Page 3 of The King's Pawn

He looked up with those long-lashed eyes, and damn if some part of my heart didn’t hiccup. I shoved him forward, needing him to stare ahead, not at me. “Walk.”

He stumbled between the trees, heading into the woods. If he ran, he knew I’d shoot him in the back. The begging would start soon. Maybe I should have gagged him?

“Whatever this is about, let’s talk. Call my father, let me talk to him. This is a mistake.”

“No mistake, Noah.”

“He… Look, whatever I did, I’m sorry, okay? This is… I get it.” He tripped over a root and righted himself again. “I get the message. I need to be better, a better son, I get it. I’ll be that. I will. I’ll be whatever he wants me to be.”

I flicked the safety off. Noah’s shoulders jerked at the sound, so loud through the snowfall. Snow had landed in his sandy blond hair, lit by moonlight. A few flakes had melted on his expensive shirt. He wasn’t so worried about it now.

“Killian—” He tried to turn and stumbled. I grabbed his arm, righted him, and pushed him on. Just a few more steps. Away from the clearing. Couldn’t have any hikers stumbling on his shallow grave.

“What the fuck is this?! Huh?” he snapped. “What did I do that was so bad? I just bought some fucking coke from the Southies, that was all!” And here came the anger. Good. It showed he had some fight in him. For a while there, I’d thoughthe might die like prey, which would have been fucking sad for both of us.

“Turn around.”

He stopped, boots crunching in the snow, and turned. “Asshole.”

I pointed the gun between his eyes. “On your knees.”

His bottom lip wobbled. “Let me run? I’ll go, you’ll never see me again. Tell him you killed me. I’ll vanish. It’ll be like I’m dead.”

“Knees.” I gestured with the gun.

“Fuck.” He swallowed. “Killian, please?”

A step, and I pressed the gun to his forehead. “Knees.”

He glared, those blue eyes a brilliant sapphire, and knelt. Lifting his head, peering up, those eyes burned with icy fire. “What did I do? Tell me that.”

That defiance, I’d never seen it on his face before, like he had a backbone. As though, somewhere under all the expensive shirts, leather bracelets, cocky remarks, and sassy smiles, there was someone with a heart and soul, someone not as dumb as he made out, someone worthy.

I lowered my aim, hovering the gun over his lips. It was going to be a damn shame to mess up his pretty face. “You betrayed the family.”

His eyes narrowed, brows digging in. “Betraying the family is the one thing I haveneverdone.”

CHAPTER

TWO

Noah

I’d known, hadn’t I? It was always going to be him.Killian.

Nobody survived him.

He stared down the barrel of his gun now, at me on my knees in the cold snow, as though I were nothing. Just another mess to clean for my father.

My heart thumped up my throat, trying to choke me. But I wasn’t scared, not like I’d thought I’d be when it ended.

The reason didn’t matter. I’d never been what my father wanted. And so here we were, Killian and me. He’d pull that trigger and nobody would give a shit that Noah King was gone. Nobody understood how I’d had to live every fucking day like it was my last, because I’d known that day had been coming. And here it was, staring me in the eyes.

I’d never noticed how darkhiseyes were before. How many people had been in the same position, on their knees, gazing up at Killian, only really seeing him in their final moments?

“Tell me what I did.” My voice quivered some, but that was okay. It would be over soon. For both of us. “What was the finalblow? What’s so bad that he has to kill me for it? You can tell me. Youoweme that.”

“You fucked the Southies girl, told her about the shipment of guns. Got two men killed when the cops raided the dock warehouse.”