Page 366 of Reign

“A port.”

“No.”

“La Rubina for Adriana.”

“Fuck you.”

He means it.

He isn’t bargaining.

He genuinely wants Elena back.

Not for another arrangement or because the alliance requires it.

There’s something else beneath the anger. Something he may not have admitted even to himself.

“You have no more collateral.”

Angelo’s expression turns lethal.

“Don’t start that shit.”

“Santo is married. Elena has chosen for herself. The next time you need to strengthen an alliance, you have no sibling left to offer.”

A thought clicks into place.

Valentina’s marriage will eventually become a conversation whether I invite it or not. I’ve already rejected three men without telling her.

None deserved to be discussed.

“How about this?” I say. “Whatever agreement I make when Valentina marries, a portion goes to you.”

“No.”

“You haven’t even thought about it.”

“I don’t need to think about it. I want Elena.”

“And I’m not letting her go.”

“Then we have a fucking problem.”

“We do.”

The office door opens.

“Hermano?”

Adriana stands in the doorway, one hand resting beneath the curve of her stomach.

She has rounded further since I saw her last.

The sight settles some of the violence preparing to move through me. My niece or nephew is growing inside her. A new piece of our family protected beneath her hand.

For one dangerous moment, the image changes.

Elena with the same soft curve beneath one of my shirts.