Page 102 of Vicious Kingdom

“We need to talk.” The sound of the laptop closing punctuated his words.

I pulled out a plate and set the morsel on it. If there was ever a time to drink plain coffee, this would be it. The thick bar could be dunked in the swill, the bad of one canceling out the other.

“What about?” I asked, voice cracking from how dry it was.

“The other night.”

My stomach flipped. I was fairly certain I only fell asleep. But since I didn’t remember anything post-margarita blitz, it was possible I said something.

I stalled, taking a bite of the chocolate chunk.

My tooth threatened to break trying to dig into it.

“Which night?”

“Annaliese,” the force of nature behind me warned.

Fidgeting with the knife, I scrambled for the redacted version of the story. I wrote books for crissakes! I could spin this tale any way I wished.

He can’t know the truth.Shame poisoned my veins.

“I was attacked. I didn’t see their face, but then I escaped to my car and drove straight here.”

“Where were you?” he demanded.

Home.“Out and about. Not watching my surroundings.”

“What did they say?”

That I needed to end the engagement.“That they knew who I was.”

Leo glided behind me. “What did they want? Did they give any indication of why they attacked?”

Bile churned, pushing up my throat. “Not exactly. They seemed pissed at my father.”

Not a lie.

Also…not the truth.

“Annaliese—”

“What do you want me to say?” I rounded on him, waving the object in my hand and venting hard. “That I was cornered? ThatI was scared out of my mind? That I froze, inside of fighting back?”

Leo reached for me, but I jerked back. “Anna.”

“No, listen.” I smacked the object against my palm. “I messed up. I didn’t pay attention, and it hurt. But it’s done. I’ll do better next time.”

“You don’t have to be scared,” he said more to himself than to me. “Fuck, cara mia, I’m such an ass.”

Something inside me shifted. “You don’t have to blame yourself.”

He let out a short breath. “Everything around me seems to be going awry.”

I melted. “Whatever is going on at your job is bad, isn’t it?”

He nodded.

“It’s okay.” I twisted the cool metal between my fingers. “I know none of this has been easy, because it hasn’t been for me either.”