IT WAS ALL I could do not to follow Mian back to our room and forget about the problem that showed up on my doorstep and the one that waited for me beyond it.

Her stunt had written her fate in stone. Once a Knight, you die a Knight.

There had been a rumor among my family regarding my willingness to produce an heir. Mian was a threat to Reginald and all of Alexander’s line. Not even Caylen was safe, even though the blood of Caylen’s father running through his veins ensured he could never inherit from me.

I found Reginald waiting in the grand library, standing before the original paintings of the Bandits. The ones in my father’s home were copycats he insisted having.

“Tell me why you’re really here.”

“I think I’ve been more than patient, Angeles. I suspect I’ve long had the right to claim your life. No one who carries our name will question my mercy when I do.” He paused as if in thought while an evil gleam filled his eyes. “You aren’t fit to rule, and once I prove it, your head is mine.”

“Since when did your line care for tradition? What do you think will happen to you when you try to sell the book?”

“I’m not as foolish as my grandfather. I’m going to wield it just like you, only for a better profit.”

“Getting fucked in the ass is okay as long as you’re getting paid to bend over, right?” I grinned, but he didn’t share my amusement. Instead, he turned to the makeshift bar my ancestors made out of the bookcase shelving and poured a drink.

With his back turned, he said, “Your friends Lucas and Zachariah are quite good at doing your job. Arturo trained them, did he not?”

I didn’t need to guess what he was hinting at. “They’d never work for you. You’ll be lucky if they don’t kill you if I die at your hands.”

“Every man wants money and power, Angeles. I’d be willing to offer them more than you’ve ever given them. What will happen to me then? Do you think your childish idea of brotherhood will survive when the worms are crawling from your skull, and you have only our dead ancestors to keep you company?”

He turned to face me with a confident grin curling the thin line of his lips. “The more you offer, the slower they’ll kill you.”

“Well, that’s too bad.” He shrugged. “I guess they’ll have to be taken care of as well. I’m a resourceful man. I may not have the muscle or skill for killing, but you shouldn’t underestimate me, cousin.”

“I make a point not to underestimate anyone,” I assured him.

“Hm. So your father did teach you something after all,” he whispered wistfully.

“Fuck. You.”

“Angeles, I am not your enemy nor am I the villain.” He slowly lifted the glass, but stopped just before the rim could touch his lips and said, “I am simply returning the mercy your line showed mine.”

He took a slow sip of his drink before moving toward the door and bumping my shoulder lightly on his way out. I stood alone in the library and pondered my next move. The gazes of all the Knights before me, including my father, bore down on me with expectancy within the gold that framed the paintings, but I only had eyes for Archibald Knight. The painter successfully captured the cold greed in his blue eyes.

Reginald told the truth. He wasn’t the villain of this story.

I heard a knock and then, “Penny for your thoughts?” Mian’s soft voice went straight to my cock, and I didn’t try to hide it from her when I turned away from my dead predecessors and faced my future. Her gaze dipped and then shifted as a blush spread over her cheeks.

“I thought I told you to go upstairs.”

“I’m your wife,” she sneered, “not your child.” She moved around me, and I turned with her to keep her in sight and watched as her head tilted. “You had the paintings moved?”

“These are the originals,” I answered, matching her bland tone. When she fell silent, I didn’t bother to wait for her to reveal her hand. “How much did you hear?”

“What makes you think I heard anything?” she parried. I moved closer and watched her shoulders stiffen when she felt me press against her.

“Because you wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t.”

“Does it matter? If I ask, you’ll just lie to me.” I wrapped my arms around her entire midsection and anchored her to me. To a perfect stranger, I was just a man holding his wife.

“Tell me what you heard.”

She sighed and slammed her head a little too hard against my chest. I stifled a groan and waited. “I heard him say you shouldn’t underestimate him.”

“I don’t intend to.”

“I heard that too,” she confirmed. She pushed to break free of my arms, and I let her, but then she surprised me when she didn’t put distance between us. She turned and dug her nails into my chest, her eyes desperate. “Tell me that my son and I are safe here.”

I took the pain because I deserved it. “You’re safe with me.”

Her gaze narrowed. “What were the two of you talking about?” I hesitated too long. “If you don’t want to wake up one morning and find us gone, then tell me everything.”

I had more men now than ever. She wasn’t going anywhere, but letting her believe in her freedom was a step forward. I sighed and led her over to the dark oak table spanning almost the length of the room. When I pulled her into my lap, for once, she didn’t bother fighting my possession. She stared into the windows of my soul searching for the truth before I could speak it.  

“Two hundred years ago, Reginald’s second great-grandfather, Alexander Knight, turned to petty thievery to help feed his mother, brother, and sister after his father died. It wasn’t long before he expanded to robbing the homes of vulnerable merchants and wealthy politicians. Eventually, he crossed paths with the right people. People who wanted to keep their hands clean of their dirty secrets. His infamy spread, the rich got into his head, and he started stealing secrets. It wasn’t long before dead bodies began to turn up.”

“How did the book happen?”

“His clients were paying him so much they began to believe they could control him, and for a while, they did.”

“So he wrote the book as blackmail.”

“It worked like a charm for most. Those who sought to challenge him disappeared while others set a gruesome example. After that, my uncle was more than infamous. He was feared.”

“And people still trusted him?”

“He was good at what he did. The promise of gain outweighed their fear of him. Some people even tried to bribe him with more money to keep their exploits from the book, but he wasn’t willing to give up the power he held. By then, he’d lost sight of why he started stealing in the first place. He was addicted to his new life. So much so, he didn’t produce his heir until he was fifty-six.”

“How did he swing that?”

“He married a girl half his age and bred her.”

“The men in your family really know how to woo,” she drawled sardonically.

I pinched her thigh and continued. “Archibald didn’t inherit until he was twenty-five. Alexander was eighty-one and far past his prime, but it didn’t hinder him. A few had entertained the thought that he was even immortal.”

“Why didn’t he pass the torch sooner?”

“Archibald was frivolous.”

“His father didn’t trust him,” she stated bluntly. 

“He was right not to. Archibald is responsible for this estate and as beautiful as it is, it plunged this family into a financial hole so deep, Archibald became desperate enough to bribe.”

“He kept jobs out of the book?”

“Only if they could pay the price, but when it wasn’t enough to cover the debt, he tried to sell the book.”

She shifted, and I struggled to ignore what the feel of her ass moving over my cock did to me. “What happened?”

“Alec, my second great-grandfather, found out and confronted him. Archibald had him killed.”

“I’m sorry,” she whispered woefully.

I shrugged. Mourning was for those who had something to miss. Blood tied us together not affection. “Adan, his son and my great-grandfather, took his head.” I left out the part about mine now being on the chopping block.

“And then he became the Knight?”

“It’s as you said. Alexander didn’t trust his son. Not only that, but Angelo, Alexander’s brother, wanted his own son to reign. Alexander was too proud to dismiss his heir outright, so they made a pact, and Alexander included a clause in his will. His son would forfeit his place as head of the family, and that right would be transferred to Angelo’s line.”

“Why do all of your names begin with ‘A’ except for Reginald?”

“It’s a tradition started by Alexander. Sort of like branding each firstborn son.”

Her eyebrows pinched together. “What happens if you only have girls?”

“Then power—the legacy—goes to the next eligible heir. For descendants of Meredith and Angelo, the legacy will default back to Alexander’s line.”

I hid my smile when she rolled her eyes. It was a barbaric practice, but Alexander wasn’t a modern man. “As for Reginald’s name, his father wanted nothing to do with family tradition or our business dealings, and neither did his father.”

“So, if Adan hadn’t killed Archibald, wouldn’t this whole Bandit business have died with him?”

I nodded. “Archibald was seventy years old and still in power when Adan killed him. He thought August was too weak, but I believe the truth was he didn’t want to relinquish power. Fortunately, Adan had been well within his rights to kill Archibald and seize the legacy which didn’t August wanted nothing to do with the family business and shielded Andrew from that life as much as he could.”

“But he still named him Andrew…”

“Archibald’s doing,” I muttered. “Andrew shared his father’s sentiments and named his son Reginald.”

“And then there’s Reginald who fell a mile from the tree.” She seemed deep in thought as we shared the silence. “He knows the book is missing, doesn’t he? He’s here to kill you and take back the legacy.”

I still didn’t answer, but my silence was as loud as if I had roared. She shook her head and then dropped the weight on my chest. “I’m scared.”

I stiffened underneath her. Was it possible that little Mian Ross cared for me? I wanted to lift her head and stare into her eyes until I found the truth, but I didn’t. My hands continued to clutch the arms of the chair we shared. I couldn’t promise her nothing would happen to me, but I could make sure she was safe before I took my last breath.

“He’s never going to touch you,” I finally promised.

Her head lifted, and she met my gaze. “What about you?”

“What about me?” Her expression said she wasn’t fooled, so I sighed and said, “I’m taking care of it.”

“I don’t think I can be like you. I can never be comfortable with death.”

“What makes you think I’m comfortable?”

“You kill people and sleep well at night.” The truth wasn’t as black and white as she made it seem.

“I don’t mourn those I kill because if I didn’t mean it, I wouldn’t do it.”

“What about your mother? She just died, and it doesn’t seem to have affected you at all.”

“I lost my mother a long time ago, Mian.” For the sake of not repeating an argument, I left out the fact that I blamed her father.

“So did I,” she whispered. “It’s been nine years, and while time may have numbed the pain, it hasn’t ever gone away.”

“We grieve differently, Sprite.”

“Except you didn’t grieve. You framed my father and ruined my life.” She started to rise from my lap, but a soft touch to her waist, unlike the force she was used to from me, had her freezing in place.

“I’m sorry for what I did to you.”

“But not my father.” It wasn’t a question. I swallowed hard to keep the truth from spilling. I didn’t want to fight with her, especially when my dick grew harder by the second.

“I wish I could be,” I said instead.

She watched me. Her green eyes glowed with hate and disbelief. “I wish I could be sorry too.” I didn’t see it until it was too late. The light caught the metal as she swung the knife, aiming for my throat. I wrenched the knife from her hand and shoved her to the ground. She slid across the floor. I rose from my seat and flung the knife out of reach as I stalked after her.

“Are you completely unconcerned with keeping your life?”

She smirked, the bitch. “You’re not going to kill me.”

“No, baby, I’m not going to kill you.” She started to rise from the floor. I quickly wrapped my fingers around her arm. “But I am going to fuck you.” She didn’t get the chance to struggle before I lifted her on the table. Mian made a lovely centerpiece.

She watched, frozen and fascinated, as I removed my shirt. Her gaze was stuck on my bare chest, so she didn’t notice when I joined her on the table. It wasn’t until I tugged that she realized where we were headed. “You think sex is the answer for everything,” she griped. “It won’t keep me from killing you.”

“It will keep me from killing you.” I needed to be inside her. It was the only way we could be free of hate without destroying each other. Besides…it wasn’t fear that made her body tremble as I pushed her flat on her back.

She needed it too.

She didn’t fight me as I finished removing her clothes. Didn’t protest when my lips touched her hot skin. She didn’t even try to pretend she didn’t want it.

“That’s the second time you tried to kill me.” I kissed down her stomach.

“If you’re not careful, it’ll become a habit,” she breathed. Her body jerked as if shocked by electricity when I licked the skin just above her pussy. Only Mian could threaten me and come apart for me simultaneously. God was feeling pretty self-indulgent the day he created her, and he secured my rightful place in hell when he placed her in my path. “I’m not afraid of you, Angel Knight.”

“You don’t have to be afraid of me.” I yanked her panties down her slender legs and stuffed them in my back pocket. “But you should be afraid of what you’ll become without me.”

She gasped and shivered when my mouth hovered over her sex, and I inhaled her scent. Suddenly, I didn’t want to breathe again unless it was her essence that filled my body with life.

“We aren’t enemies.” I placed a soft kiss upon her sex, and she jerked again in my arms. “That will never be us again.” I crawled up her supple body and settled between her legs. “It’s time you understood,” I slid inside her slowly, “just how permanent we are.” She sucked in a breath and held it. The monster prowling beneath my surface snapped at my restraint, challenging me to release it or to be forever ruined. “I need you, Mian.” I slowly moved inside her. “Say you believe me.”

Slowly, oh so slowly, she released the air she’d trapped. “I believe you,” she admitted breathlessly. A smile of triumph teased my lips. Instead, I kissed her bare shoulder, rewarding her rather than gloating. I felt her soft hands run through my hair and then tug on the strands until our gazes were locked. “I just don’t care.”

Her gaze was both wary and defiant, expecting retaliation but refusing to fear it. Three years ago, I would have relished her fear because I couldn’t have anything else.

But this wasn’t three years ago, and she was no longer forbidden.

She was mine.

To have, to hold, and to ruin.

I kissed the generous slope of her breasts and watched her nipple harden. “I don’t believe you.” She cared. More than what was right. More than she would ever admit. She cared. She would always care because I belonged to her. That would never change.

“I don’t care.” Her voice broke when I shifted, brushing against her clit. I lifted her left leg over my shoulder and slid deeper.

“I don’t believe you,” I repeated unsteadily, my voice as unreliable as hers.

Her lashes lowered, shutting in the emotion she didn’t want me to see. “I don’t care.”

“I don’t believe you,” I bit out slowly this time. The rabid beast I held at bay pulled at the restraints now, no longer willing to be caged. It wanted to claim her, make her bend to its will. I wanted to give her passion and leave fear in the past.

“I don’t care,” she shouted—not convincingly—at the filigree ceiling. I pumped into her, fucking her harder now. Faster. I was doing my duty while the Knights who ruled before me watched.

“You do care.” I gripped her harder than I should have. My hands would no doubt bruise her soft skin with my mark and damn if that didn’t just make me fuck her harder. “You care so fucking much you’d risk your own life just to prove yourself wrong.” She pressed her lips tight, cutting off the sob before it could release. The next moment, she was shoving me away and crawling backward across the table to put space between us. I could feel her arousal coating my dick as I tucked myself back into my pants and slid from the tabletop.

“What do you want from me if not my life? A possession? I won’t be your trophy,” she vowed before I could answer. “I’ll never stop fighting to get away from you.”

I didn’t want to own her or strip away her most beautiful parts.

I wanted to protect her.

Nurture her.

Keep her, the beast hissed.

“Stay.” It took everything I had left not to close the distance between us. “I just want you to stay.”

“I’ll try on one condition.”

“Name it.”

“There was a couple who took me in back in Mosset where Lucas and Z found me. When you led the senator to me, Becky got hurt. I don’t know if she’s alive and I—”

“Consider it done.”

“But I didn’t tell you what I wanted.”

“I don’t just know what’s in your head, Mian. I also know what’s in your heart.”