Forbidden Princess

by Ella Miles

  He can’t resist having me owe him one. He’s used it against me countless times over the years. I’ve gained information, but always at a price.

  “Tell me who really killed Odette. You say it wasn’t you. You say it was Ares, but I don’t believe you. I know you know. Who killed her?” I look him dead in the eyes as I say it. It reveals that I have feelings for someone in the Retribution Kings, but we need this information. Beckett needs it. And he needs to get the hell out of here before Vincent kills him.

  “I did initially believe it to be Ares. You know I would never lie to you. But I have since learned different. I’ll give you the evidence, but you’ll owe me the truth—an honest answer to my question. If you lie to me, I’ll kill your friend Lucy,” he says, waiting for me to accept or deny. He knows I’ll tell him the truth. Lucy is too important to me.

  “Don’t do it,” I hear Beckett say. “Don’t make any more deals with that monster. We can find another way.”

  But we can’t. This is the only way.

  “Deal.”

  Vincent doesn’t react. He doesn’t show how pleased he is, but then, he never does.

  He walks out, no doubt to his office to retrieve what he needs. This isn’t the first time he’s made a deal with him where he wanted the truth from me.

  “What did you do?” Beckett says, concern dripping.

  I saved you. Once you kill the man responsible for killing Odette, you’ll be free.

  I don’t say anything out loud, though.

  Vincent returns a moment later with a lie detector device. It’s the most sophisticated one available. He doesn’t know that I’ve been practicing for ages to beat it, and I can.

  He attaches the sensors to my fingers and then around my chest before he takes a seat opposite me. He holds up a flash drive. “This will show you who killed Odette.”

  “What’s your question?”

  “Who did you fuck this week?”

  My eyes shoot up. “I didn’t fuck anyone.” I keep my voice calm, my pulse calm, everything calm.

  “Liar,” Vincent says without looking at the machine.

  “I’m not lying.”

  “You are.”

  “Want to do another of your stupid virginity tests to prove it?” I smirk.

  “No, we both know those don’t actually prove anything. They are just there to deceive the other men.” He puffs on his cigar. “But I can sample for any semen inside you and run a DNA test.”

  He’ll do it. If I don’t tell him, he’ll do it.

  I’m screwed.

  I need that flash drive.

  I need to keep Lucy safe.

  But I can’t tell him. If I tell him the truth, he’ll kill Beckett. If I give any other name, he’ll kill them.

  “Tell him the truth. Tell him it was me,” Beckett says through the speaker in my earring.

  I bite my bottom lip. I won’t give Vincent Beckett’s name. I won’t let him hurt him. I have to protect him, just like he’s protected me.

  “Who was it? I know you fucked someone. You’re way too happy to have not.”

  I raise an eyebrow. “I look happy to you? Really? You put my virginity and marriage up for grabs to the man who can win a game instead of letting me have any say.”

  “I gave you say with Nicolo and look how that turned out. He’s dead.”

  I have to give him a name. He won’t let this drop.

  “Who?”

  “It was—” I don’t know how I’m planning on finishing that sentence, but Caius takes that moment to burst in.

  “It was me. I fucked her,” Caius says.

  “Caius, no,” I gasp. Technically, it’s true. He did fuck me, just not this week.

  “Thank you for your honesty, son.” He tosses him the flash drive. Caius catches it and pockets it. But he won’t be leaving this room, not unless I save him.

  Fuck!

  I have to move fast. Vincent won’t think long about his punishment. He’ll just kill him. He likes the smell of death, likes watching the whites leave men’s eyes, likes watching the blood pool and the bodies turn rigid.

  I run to Caius, ripping the sensors off as I go. I block Caius with my body just as Vincent pulls out his gun, aiming it at him.

  “Don’t kill him,” I get out.

  It’s enough to get Vincent to pause.

  My emotions are high, and tears are threatening for the selfless thing Caius just did, but I don’t know if I can save him.

  “I’ll do anything; just let him live. Let him finish the game.”

  “Anything?” Vincent asks.

  “Anything. Not just like our other deals. You’ll never have to make a deal with me again. Whatever you want, I’ll do it. You want me to remove my name, I’ll do it. You want me to spy on someone for you, I will. You want me to marry someone, spread my legs, and have his babies, I will. I’ll do it willingly. I won’t slice my wrists open at the end if this doesn’t go my way like we both know I was planning before.”

  “If you don’t, he dies,” Vincent says matter of factly, not like he just threatened Caius’s life.

  “That will ensure I do as you say. Don’t kill him.” I want to add on Beckett’s life and the rest of the guys, but I can’t.

  “Ri, what are you doing?! Don’t do this. We are almost there. We can save Caius, just stall,” Beckett says.

  But I can’t listen to his voice anymore. I have to save Caius. I don’t have much to offer Vincent anymore, but I can only trade a life for a life. I can’t save Beckett too. Caius saved him. I saved Caius.

  I squeeze my earring like Gage taught me in case I thought Vincent was going to find it. My earring flattens, and Beckett’s voice disappears.

  Caius stiffens behind me, not liking what I’m doing either.

  “Deal,” I say.

  Vincent smiles for once in his life.

  He turns his attention to Caius. “It looks like your life has been spared. I’ll see you tomorrow night at the game. Good luck to you.”

  He dismisses Caius, but I’m not sure he’ll leave. I turn to face him. “Go, it’s okay. He won’t hurt me.”

  “But—”

  “Go.” I rise up on my tiptoes and kiss the corner of his lips.

  He doesn’t like it, but when Adrian and Georgio enter, he finally leaves with them.

  I look back at Vincent. “You’re a fool; you know that? I told you that falling in love would be your death sentence someday.”

  “I didn’t fall in love.”

  “Sure, you didn’t.”

  He puffs quickly, exacerbated with me. “So you don’t want to be forbidden anymore? That was our initial agreement, but it seems things have changed.”

  I remember our deal. I was the one who wanted to be forbidden from having sex, he didn’t care. I thought it would save me. But being forbidden almost killed every man I’ve ever cared about.

  “No, I don’t want to be forbidden anymore.”

  “Fine.” He thinks for a moment. “You’re no longer forbidden. I’ll announce it tomorrow night at the games.”

  It will save Beckett and the other guys that fucked me. He can’t hurt them for touching me, but I know what it also means. I’m no longer off-limits. Whoever wins me can do what they want with me.

  “This changes everything,” he says, and I don’t disagree with him. Beckett won’t be able to save me; I’ll have to save myself. And sometimes, I’ll have to recover after the damage is done. Even I am not strong enough to save myself every time.

  Caius is safe.

  Beckett is safe.

  Gage, Lennox, Hayes—they are all safe.

  I smile on the inside. I’ll take whatever danger awaits me. They are safe, and Beckett is about to get his vengeance. He’s about to heal more than I ever could help him. Then I’ll convince him to go, save himself, be free.

  One of us should be.

  21

  Beckett

  We are running toward the elevators when Caius comes down.


  “Where is she? What happened? The feed just cut out,” I yell, needing so many answers.

  “She turned it off herself.”

  I frown. “She must be in danger. She must—” I start pushing past him for the stairwell. There is no way the elevators will work for us.

  “Stop. She’s safe. Vincent won’t hurt her,” Caius says somberly, like he failed her.

  He did.

  We all did.

  I should thank him. He probably saved my life. But I can’t thank him because she gave up her life for him.

  I don’t know how to save her now. I don’t know how to protect her. I don’t know how to keep my promise to her.

  “We have to go,” Lennox says, pulling on me.

  “Not without, Ri,” I say.

  But Lennox and Gage have grabbed me and are dragging me away.

  “You’re in charge, but your feelings are clouding your judgment. Ri is fine. Her father needs her alive. He needs her safe to finish the games. He won’t hurt her. You’ll see her again tomorrow at the games,” Caius says.

  I know he’s right, but it tears me apart to leave her here with him. What was I thinking? I care about her, and I’m not sure I’m strong enough to just give her up.

  The guys throw me in the car and drive me to Caius’s place in the city. Someone pours me a drink, but I don’t take it. I don’t want to be numb. I want to feel.

  I still can’t believe she disconnected us like that. We could be talking to her right now.

  I stare at my phone, willing her to text or call. She has my number memorized. She has burner phones. She just has to use them.

  Caius approaches after I’ve appeared to settle down as I sit in the living room, staring out at his shitty view of the city.

  “He gave me this.” He hands me the flash drive. “I think you should be the first to watch it.”

  I take the flash drive.

  This is what Ri gave up everything for. This stupid thing that’s going to tell me who to kill. And once I do get revenge for Odette, it will give me everything—the crown, the power. I’ll have the power to choose—stay and be king or leave.

  I look to Gage. “There’s a laptop in the third bedroom on the right,” he says.

  I nod and head to Gage’s bedroom. I slam the door shut, wanting to be alone for this. This moment I’ve wanted for so long now feels so unimportant.

  I open his laptop and put the flash drive in. I open the single file on it and hit play.

  I’m not prepared for what I see.

  I should be.

  The pieces all fit.

  But I’m not prepared.

  The video shows Odette in the hotel room.

  It shows a person breaking into her hotel room.

  It shows a person stabbing her over and over like a skilled assassin.

  It shows a person tying her up to wait to be kidnapped by the person’s accomplices.

  It shows Rialta Corsi is the reason Odette is dead.

  Suddenly, retribution is back on the table.

  Thank you for reading Forbidden Princess! I hope you enjoyed it! Beckett and Ri’s story continues in Tempted Hero

  She’s my villain, and I’m hers.

  We should hate each other.

  Want to destroy each other.

  Not fuck each other.

  One-Click Tempted Hero Here

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  Also by Ella Miles

  LIES SERIES:

  Lies We Share: A Prologue

  Vicious Lies

  Desperate Lies

  Fated Lies

  Cruel Lies

  Dangerous Lies

  Endless Lies

  SINFUL TRUTHS:

  Sinful Truth #1

  Twisted Vow #2

  Reckless Fall #3

  Tangled Promise #4

  Fallen Love #5

  Broken Anchor #6

  TRUTH OR LIES:

  Taken by Lies #1

  Betrayed by Truths #2

  Trapped by Lies #3

  Stolen by Truths #4

  Possessed by Lies #5

  Consumed by Truths #6

  DIRTY SERIES:

  Dirty Obsession

  Dirty Addiction

  Dirty Revenge

  Dirty: The Complete Series

  ALIGNED SERIES:

  Aligned: Volume 1 (Free Series Starter)

  Aligned: Volume 2

  Aligned: Volume 3

  Aligned: Volume 4

  Aligned: The Complete Series Boxset

  UNFORGIVABLE SERIES:

  Heart of a Thief

  Heart of a Liar

  Heart of a Prick

  Unforgivable: The Complete Series Boxset

  MAYBE, DEFINITELY SERIES:

  Maybe Yes

  Maybe Never

  Maybe Always

  * * *

  Definitely Yes

  Definitely No

  Definitely Forever

  STANDALONES:

  Pretend I’m Yours

  Pretend We’re Over

  Finding Perfect

  Savage Love

  Too Much

  Not Sorry

  Hate Me or Love Me: An Enemies to Lovers Romance Collection

  About the Author

  Ella Miles writes steamy romance, including everything from dark suspense romance that will leave you on the edge of your seat to contemporary romance that will leave you laughing out loud or crying. Most importantly, she wants you to feel everything her characters feel as you read.

  Ella is currently living her own happily ever after near the Rocky Mountains with her high school sweetheart husband. Her heart is also taken by her goofy five year old black lab who is scared of everything, including her own shadow.

  Ella is a USA Today Bestselling Author & Top 50 Bestselling Author.

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