Page 70 of Hero of Havoc

I grimace as he cups her bare breast, but my mother doesn’t flinch.

“You want me to pull the big guns out, don’t you? Do you want to be my damsel in distress?” he muses, and she sighs, but before she can breathe a word, he continues. “Consider me persuaded.” He clears his throat, stroking the tip of his finger between the valley of her breasts before he takes a step back, making sure to look deep into her eyes. “Give me what I want, Sapphira: a home, a family, a life of royalty; and I’ll give you what you want: your family.”

She scoffs. “You think I want my family? I⁠—”

“Captive,” my father interrupts, and my mother’s gaze snaps up, eyes burning into his.

There it is. There’s the look of desire.

“Give me what I want, and I will help you get revenge on your family.”

My heartbeat echoes in my mind as I blink at them.

Revenge for what?

“Vow it,” my mother commands, and my father grins, all devilish and sinister.

“I vow to you, Sapphira, that I will guide the deserved revenge upon your family.”

“Even though the revenge is for selling me to you?” she pushes, despair lurching my chest as I splutter on my next breath, and my father nods.

“I vow it.”

My vision turns white, terror and delirium drowning me before my sight returns, revealing my dorm room, relic and all.

Archer stands beside me, eyes wide as he blinks from the golden sphere to me and back again.

“That was…”

“Sad,” I breathe, and he gulps, but something else wars inside of me as understanding takes root.

I’m starting to learn how Leonardo Corrigan works.

He shows me what I want to see, but the way he wants me to understand it is for his gain.

“Why would he give you that?” Archer asks, and I gulp, the answer already perched on the tip of my tongue.

“To show me.”

“To show you what?” Archer pushes, and I sigh.

“My options.”

“You’re not making sense.”

“My mother had a choice in how she was held captive, so do I.”

“He’s not getting anywhere near you,” he promises, and I manage a sad smile as I tilt my head back and inhale slowly before looking back at my hated mate.

“But when he does, he’s making sure I know who is in control and what my life will look like if I don’t fall in line.”

“I’d rather we didn’t talk like that,” Archer mutters, dragging a hand down his face. “But for your mother, your father gave her something she craved. Has Leonardo done that to you?” he pushes, and my lips twist for a moment as I think.

“No.” Not yet, at least.

“Then we need to figure out what you desire most in the world before he does.”

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