Chapter 4

The four soldiers don't hesitate. They wrench my arms behind my back.

"Sir. How bad?"

Dante glances at me, then bends his head toward Anya, voice silk. "The punishment is for my new Queen to decide."

Another knife in my chest.

After every single elimination round, he handed me — me — the right to punish the loser. Every time, I just told them to leave. Walk away. Start over. I never made anyone bleed.

Now Anya puts on her sweet, harmless face ， and her mouth curls into something cruel.

"Dante, baby, I don't really know your old rules. Just… whatever the punishment used to be, do that."

He gets it instantly. He turns to me, searching my face for something — anger, jealousy, anything. All he finds is dead silence.

It enrages him. He pulls Anya tighter and forces the words through his teeth.

"You heard the Queen."

They drag me into the compound. Down to the basement. They press me face-down on the stone floor and use a leather strap soaked in salt brine.

On the other side of the wall, in the bedroom, he and Anya lose themselves in each other, all heat and desperation. Her moans and my screams braid together through the plaster, rising and breaking, until the whole house throbs with it.

My back splits open. My heart breaks worse.

I think of that day in the ICU. The kiss. The promise.

He'd wanted to shut the Gauntlet down right then — pull me out, end it all. But the Family heirs had hundreds of millions riding on the bracket. The game wasn't his alone anymore. They wouldn't let him stop it before the final round.

He'd held me in that hospital bed, eyes red, arms shaking, and whispered into my hair: "Wren. I promise. From now on, every single round — I will never let you lose."

And I believed him. I fought for him. I outsmarted, out-bled, out-survived every contender they threw at me. Some of them tried to kill me with rigged equipment. With knives. With poison. I won anyway — because I loved him.

Every woman who cheated against me ended up exactly where I am right now. Pinned down. Beaten. Listening to him fuck the next one through the wall.

It was always going to come to me eventually.

He finally let me get hurt.

They go all night.

Somewhere near dawn, Dante steps out in a black silk robe. I hear his voice, distant, bored.

"Call the family doctor. Patch her up. Don't let her die."

Then I'm gone.

I wake on the couch. His jacket is draped over me.

The housekeeper's face is blank, professional. "You're awake. Mr. Marchetti took Miss Rossi to the victory dinner. He said to get yourself cleaned up and join them."

My voice is sandpaper. I grab my bag. "Tell him I can't. My grandmother's surgery is today. He knows. He arranged it."

He found Gran her donor heart himself , my prize for clearing round ninety-nine.

Two soldiers grab me.

"What are you — let go of me — I need to get to the hospital — Dante knows about Gran's transplant today!"

They don't care. They yank a dress over my shredded back. They don't let me bring my phone. They throw me in the SUV.

I can't breathe.

He used to come with me to see Gran every single month.

And today he's at a champagne dinner celebrating a stolen crown for a girl he rigged the game to win.

The ballroom is full of capos and their daughters. Dante is at the center with Anya glued to his side.

I'm in a backless dress. The strap marks across my shoulder blades are visible to every person in the room. People whisper.

His eyes darken. He walks Anya toward me, his hand on her hip.

"Wren. Today is Anya's coronation. As the former champion, you should congratulate her properly. You walked in empty-handed. Are you trying to humiliate her?"

Anya bites her lip, all wounded innocence. "Maybe she just thinks I shouldn't have won. After all — she had the first ninety-nine."

I cut her off. I look only at him.

"I quit the game. I owe her nothing. Dante — Gran is in surgery right now. I'm leaving. Let me through."

Surprise flickers in his eyes. Then it ices over.

"It's a celebration. You bring up something this dark on purpose?"

I press my hand against the ache in my chest. "What do I have to do for you to let me leave?"

"What do you have to do?" His eyes glint. He kisses Anya in front of me, slow and deliberate. "Let my new Queen name the price."

She pretends to think. Then she grins.

"Have Wren strip naked. Kneel in front of me. And bark like a dog. Three times."

The breath leaves my body.

And then I hear him laugh ,soft, amused.

"Done."