are you doing here?” I ask Ryker as we both stand in the doorway of my apartment.

Looking at his black, mid-length hair and devilish grin, he’s the last person I expected here. Ryker has a reputation as one of the cruelest leaders, but after he offered up two of his men to help me, I’m not sure if his reputation is warranted. It doesn’t mean I trust him either, though.

“I won the game.”

Oh, shit. He’s here to collect his prize—me.

“You can go to hell. I’m not going to let you kidnap me, treat me as your possession, and then let you rape me. I’ll kill you first. Ask Leighton what happened to his men when he tried it.” I slam the door in his face, but he catches it with his hand.

I aim my gun at him, expecting him to do the same, followed by a dozen men filing into my apartment. Instead, Ryker puts his hands up in the air.

“I’m not here to kidnap you. And I would never think of raping or hurting a woman.”

I frown. “Your reputation says differently.”

“And your reputation is that of a damsel in distress, nothing more than a princess who can’t take care of herself. Neither of our reputations tells the whole truth.”

I don’t drop my aim as he slowly enters our apartment, his hands still up.

“I’m here to protect you,” he says.

“Why?”

“You’re my responsibility for the week. If anything happens to you, Corsi will have my head, and my men will be without a leader once again. So my loyalty is to you for the week. I will do everything in my power to keep you safe.”

He seems genuine, but I don’t trust him. I don’t trust anyone—not after Beckett betrayed me, the only man I thought I could love.

He puts his hands down, but I don’t drop my gun.

“I’ll take you and Lucy wherever you want, but you can’t stay in this apartment. It’s not safe. Too many people know about it, and too many people will come looking for you.”

“How do you know about Lucy?”

“I did my due diligence.”

I was right. Everyone knows about Lucy, and she’s not safe.

“You’ll take us anywhere?”

“Anywhere.” He nods.

“Even if I wanted to go to a rival gang? You’d take me there? Make sure we were safe?”

“I promise to take you wherever you want to go. You will not be a prisoner with me. If you want to go back to Beckett, I’ll take you.”

I don’t ask how he knows that’s where I would want to go.

“If you betray us if you fail to keep us safe, if you trap us or hurt either of us in any way, I will kill you. My father and I will ruin your entire gang and everyone you love, do you understand?”

Ryker smiles. “Of course, why else do you think I’m here? The goodness of my heart? I may like you, but I wouldn’t be risking my life to protect you if it didn’t serve my own self-interest.”

His smile is what gets me. It’s so genuine and sweet, not to mention the light behind his eyes. He plays the villain well. I’ve seen his monster act firsthand, but his men respected him and wanted to work for him.

This could be an epic mistake, but then again, I’m used to making epic mistakes. I wish I could rely entirely on myself, but I don’t have a choice. There are too many people that want me and will have no problem hurting Lucy to control me.

I’ll go with him for now, but that doesn’t mean I’ll trust him.

“Take us to a private house rental. Pay in cash. Only you are allowed to know the location, no one else.” It’s a lot to ask. He’d be lying to his men, hiding the truth from them. I don’t expect him to agree.

“Your wish is my command, Princess.”

I frown, lowering the gun for the first time. “Don’t call me Princess.”

He chuckles low and deep. “Okay, Rialta.”

I wince. “Don’t call me Rialta either.”

He raises his eyebrows. “What would you like me to call you?”

“Ri, just Ri.”

“Well, Ri, give me five minutes to figure out a house we can go to and something to tell my men as to why they won’t be seeing much of me this week.” He pulls out his phone.

I’m still not sure I should trust him, but I accept that he won’t try to shoot or kidnap me in the next five minutes, so I leave him in the living room and head to Lucy’s room.

She opens the door with a frown. “No.”

“No, what?”

“No, I’m not going. I have school, a job, a life. I’m not going to live in some random house with a guy I don’t know. This place is impenetrable. No one will hurt me here!” She crosses her arms and sticks out her hips with a deep pout on her face.

“Luce, please,” I say softly.

“No.”

“Luce, how many times have I been kidnapped over the years?”

“That’s not fair. I haven’t—”

“Lucy,” I plead with my eyes. Loki trudges over to Lucy’s side and licks her hand encouragingly.

“Fine, but you’re going to explain to Frank why I don’t show up for work. I don’t have any tests this week, so it shouldn’t be that big of a deal if I miss class. And I get the best room.”

I smile. “Done.”

She rolls her eyes and then stomps back into her room to start packing. I start to head to my room to pack as well but stop in my doorway.

“Only one bag!”

“You’re no fun!” Lucy yells back, making me laugh.

I gather a backpack worth of clothes and toiletries quickly, not really caring which clothes I pack before moving on to the more important things—weapons. I pack several knives and guns before heading back out to see if Ryker has found a place.

He looks up from his phone when he sees me. “You pack light. I like that.”

The next moment, Lucy rolls out an oversized cheetah-print suitcase with Loki’s dog bed and a bag of his supplies sitting on top.

Ryker frowns, rubbing the back of his head as he stares at her. “We’re going to be gone less than a week. Is all that shit really necessary?”

“Yes,” Lucy spits back.

Well, there isn’t going to be any love lost between the two of them.

Loki decides to take a moment to inspect the new person in our apartment. I expect him to bark or jump on him. Instead, he wags his tail as he licks Ryker’s hand.

“Huh,” Lucy says, looking at Loki’s reaction and then to me.

Maybe I was right to trust Ryker, but it’s still too soon to let my guard down. I won’t let the fact that Loki seems to like him mean I give him my full trust. Loki also liked Beckett, and he almost killed me.

“Found a place?” I ask Ryker.

“I did.” He holds out his phone to me.

I take it and see a house listing that says sold. I scrunch my nose. “You bought a house? How did you make this happen so quickly?”

“I’m always looking for new safe houses. I bought this one last week. No one knows about it but me. It’s fully furnished and safe. But if you’d prefer me to find another place, just say the word.”

His eyes are sincere. I still don’t understand why he’s helping me, not really. Why would he even enter the game if he doesn’t have some ulterior motive?

I hand him back his phone. “This will work.”

He nods, tucking his phone back in his pocket. He looks down at Lucy’s bag. “You able to carry that thing? I need to be focused on our safety, not worried about your bag.”

Lucy crosses her arms over her chest and huffs. “I can roll my bag just fine.”

“Good. Ready, Ri?”

I nod, reaching for my gun at the same time Ryker grabs his own.

“Shoot to kill, Ri.”

“I will.”

“Let’s go.” Ryker leads the way out of my apartment, followed by Lucy rolling her bag with Loki right beside her, and I take up the rear, hoping Lucy won’t get caught in any crossfire.

I don’t know what awaits us. Vincent or Beckett or others might be waiting to attack us, so our only shot is to get out of here as fast as possible.

The hallway is clear, as is the garage when we make it down the elevator. We make it all the way to Ryker’s car without being attacked.

Lucy and Loki climb in the back seat while Ryker and I quickly hop in front. Ryker and I are both still gripping our guns as he pulls out of the space.

“That was strange,” I say.

“How was that strange? You two overreact,” Lucy says from the backseat.

“No, it was strange. There are too many people after you. We should have been attacked,” Ryker says.

There’s an unease that circles through the car. Even Loki stills as we all stare out various windows, just waiting to be ambushed. None of the following uneventful miles we drive ease our anxieties.

And then it happens.

The car is bumped from behind. We surge forward, Ryker barely hangs onto control.

I move to point my gun out the window, but Ryker grabs my arm. “Don’t put yourself in danger.”

“Someone has to try and stop them.”

“Then that someone is going to be me. Take the wheel.”

He slides up in his seat, motioning for me to take his place. For a second, I look at him like’s fucking crazy. But then the car rams into us from behind again, and I realize now isn’t the time to argue his judgment.

I hop across the center console and into the seat, taking the wheel just as he pops open the driver’s door and hangs from the car like a badass, and shoots at the car behind us.

I look in the rearview mirror and see the car spinning to a stop as Ryker swings back in. He rolls over my lap until he reaches the passenger’s seat.

“Do you see anyone else?” I ask, gripping the wheel hard, ready for almost everything.

“There’s no one behind you—”

A popping sound interrupts him, and I feel the car jerk as I drive.

“Someone hit the tires,” I say, feeling the tug of the car, knowing it’s not going to be drivable much longer.

Ryker turns to Lucy. “When Ri stops the car, run in the opposite direction of us. They will be focused on Ri. Run and take cover the second you can. We’ll find you as soon as it’s safe.”

Lucy looks to me, and I nod, agreeing.

I turn the car toward an alleyway before it becomes completely undrivable. The second I stop, Lucy and Loki jump out and start running down the alley.

I reach for my door, but Ryker stops me. “Let me take the lead.”

“I don’t take orders, and I don’t let others put their lives before mine,” I say with a frown and open my door before Ryker can stop me.

Immediately, bullets fly around us as I duck behind the door and fire back.

“Do you know who they are?” I ask Ryker, who has climbed down next to me and is shooting at them.

He narrows his eyes. “They are the Lolitos.”

He hesitates a moment as he looks at the men shooting at us.

I stop firing and look at him.

“You know them?”

“Some of them used to be my friends.”

I frown. “Then why are they…”

“They think I’ll turn on you, that I’ll help them. They aren’t participating in the game. They just want you dead, and Corsi’s legacy destroyed.”

“So why aren’t you giving me to them?”

“Because I keep my promises.”

He jumps out in front of our car door with a new vengeance before I can stop him. One after one, I see him take down our attackers without hesitation.

I’m frozen.

These men were his friends, and yet he’s killing them all.

My mouth is agape as I watch him murder friend after friend until there is only one man left.

Ryker stares him down, aiming the gun at him, but doesn’t fire.

The man facing him doesn’t lower his gun, though. Instead, I see his eyes cut to me. He’s about to shoot me. Despite all of his friends being killed, he doesn’t think Ryker will shoot him.

Ryker’s hand trembles. Whoever this person is, he means more to him than all the rest.

“Drop your gun, Hector.” Ryker’s voice is strong and determined, meant to show Hector how serious he is.

“She has to die, Ryker. You know that. She can’t live. Corsi can’t continue on. You joined the game to have their power, but we decided to destroy it, so there is no power to be gained.”

“You can’t shoot her. Drop. Your. Gun.”

“You won’t shoot me. And you definitely won’t kill me. We grew up together.”

“Please,” Ryker says, his arm shaking so much I’m afraid even if he fires his gun, he’ll miss.

I should shoot this man. I shouldn’t make Ryker decide. But somehow, I can’t do it. I can’t be the one to end this man’s life—Ryker’s friend.

Maybe he’ll shoot me and put me out of my misery. I’ve only had a broken heart for a few hours, but I can already tell it’s something I can’t endure for a lifetime.

I close my eyes, willing him to shoot me, to end it all right here.

I hear the pop of the gun.

I don’t feel any sharp shock of pain, but then again, I’m so numb at this point I doubt a bullet would make an impact. Nothing can be as painful as a broken heart caused by broken love.

I open my eyes, looking for the wound on my body to see how long it will take for me to bleed out and die. But as I open my eyes, I can’t find an obvious wound anywhere.

My heart sinks as I look out and find Ryker standing over his friend’s limp body. Ryker’s breathing is slow and steady, while his eyes are locked on his friend.

Ryker shot his childhood friend to protect me.

I don’t understand why.

I don’t understand if he’s really afraid for his own life if I die or if he thinks keeping me alive is the best for his own gang. Or maybe there’s some other reason he’s not telling me?

All I know is he’s going to be as broken as me now. He’ll never forget this single kill as long as he lives.

Slowly, I walk over to him and place my hand gently on his shoulder.

He jumps at my touch.

I open my mouth to apologize, but I slam it shut. Nothing I say can take his pain away.

“Let’s find Lucy and get out of here,” Ryker says, shaking my touch off as he walks away.

I stare down at the man who wanted to kill me, the man Ryker killed to protect me. So many men have died trying to kill me, so many more will, and all for a chance to steal everything my father has worked for.

I don’t know how to stop it—the unending bleeding—but I’m going to find a way. The pain and suffering have to stop, and I’m the only one who can.