Page 3 of Hide Little Traitor

“You’re safe, Mama,” he murmurs, pressing a gentle kiss to the back of my hand.

“Don’t call me that,” I snap. The nickname he coined before he even knew I was pregnant stuck throughout our time together, but there’s something about hearing it now that brings tears to my eyes.

Maybe it’s the memory of how tenderly he cared for me through those weeks, how I never had to ask for what I needed because he just seemed to know.

Or perhaps it’s the reminder of what I’ll never be.

“And just because you tell me I’m safe doesn’t mean it’s true. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time you’ve lied to me.” The words burn on the way up, but I can’t stop them.

Not least because they’re some of the truest I’ve ever spoken.

“Chloe—” he starts, but I don’t want to hear his lies or his false promises.

“Can I have a phone?”

“No.”

“Kingston.”

“I said no, Chloe,” he grinds out. “It’s not safe for anyone to know where you are right now.”

I bite down on the inside of my cheek to warn away the tears that threaten to fall, but it’s no use. “Why am I here?”

“Because this is where you belong.”

Without another word, he pushes to his feet and strides out of the room, not bothering to close the door.

I may be a prisoner here, but at least I’m not locked in a cell like I was at the Lombardi compound.

Now I know what to expect from my gilded cage.

Kingston may give me all the pretty things and the perfect promises, but it’s all a lie. A reminder that no matter how badly I long for happiness, it’s never going to happen for me.

CHAPTER TWO

RONAN

NOW

Once again I find my back pressed to the wall with Ryker’s knife poised at my throat, but this time I don’t bother fighting.

Because I just betrayed my family to save the woman I loved, only for her to be stolen from me hours later. I promised I would protect her. I promised she would be safe with me, that I would never allow her to be scared or alone again, and I failed her in record time.

“What have you done?” he growls, digging the blade into my skin.

“What possible reason would I have to bring her here if I was just orchestrating for her to be taken again?”

“Your family is known for their mind games.”

“No, my father is known for that,” I snap.

“Can you two stop fucking fighting for two seconds?” Camilla shoves at Ryker’s arm, and for a second I long for the blade to slice into me, for the physical pain to distract me from how deeply my chest aches for Chloe.

For the second time in my life, I’ve known what it’s like to hold her, only for her to be stolen from me, and I don’t know how I’m supposed to survive it this time, how I’m meant to just accept that she’s gone.

Ryker drops his arm, the knife falling to his side. “He’s behind this. He has to be.”

“He’s not,” Camilla says, stepping between us in a move that has her men growling.