Tarnished Crown (Gravestone Elite #2) by Caitlyn Dare (books like beach read TXT) 📕

“Let’s get one thing straight, Easton. Mia is my prosapia. Mine to toy with, mine to taunt, mine to fuck. It would serve you well to remember that.”

“Although now she knows you’ve dipped your end in my sister’s pussy, I’m sure she won’t want your dick anywhere near her.”

A violent shudder rolls through me at Ashton’s crass words. I sway a little on my feet, emotionally annihilated by the revelations.

Of course Cade drugged Bexley. It makes perfect sense now, but I’d been too upset, too shocked, to see it last night.

“You fucking drugged me again and let me… fuck.” Bexley dry heaves.

“Don’t act like you didn’t enjoy every damn second,” Ashton chuckles. “We all saw you giving it to her like you couldn’t get enough. I bet she has the bruises to prove it.”

“And the bite marks.” Brook shoots me a smug look, and I want nothing more than to gouge her eyes out.

“I can’t believe I—”

“Believe it.” Cade slowly relaxes his arm, the one pinned against Bexley’s throat. “Can I trust that you won’t come at me again?”

Bexley nods, unable to meet my eyes. It hurts. But it doesn’t hurt anywhere near as much as knowing that Cade has driven a huge wedge between us.

Bexley slept with Brook. Had hot, animalistic sex with her… and I saw it all.

We can never come back from this.

Cade has played his ace, and there’s nothing to do except admit defeat.

“I need some air,” I say, backing away from them all slowly.

“Mia, please—”

“It’s done, Bexley. We’re done.” My voice cracks, the words like a knife to my own heart.

His eyes drill into mine, silently pleading with me not to do this. But there’s nothing more to say.

Cade knows.

He knows, and he will never let us be together. Last night was proof of that.

“I-I need to go.” I push past them all and take off down the hall. I don’t know where I’m going, but all I know is that I can’t stay here a single second longer.

Sasha finds me sitting down by the lake. My feet are in the cool water, grounding me.

“Hey, can I join you?”

I shrug. Not because I don’t want her here, but because I’m scared of what might spill out if I open my mouth.

“Feeling any better?”

“What do you think?”

“Honestly?” She offers me a weak smile. “I think you need to take all that anger and hatred and turn it into a weapon. Cade is unhinged, Mia. The things he does, the way he thinks… it isn’t normal…”

“I don’t know how to do this. I don’t know how to live in your world.”

“His world,” Sasha whispers. “It’s his kingdom, Mia, and we’re all just pawns.”

“Why doesn’t someone do something? Quinctus, can’t they—”

“What? Send him away? Have him killed? He’s the heir to the Kingsley bloodline. They need him.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I know, but you will. And when you do, you need to remember everything I’ve told you.” She glances back at the house.

“You’re worried they’re watching us.”

“Someone is always watching, Mia. Don’t ever forget that.”

“What happens now? Now Bexley and Alex are Electi?”

“They’ll live here, run errands for Q.”

“Errands?” Sasha presses her lips together and I sigh deeply. “Let me guess,” I add, “you can’t tell me.”

“There are some things even I’m not privy to, you know that. For what it’s worth, though, I am sorry.”

“I hate him. I hate him so freaking much, I don’t understand why anyone would think I’m the right girl for him.”

Silence falls over us as the events of the last twenty-four hours play in my mind.

“Why would Brook do that? I thought she wanted Cade.”

“Oh, she does. Which is exactly why she did it.”

“That makes no sense.”

“You’re looking for answers that aren’t there. Cade, Ashton, Brook… they only care about one thing. Power. You ended up in the middle of Bexley and Cade… well, she’s just put your boyfriend right in the middle of her and Cade.”

“He’s not my boyfriend.” He’s not my anything now.

“He didn’t know what he was doing.”

“It doesn’t matter. I can’t keep doing this. Cade isn’t going to ever give me up. Not unless I find a way out.”

“What are you saying?”

“I need to find his weakness. I need something I can use against him.”

“Mia,” Sasha tsks, “don’t start something you can’t finish. Cade is… well, he’s a special brand of crazy.”

“So what would you have me do? Just accept that this is it for me? Because I won’t do that, Sash, I won’t.”

Lacing her arm through mine, she pulls me close, laying her head on my shoulder. “You can’t win against someone like Cade. He doesn’t play by the rules, Mia. He makes the rules. What do you think is going to happen to Bexley now he knows the truth about the two of you?”

Oh God. Bexley.

“He won’t let you forget, babe. And when you’re least expecting it, he’ll pull the rug out from under you.”

“I can’t just do nothing.” The idea makes me feel nauseous.

Sasha peeks up at me and gives me a weak smile. “I know it sucks, but I don’t think you have a choice.”

Sasha gave me a ride back to my dorm after that. I might not have been able to go to war with Cade yet, but I could fight each battle. And if he thought for one second that I was going to walk back in there and act as if everything was okay, he had another thing coming.

I throw my bag down by the desk and grab my laptop, getting comfy on the middle of my bed. Sasha said I don’t have any choice, but there’s always a choice. I just have to find my leverage.

I open up a new search bar and type in Cade Kingsley. Everyone has secrets, and something tells me Cade’s are bigger and darker than most.

I just need to find the right one.

The one that will get me out of this in one piece.

But after an hour of researching Cade and his family’s