Page 422 of Reign

“It’s our house. And you put a hole in my wall.”

Ayla gets up, saunters over to my wall and yanks the knife free before she returns to her chair.

“You can barely see it.”

“You can absolutely see it.”

“Fine.”

She slides the knife back into her boot.

“Maksim would burn down a city for me,” she says. “I still carry a knife. Him protecting me doesn’t mean I have to be helpless.”

The answer comes immediately.

“I want a gun.”

Ayla nods once. “Good.”

“I never want to feel like that again.”

A slow smile spreads across her face. “I like you now.”

“You didn’t like me before?”

“No.”

“Ayla,” Vasilisa gasps.

“What? I didn’t like you at first either.”

Vasilisa looks offended.

“I like you now.”

Vasilisa smiles. Guess that fixes it.

Ayla glances around the room. “Can we eat something? I didn’t come with cakes.”

Vasilisa immediately brightens. “Yes, please.”

Apparently my emotional crisis is over because Ayla is hungry and Vasilisa has run out of snack cakes.

Chapter 58

Luciano

Everything is in place.

Tomorrow, Angelo is sending additional men. Korsakov is sending his own, including the snipers I asked for. No one is getting close enough to this property to breathe in Elena’s direction without someone knowing about it.

Santo volunteered to run a complete background check on every person I’ve ever allowed onto this estate, which he phrased with enough condescension that I almost told him to go fuck himself.

I didn’t.

Mostly because he’s right.

Anyone who has ever passed through my gates with or without permission is being checked.