Throne of Power (Throne Duet, #1)

by Rina Kent

what will you do once she figures out who you are?” “She won’t.” “And if she does?” “So what if she does?” “She’ll turn your life into hell.” I have no doubt she would do just that.

Which is weird, considering that’s not part of my mission. If anything, being tangled up in Rai Sokolov might compromise what I came back to do. And yet, whenever she looks at me with those challenging eyes, all I can think about is taking her up on it.

Controlling our emotions is the first thing we were trained to do, and yet, all those years seem to vanish whenever this spitfire of a woman is around.

She narrows her eyes on me in that suspicious way. I wouldn’t blame her. All my actions have been red-alert-worthy.

“As you shouldn’t. The moment you trust me, you start digging your own grave, Princess.”

The reason I do is that we were trained to read body language, especially that of an opponent before an attack. That’s Adrian right now—he’s ready to pounce. Well, isn’t that fucking interesting?

Before my nerves get the better of me, I sink to my knees in front of him. Time to snatch my power back.

So even though my body would willingly surrender to his touch, I won’t. He killed that part of me.

the day I stood all alone in this room, when he never showed up. He never snuck up on me from behind and asked if I missed him.

“You will never forget about that, will you?”

“Let it out. Instead of fighting it, feel it…all of it.”

I want to do is protect that delicate side of her—the

All I want to do is unleash myself whole on her—the bad and the ugly included—but I know that will only confirm her suspicions about me and give her an incentive to leave me. So I do the only other thing I can think of: I make her mine, because I’m that selfish, because the cards I was dealt fucking suck.

Who are you, Kyle? Who are your parents? Where are you really from? What’s your real last name? Is Kyle even your real name, or is it another ‘fuck you’ I have to live with once you’re gone?”

I’m bleeding, but he doesn’t see it. I’m choking, but he’d never allow me air.

“A percentage I’m willing to take considering you intend on leaving.” “I didn’t say that. Your trust issues did.”

“Like what? Like I will be there for you and our baby? Like I will read him or her a goodnight story, then come fuck you senseless in our bedroom? Those types of things?”

“I already am. Why the fuck do you think I’m kissing up to the Italians’ arses with Adrian all the time?”

putting the toy inside of me, a reminder that he’s with me at all times.

“With what? That our baby boy or girl is growing inside you?”

Kirill is the one who’s able to inflict the worst damage. He doesn’t stop. Ever. I have no doubt he’s digging into me, trying to find a way to push me completely out so he can sink his foxlike claws into Sergei and V Corp.

she’s either his weakness or she holds something over him.

Rai is kissing me when I’m ruthlessly using her body and showing her the monster I truly am, the monster who left her because she has enough monsters to deal with.

But it doesn’t matter how much I hate what she stands for. I’ve never hated her. She’s the only one I’ve ever allowed this close.

She wanted me killed. Now she’s smiling because I woke up. This woman is a paradox.

You said to hurt them enough to start a war.

Godfather asked about me? But why? When we parted ways ten years ago, he made it clear that he didn’t want to see my face again.

“Your life will never be the same in the near future.”

Little by little, the bridge that was already broken between us has started to build again. For the first time since our marriage, it feels like there’s something to salvage between us,

However, after he told me why he left me—because he thought I was cold toward him—something inside me softened.

emotional aspects are separate, but they’re not for me. I never once thought my body was disconnected from my heart, so ever since the first time Kyle stimulated my body, he touched something inside my chest, too. With every unapologetic fuck, he lodged himself in even deeper.

“I’m British, Princess—passive-aggressive behavior is in our nature.”

“I wasn’t fine,” he confesses against my skin. “In fact, I was miserable. I missed you.”

“I have another promise for you.” “What type of promise?” He raises my hand to his lips and brushes them against the skin. “The type where I will never leave. And if I do leave, you’re coming with me.”

I’m the villain of this tale. I’m the reason her beloved brotherhood will be wiped away.

My fist tightens at the sound of that name. Rolan Fitzpatrick. There’s no way in hell I would ever forget it.

“I don’t care who you have to kill from the Russians as long as it’s an elite and not Adrian or Sergei.” “Why not Sergei? He would’ve been my first choice.”

“By the end, I want both the Irish and the Russians destroyed.” This is my vengeance.

he’s not Igor’s son.

Fuck my heart. I will crush it and Kyle before anyone is able to harm my family.

While I blackout, Kyle’s words keep playing at the back of my head. Rai is nothing. I’ll just leave her behind.