Diamonds and Blood: Truborn Heirs Series Book 4 by Nyna Queen

Author:Nyna Queen [Queen, Nyna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Levire
Published: 2023-07-07T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

THE Duke’s wide-eyed gaze flickered from her to Darken and back. It took him a moment to make his voice work. “S-sasha. Why, I—I didn’t expect you. What a pleasant surprise.”

Yeah, I bet.

Alex strolled along the table, ignoring the other gangster bosses who were following her movements with their eyes like a shiver of sharks. The moment she turned her back on them for a second too long, they would try to bite a bloody chunk out of her neck. Alex wasn’t too worried about the lot, though. They would let Valentine go down any time if it meant saving their own hides.

She stopped next to Valentine’s “throne”.

“It’s been a while, Val,” she said pleasantly. “Why don’t we have a little chat in your office?”

Realizing she wasn’t there to kill him—at least not right away—Valentine remembered that he was supposed to be the fearless leader of this bunch of morons. His thin lips twisted into the semblance of a smile.

“Well, as happy as I am to see you, my dearest Sasha, as you can see I’m quite busy at the moment. Perhaps we could—”

Alex produced a second knife and drove the tip into the tabletop so close to his fingers he must’ve felt the draft. The Duke loudly sucked in air.

Alex pulled the knife out and turned it over in her hands, letting the light from the chandelier catch its wickedly sharp tip while pretending to think about it.

“I’ll give you a choice, Valentine,” she said after a moment. “You can either talk to me right now—or you can talk to my fiancé later.” She pointed her chin at Darken, who was leaning against the wall beside the door, watching the Duke with a dreamy expression. “The choice is entirely yours, sugar.”

Valentine swallowed visibly.

The double-winged door at the other end of the room split in the middle and disgorged more than half a dozen bodyguards with drawn weapons.

The cavalry. And with such a delay, too.

Safeties came off with an audible click, click, click.

Darken didn’t bother moving. Nor did Alex. She kept her gaze locked on Valentine.

The bodyguards also looked at their boss with big question marks in their eyes.

The Duke gave an almost imperceptible shake of his head.

Alex released a breath she hadn’t been aware of holding. Valentine Mercurio was many things, but he wasn’t a complete fool. He had managed to dominate the criminal underworld of the realm for more than a decade and survived to this day, which was proof of it.

Provoking a Forfeit to use his magic in such an enclosed space was unequivocally calling for a full-scale slaughter, which might result in Valentine’s own death. It went against all his survival instincts. Humoring her was the much safer alternative for everybody in the room, even if it cost him an ounce of pride. Pride could be repaired. Death? Not so much.

With great effort, the Duke screwed another smile onto his features. “Well, of course, of course, I’ll talk to you, Sasha. It has indeed been too long.

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