Chapter 397 399

Chapter 397 399
Smiling in satisfaction, I nod and turn towards the door Dr. Lenore had emerged from.

When I slide the partition open, I get a small window into the space beyond. Which is predictably small and dark, but there is a low bed pushed to one wall and a small table next to it. I notice a glass of water on the table and an empty plate and I breathe a sigh of relief.

“Kian?”

He appears at the window. His face is disturbingly gaunt but his blue eyes seem even more piercing than I remember.

I grip the partition, my fingers edging between the gaps in the grille. “Are you okay?” I ask urgently. “Are they treating you better now?”

“Renata…” He says my name so softly that I have to strain to pick it up. His eyes bore into my face as though he’s trying to take a mental snapshot. It’s lovely. Touching. Almost tender, in the strangest of ways. My heart twinges and I don’t know what I’m expecting him to say…

But it certainly isn’t what he says next. “What the fuck were you thinking?”

I frown. “‘Thank you’ works, too, you know.”

“Fuck that,” he growls. “You made a stupid decision.”

I bristle. “I was trying to stop him from killing you.”

“You didn’t stop him. You just postponed things.”

“Meaning what? You’ve given up?”

“I never said that.”

“No? Then what are you saying?” I prod.

He closes his eyes for a moment. I can see the frustration all over his face and it just makes me sad. Emotional. Fucking heartbroken.

Because I’ve done this for him. I’ve walked into a lifetime of servitude for him.

And apparently, all that gets me is anger and frustration.

Then it hits me. Just because I’m at a point where I think that’s a worthy tradeoff, doesn’t mean he is. Maybe, like always, I’ve read the situation completely wrong. I take half a step back from the window, thoughts churning. That seems to catch his attention.

“Renata.”

“What?”

“Don’t do that.”

“Don’t do what?”

“Shut down,” he says.

“Right. Sorry,” I say bitterly. “You’re the only one who has the right to shut down. Is that right?”

He meets my gaze. “I told you, I fucking told you to stay—”

“I know,” I snap. “I fucking know. And you were right. I shouldn’t have left. But I did.”

“Why?” he demands.

“Because I wanted answers, Kian!” I tell him. “I wanted to know who my mother was. I wanted to know what she was to my father. What he was to her. The only person with those answers was Drago. And I thought if I got him out, then he’d tell me.”

“And did he?”

I sigh. “He gave me just enough to make me think he knew everything. And then he called Rokiades.”

“What was the plan, Renata?” Kian asks scathingly. “Did you even have one?”

His tone is cutting, but I know I deserve it. My hand wanders to my stomach. I’m glad he can’t see the gesture from his vantage point. The truth is on the tip of my tongue, but I swallow it down.

Now is not the time.

“I had a plan,” I admit. “It wasn’t fully-formed, but I had one.”

“Care to share it with me now? Just for curiosity’s sake.”

“I was going to get the truth from Drago, get back on shore, and get as far away from this city as possible.”

“That’s a pretty shitty plan, all things considered.”

“What would you have done in my place?” I ask softly. “Everywhere I go, everywhere I turn, there’s another man trying to use me to gain power. I don’t want to be a pawn anymore, Kian.”

“Then don’t be,” he says. “Be a player.”

“How? I’m tied down now.”

He narrows his eyes. “What does that mean?”

I drop my hand from my stomach. “I made a deal with Rokiades, Kian. You saw it.”

“Fuck the deal. You’re not really going to marry that puffed-up old goat, are you?”

“I don’t have a choice.”

He slams his hands against the door and I gasp, taking a step back automatically as the metal clangs harshly in the frame.

My guards start moving forward immediately, but I hold up my hand to stop them. “It’s fine,” I say as they fall back into place. “Stay where you are.”

“Look at you,” Kian says bitterly. “Falling into the role perfectly.”

“Why are you so angry?” I ask, defensiveness coursing through my body. “I did this for you!”

“Yeah?” he says, his eyes dark with anger. “But why did you do this for me? You ran before, and now you’re willing to give yourself for Rokiades just to save me. It doesn’t make sense.”

“Then you haven’t been paying attention,” I snap. “I wanted freedom. That doesn’t mean I don’t care about you.”

I’m so angry that I allow myself to say the words before I can think twice about them.

He stops short. His expression grows complicated. “You care about me, huh?”

The silence is thick and tense. There’s no turning back now. And I don’t want to be a coward. “I didn’t lie, you know,” I say. “That last hour we spent together before I ran, nothing I told you was a lie. I don’t think even I realized it until then.”

I shake my head.

“But it’s hard for me to know who to trust. Every man I’ve ever met has betrayed or abandoned me sooner or later. My father, my brother, my husband. And now they’re all gone and I have to continue.”

“Your brother’s not gone.”

I frown. “What?”

“I fished Drago off the yacht before it blew up,” Kian tells me. “Saved the fucker’s life, even though he doesn’t deserve it.”

“You… saved him?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

He hesitates. The silence is heavy, and I try to read between the lines. “You saved him for me… didn’t you?”

“I might still decide to have him killed,” Kian says gruffly.

I almost smile. “So you care about me, too?”

“Jesus,” he groans. “I thought that was fucking obvious when I was trying to keep you out of Rokiades’s clutches.”

“How could I not think that was about a power play? About keeping me as a bargaining chip?”

“I suppose I can’t blame you,” he admits quietly. “I just wish you had trusted me.”

My jaw clenches. I’m starting to feel nauseous again. “The wedding is in a few weeks, Kian,” I say. “I’m going to try and get him to release you before then.”

“You know he’ll never do it, Renata,” Kian scoffs. “He’s playing you. The moment you’ve married him, the fucker’s going to kill me.”

“I’m not an idiot,” I retort. “I figured that much out. I just wanted to buy you time.”

“And who’s going to buy you time, eh?” he presses. “You agreed to marry him. What’s stopping that?”

“I had to give him something he wanted.”

“You shouldn’t have given him anything,” he hisses. “I will get out of here.”

“How?”

He raises his eyebrows. “You think my men are just sitting idly by? You think my brother isn’t on his way here? The Clan is coming, Renata,” he tells me. “I would have been out of here regardless. You should have stayed calm, kept your cool, and pretended as though I meant nothing to you.”

“Maybe pretending is easy for you,” I say. “But it’s not for me. You were being beaten to within an inch of your life. I couldn’t just watch it continue.”

“I was fine.”

“That’s your pride talking.”

“No, it’s your naivete talking. He laid a trap for you, and you walked right into it.”

I bite down on my tongue, trying to keep calm, but he keeps goading me. Keeps pushing me away. “Forgive me for not playing the game,” I growl. “I’m not like you. Or him. And I happen to think that’s a good thing.”