Fatal Princess by Ella Miles

Beckett

When Odette says that Enzo Black, my half-brother and full brother in every way that matters, was the one who took her, my blood boils. It takes everything inside me not to strangle her to death right now.

She’s a fucking liar.

I know she’s lying. My brother would never do that. And if he did, he would tell me. It would serve some purpose. He wouldn’t hurt me like this. He wouldn’t make me think she was dead for weeks. Even if he was trying to help her, he would have told me the truth by now.

Or Kai would. Or Siren, Zeke, Langston, Liesel. Someone would have told me.

No, she’s a liar.

I don’t believe one word of her story. Not. One. Fucking. Word.

I don’t know what to do next, but I do know I’m not thinking clearly. I want to kill her for what she’s done, for putting Ri’s life in danger.

The problem is I don’t think killing Odette will solve much. It will mean I’m no longer married to her, but also every Retribution King will be after me. And I can’t help Ri if I’m being chased.

“Say something,” Odette pleads, reaching her hand out to touch my chest.

I take a big step back rather than letting our bodies touch. If I did, she’d be dead.

“You don’t want to hear what I have to say,” I growl so deeply the entire forest shakes.

“Beckett, you’re my husband. Of course, I want to hear what you say. I’ve done everything I could to get back to you. I—”

“Enough,” I command.

She closes her mouth.

Caius stands behind her like he wants to kill me. I still suspect he knew more than he’s letting on. I trust him about as much as I do his sister right now. I don’t trust any of the Retribution Kings either.

I look around at the other guys. I do trust Gage, Lennox, and Hayes. They helped get Ri out when I couldn’t. They protected her when I couldn’t. And they are looking at Odette, a woman they’ve known all their lives, with disdain in their eyes. For now, I’ll trust them.

“The Kings are here,” Gage says, pulling out his phone and reviewing the perimeter of the property.

Fuck.

I knew they’d come; I just wanted enough time to hear Odette’s story. I’ve heard it, and it’s bullshit. I don’t need to hear more.

“Gage, take Odette to one of the rooms and keep her there until I say otherwise.”

“Baby, tell me you believe me. Tell me you still love me because I still love you,” Odette tries again.

I don’t say anything. Gage grabs her arm and guides her inside the cabin. She doesn’t put up much of a fight—big, fat tears stream down her cheeks and wobbly bottom lip.

It won’t work on me, though. I’m heartless where she’s concerned.

No, you gave your heart to another woman, aworthy woman. It’s true, even if she now hates me because she thinks I betrayed her. That’s really why Odette will never have my heart again.

“Lennox and Hayes, strip Caius of his weapons and lock him up in another room.”

Caius moves to grab his weapons, to fight back, but they grab him before he has a chance. They’ve been friends a long time, so I wasn’t sure if they would follow my orders or his.

Hayes grabs Caius’s gun, Lennox Caius’s knife. Quickly, they have his hands behind his back.

“I didn’t know anything! And I believe every word of Odette’s story. She was kidnapped, raped, and abused by people you call family,” he yells and thrashes.

“I know, and it’s why I don’t trust you. I don’t blame you for believing your sister,” I reply.

“She’s your wife!” Caius spits out as Lennox and Hayes start walking him to the door.

A roll of rage washes through me when he says ‘wife.’ Technically, it might be true, but she doesn’t have my heart. I thought I loved her, and I was wrong. There is only one woman I love—one woman I’ve ever loved. And I fucked it all up by thinking I loved Odette instead.

Lennox and Hayes drag Caius away.

I follow after, heading to the front of the house to meet my fate. I check my weapons, ensuring I know where they are, but the sounds of cars and men tell me that it doesn’t matter how many guns I have on me, I won’t be able to fight my way out.

I walk out the front porch as I see more than a dozen men getting out of their cars.

Stan steps forward. He’s one of the elders, the one who helps when I’m not around.

If they’d let me leave, I’d give him my position in a heartbeat, but I have a feeling they won’t accept that. I know too much.

“Stan,” I say in the way of a greeting.

“Beckett.” He nods back at me. “We have a lot to discuss.”

I raise an eyebrow at the men behind him. “It seems like you came here to kill me, not to talk.”

“No, of course not. We came here to clear up the misunderstandings.”

“Of course,” I say sarcastically.

“Are you going to invite us in?”

I look out at the number of men that keep driving up. I think they’re up to over twenty.

“I don’t think we’ll fit, and I’d rather not get blood on the upholstery. It will be a bitch to clean.”

Stan laughs. “Oh, Beckett. We won’t be getting any blood anywhere. We just want to talk.”

“Then we can talk out here.”

He sighs but doesn’t fight me on it.

“What happened?”

“I don’t have to defend myself. I’m the leader of the Retribution Kings. You all have to listen to me.”

“That’s not entirely true. We picked you as our leader, but only if you finished the final task of getting retribution. You didn’t kill Rialta Corsi.”

“And good thing, too, since she didn’t actually kill Odette and isn’t responsible for her death. Good thing I didn’t start a war because you told me to. I would have doomed us all.”

Stan frowns. “So you knew Odette was alive?”

“No, I didn’t, but I did my own homework. I wasn’t going to kill someone without hard evidence.”

“Well, we’ll ignore your indiscretion because it ended up being the right thing.”

“Oh, you’ll ignore it, will you?” I grit out, my voice full of anger. “You wanted me as your leader; this is what you get. You have to trust that I make the right decisions for everyone.”

“We do, of course, we do.”

“Then why are you here?”

“To see Odette. We are overjoyed that our princess is still alive.”

“She’s resting. You can see her later. As you can imagine, she’s had a long day.”

“Sure, sure.”

“Why are you here?” I growl.

“We need to finish your initiation.”

“I think killing Rialta is moot now, don’t you?”

“You have to complete your retribution task. We all did. We can’t trust you fully until you complete it.”

“What task? And if I complete it, that’s it? You’ll trust me fully, and there will be no more meetings like this?”

“You will have everyone in the Retribution Kings’ full loyalty.”

“Odette is alive. There is no need to get retribution for her. What do you want me to do?”

Stan smiles deviously.

Chills race over my arm and all over my body. I don’t trust his smile.

He pulls out his phone and hands it to me.

It’s a video. I’m reluctant to press play, sure of what the “evidence” is he’s about to show me, but I need to see it.

I press play.

There’s a grainy video of one of Enzo’s yachts with Odette standing on the top deck. Enzo and Kai are on the deck too. Odette is yelling, but there is no sound. I have no idea what she’s saying or where they are.

I’m sure Stan is going to make it out like Odette was kidnapped and being held against her will. This was either photoshopped, or she climbed aboard the ship just to get this footage.

I hand the phone back to him. “It’s going to take more evidence than this to convince me that my brother took my wife and held her captive all this time. The last time I was shown a video like this, it wasn’t the whole story. I’m not going to go after my own family until I have much more evidence.”

Stan frowns.

“Enzo Black isn’t your family anymore. You took a vow when you became our leader. You became a Monroe. Your loyalty should be to us, not them.”

“I can be loyal to the Retribution Kings and still not kill my own brother with barely any evidence.”

“Half brother—Enzo is your half brother you didn’t even know about most of your life.”

I want to punch the foul smirk off his face, but I don’t think it would help the situation.

“I want more evidence,” I grit out, trying to keep my temper at bay.

“Has Odette told you what happened?” he asks like he wasn’t listening the entire time and knows exactly what Odette said to me.

I take my time answering, studying him closely. I don’t know how he could have been listening, but I decide to go with the truth. “Yes, Odette told me her story.”

“And what did she say?”

“That Enzo kidnapped her.”

“Your own wife told you what happened. That’s all the evidence you need. She told you the truth, and now you must get retribution for her.”

I close my eyes, keeping my rage in, instead of letting it explode out of me. My brows pinch together, and I swear I’m getting a full-on migraine from this conversation.

“Odette just went through a very traumatic experience. I’m not sure her memories are to be relied on. We don’t know if Enzo kidnapped her to hurt her or save her.”

He shakes his head in disgust. “I understand that your feelings are a bit complicated, which is why we have taken it upon ourselves to study the evidence. Odette was kidnapped by Enzo Black. Your final initiation task is simple—kill Enzo Black, put an end to his empire, and then you’ll be king of the Retribution Kings.”

His words show how little they know. The way to end the Black Empire is not to kill Enzo; his wife, Kai, is far more in charge of things than he is.

“And if I don’t?”

“You have one month to complete your new task, same as before. And if you don’t, we’ll kill you.”

My jaw ticks, and everything clicks into place.

This is why they picked me. They’ve wanted Enzo dead this whole time. They wanted someone from his inner circle to have the knowledge and motivation to kill him. They didn’t count on me falling out of love with Odette, though.

“Where are your men?” he asks.

“Inside resting.”

“I’d like to chat with them and add some new soldiers to your ranks to help you complete your initiation task.”

He tries to brush past me, but I step into his path. “I’m happy with my current team, thank you.”

“You don’t have a choice. Right now, I’m your second. And as a fully initiated member, I have more power than you do, especially now that you are on thin ice.”

I stare at him and then out as his men. I have two choices.

One—go along with everything he says. Let him keep some of his men here as spies and basically jailers. Then I’ll figure out how to get rid of them later.

Two—fight now.

The first option might be smarter, but the second option gives me a faster chance to go after Ri.

I have no idea where she is or if she’s safe. What I do know is that she’s pissed. She cared about me, possibly even loved me, but after what I did, she’ll hate me forever. She’ll never forgive me. Every second I let her keep thinking that I have less and less chance of her forgiving me, of her loving me ever again.

I look at Stan and make my choice; the only route I’m willing to take—I fight.