**HEY EVERYONE! Welcome to the new story ❤️ Thanks so much for following over and I hope you enjoy it.

If you haven't noticed or you don't follow me, I just want to throw this out there!! 😘 Amor de Reina is on my profile and it will be a mix of a prequel, CBA scenes, and maybe even some of these EBA scenes... all from SOREN'S POV. 💀💀The first few chapters are posted if you all want to check it out!

Alright, there are so many conflicted feelings in this one. Lacey is on a rollercoaster that she just can't get off... *sigh* Hopefully she gets a breather soon. ☺️

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ACT ONE

"YOU...YOU KNEW ME. You knew who I was," I breathed in disbelief. "You knew me."

For a long moment, there was nothing but silence.

Breathe.

In. Out.

My lungs constricted with the suffocating strain between us. Complete silence.

Something sank to the pit of my stomach as I waited for him to deny it. He didn't.

Breathe.

I could not let myself lose it right now.

Inhaling shakily, I watched his grin fade slowly. A faint flicker of remorse flashed through his expression and suddenly, I knew it was true. I knew it was true. Somewhere in the pit of my stomach, in the growing anxiety that was unfurling, in the lies that were melting with all of the new information, I knew.

Even before he said it.

Finally, he confirmed it softly. "I knew you."

Something toxic consumed me. Whatever was left of my heart was obliterated by those three words. Annihilated by his soft admission that had come way too late.

I'd always known that he was a force to be reckoned with. A natural disaster that destroyed everything in his path.

"Who do you think brought me to the gallery that night we met?"

Despite all the lingering factors, I couldn't help but believe that he'd been indirectly responsible for everything. Whatever wreck my life had become. My friends, my family. Everyone was dead. Everyone was gone.

I was left with him.

A man that only created more destruction. A man that left that destruction in his wake. A man that had singlehandedly destroyed me.

A man that should be on the floor with my husband, bleeding beside the shattered remains of my heart.

As my vision blurred and my hands shook, I found some masochistic need surging forward. I needed to know everything and he was going to tell me.

So I willed the tears back harshly. "When you... when you saw me in that alley..."

That aching hole in the center of my chest expanded as the memory ravaged through me. Dark and dim, wet and desperate. Pleading him to stay with me, to help me.

He nodded curtly. Even in the dim light, I could recognize the bittersweet emotion that flooded through those céladon oceans in front of me. "I knew who you were."

Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.

Some small part of me was hoping that he'd deny it — that he'd continue to lie. But Soren only graced me with that one sentence, drilling me with something that could've resembled regret.

My lungs sputtered frantically to grasp any air that could make this easier to swallow. And even as I gasped, it still choked me. Tears burned at the corners of my eyes and I forced myself to hold his gaze despite the weak cry that bubbled forward.

"You- you knew my name."

He didn't hesitate. "Yes."

"You knew that I was... I was his wife."

No hesitation. "Yes."

Even as he continued to confirm it, disbelief threatened to devour me. He'd known me. He knew who I was the entire time. He'd known me before Seth did. He'd... he'd seen me.

"Rambling about the princess in Chelsea that he found."

Rage trickled through me without abandon. A scowl took over my expression as that black hole in my chest swallowed every ounce of anything that could stop me.

If I didn't pull this gun away from him in the next two seconds, I was going to fucking kill him. I was actually holding a gun to his head.

I was actually thinking about killing him. My amante, my pareja.

Maybe he deserved it.

Blood and sweat and tears melted together until my vision started to grey. As my head pounded with all the impossibilities, it was getting harder and harder to find the blurring lines between enemies and friends and lovers.

Was anything real?

"Tell me, Lace. Am I the best lover you've had? The only Casanova?"

Everything that he'd ever said.

"The only Calloway. That speaks for itself."

He'd laughed. He'd fucking laughed at that.

Because he'd always known everything.

Beneath the flirty comments and the complete devotion, all the betrayal from tonight had me spiraling into oblivion. As each memory came pouring down on me like an avalanche, I found myself buried beneath the lies. All the pain, all the murder, all the things that had left me broken and betrayed in this fucking moment.

Soren had to be responsible. Because there were so many emotions battling through me, but anger was about to win. With Seth dead, there was only one person for me to direct that anger towards. This man in front of me. This stranger.

"Rambling about the princess in Chelsea that he found."

Grinding my teeth, I pressed the gun harder into his temple. He winced slightly and suddenly, that love flooded back up to the surface. I faltered for a split second, still remarkably affected when I saw him in pain.

I was supposed to be his nurse. His pareja. Fuck, I was supposed to take care of him.

But right now, I was still holding a gun to his temple and wondering what it would be like to just end it all. "Why?"

He didn't answer immediately. Maybe he didn't know.

I didn't know. Nothing made sense.

His eyes stilled on mine, wide and open and completely vulnerable. They seemed to be searching for something, chasing something that I wasn't sure existed.

Remorse.

In that moment, I had none.

I had finally become exactly what Seth wanted me to be.

And just as my fingers twitched over the trigger, he blurred forward to knock the gun out of my hand. It clattered against the floor as I let out a loud cry. Two strong hands wrenched me around quick enough to rock the nausea back to life in the pit of my stomach.

As I coughed in pain, Soren murmured something inaudible before pinning me back against the wall.

Always pinned against a wall.

My eyes squeezed shut as I let it all storm through me. I was actually about to shoot him. He'd always said he'd let me. He'd let me kill him and in that moment, I wanted to. I wanted to kill him.

"Mi Reina."

A sob wracked through me at the devotion that bled through the familiar endearment. As his fingers brushed along my damp cheeks, something in me fucking snapped.

It was so gentle and so soft. So like the man that I'd fallen in love with. I'd been about to pull the trigger and he still caressed my cheek as if I was the only thing that mattered.

"Why?" I choked out angrily. "Why won't you just die? You don't die."

"That's what you want," he mumbled in an torturously low voice. Tainted with misery and regret, his words speared me. "You want me dead?"

I wanted them both dead. I wanted both of them dead.

"Yes. Yes. Yes." I cried without thinking, suddenly pummeling him with weak fists. "I want you gone. I want you dead."

Did I really?

Hysteria had taken over. My vision skewed with each heaving breath that escaped. I needed to get out of here. I needed to get away from him. The scent of blood reached me, only bringing a dizzy spell that made me whimper. "I... I hate you. I hate you. I hate you."

Something strangled came up his throat and it wounded me worse than anything else. Beneath watery lashes, I could see the tears well in his eyes. "I know. I know you hate me. I know. I'm sorry, Lace."

My eyes fluttered open to watch his lips twist into a painful scowl. I just didn't understand why he did this to me. Why me? "Why? Why?"

A slight hesitation made my breathing hitch. Soren didn't hesitate.

His ragged sigh tore through me.

"Because I love you," he murmured, as if that was the answer to everything.

But it wasn't. It couldn't be. Love wasn't enough.

I'd always thought it was. I'd always thought that love healed, but so far, it had only brought me heartbreak. That was it. Heartbreak. Heartbreak like this.

So in that moment, I stopped loving him.

I stopped loving everything.

As the need to return the statement crawled up my throat, I forced it down into the simmering pool of nausea about to blow. I couldn't tell him I loved him too because I wanted to feel nothing for him.

It felt as if a weight had lifted off my shoulders. Once those words had plunged to the deepest abyss of an ocean, I slacked against the wall with indifference, ignoring the sentiment with something akin to annoyance. All that love had lead me to this.

All that love had fucked me over.

My eyes flickered to the side, finding Mateo and Adrian watching us warily. As if we were a bomb that was about to detonate and take everyone with us.

I guess that's what we were. A ticking time bomb. How long could he have kept that hidden?

"Were you ever going to tell me?" I asked coolly, refusing to look at him. If I looked at him, I knew I'd crack. Those words would come rising to the surface before I could stop them and I didn't know if I was strong enough to fight it again.

Because I couldn't just stop loving him.

He didn't respond and that pissed me off too much.

So my eyes snapped to his again. Suddenly regarding me with something just as cool and collected, he cocked his head to the side slightly. "Were you?"

The mild accusation in his voice wounded me. "That's not fair, Sor- lando..." I cried out as the two names meshed together. "I don't even know what to call you!"

Whatever ice cold calculation had gathered in his eyes shattered instantly.

"Anything," he tried weakly, his eyes shining slightly. I nearly flinched as he brushed my damp hair back from my face. "You can call me anything and I'll still love you."

My chest burned with the insane amount of affection that seared each word into my brain. It didn't matter what I tried to do, I couldn't escape it. I'd nearly pulled the trigger, I told him that I hated him.

I'd told him that I wanted him dead. And he still...

"You told me that you didn't like me, Lace. And I still... I still... why do I love everything you say?"

"This is... I..." It was too much. Too much. I couldn't bring myself to say anything to him. I wanted him to leave. I wanted him to disappear, but I couldn't ignore that desire to loop my arms around his neck and keep him in front of me forever. He'd been there to comfort me for months and I couldn't just get rid of that.

He'd become my home.

And once again, it felt like my home had been ripped away from me. Torn to pieces and left in the aftermath for me to deal with. Two dark eyes trailed over my entire face as the words caught in my throat.

I didn't even know him. I knew shards of Soren Calloway, but I knew nothing about whoever the hell he really was. And all this time, he'd known everything about me.

It all made fucking sense.

Suddenly, a thousand things he'd said filtered through the foggy haze that was descending over me.

"This is exactly where I wanted to be at 22."

"Don't worry. I told you I don't care who you were to him."

"I'm good at watching people without them knowing."

"I think I've always loved you, Lacey."

I'd never wanted to be further away from the ocean. An ocean of hints that I'd thought nothing of. An ocean that was still staring me down with all the intent to bring me down with him.

That's how it had been since I met him. If he drowned, I'd go with him.

"I deserve so much better."

Those words fumbled from my lips with so much resolution that I didn't recognize myself. They seared me with the truth. I did. I deserved better than all of this.

His sharp intake pierced the terse silence in the room. As if it was meant to hurt me, whatever remained of my soul took the brunt force of it.

And then his lips curled into a sad smile. "I know. I've always known you did."

"Then why did you do this to me?"

Adrian finally interrupted the conversation with a heavy cough.

Broken out of my trance, I glanced over Soren's shoulder to meet his urgent look. With a certain nervousness, he bounced back on the balls of his feet. "You two can fight and fuck later, but we need to get going."

A short groan left Soren's lips and the heat of it fanned across my neck. Fidgeting slightly, I refused to look away from Adrian as a wry grin tugged at his lips. "We all know your patterns. But right now, we need to do something with him and move on. Cariño has an army to address."

As quickly as my emotions had evaporated, my heart came climbing back up my throat. An army. An army that had been run by... Orlando. And then... Seth.

I was supposed to run that army? Control an army of men and women that had been hunting me down?

I wanted to destroy it.

Stilling silently, I watched Mateo and Adrian kneel down to the man on the floor. With all the blood drained from his face, a sickly pale shade had taken over his complexion. Both men skidded through the blood, struggling to lift him.

No. I wanted this to end the way it should've. Months ago.

"Where are we?" I asked, ignoring the way Soren stood beside me. "What is this place?"

Adrian tilted his chin up to look at me cautiously. "This, cariño, is where he's been hiding all this time. It's underneath a small clu-"

I didn't care.

"Torch it." I cut him off with the easy answer. As they both dropped him back into the puddle of blood, I stepped away from Soren to look down at the man I'd loved.

It did nothing. I felt hollow. Empty.

"Burn everything."

One of them must've closed his eyes because he was no longer staring up at me with those lifeless pools that had been so familiar. There had been no emotion in Seth. When he wanted to, he just didn't feel. I didn't want to be like that. I didn't want to be anything like him.

If I was going to run his 'army', it was going to be different.

"Cariño..." Adrian trailed off in that same wary tone that made my blood boil. He was speaking to me as if I was a runaway train, as if I was about to crack, as if I was just moments from exploding.

Maybe he hadn't been wrong.

Because I whirled around to face him with a murderous feeling blooming in my chest. "It's actually Reina to you now. And I should fucking kill you."

Mateo shuffled back and out of the line of fire. Silently. At least one of the men in this room didn't want to challenge me.

But Adrian... Adrian always challenged. Seemingly unaffected by the sudden chill in the room, he rolled his eyes.

In one blurry moment, I'd channeled everything that Seth and Soren had taught me. Because suddenly, I was skidding to a stop in front of Adrian, clutching the gun from the ground against his temple. And I was snarling. "You bastard."

He merely scoffed. An insane urge to pistol whip him rushed through me. "I thought you were going to rape me."

Again, he made some noncommittal sound. Blinking twice, he held my heavy, hooded glare. "We're family. Remember that."

Those words echoed through me blindly, bringing the memory to the front of all the turmoil breaking me apart. As he embraced me in a bathroom when Soren hadn't been there for me. When I'd felt like I had a friend. A family.

Tears charged forward as I dropped the gun to send my fist flying across his face. Adrian let out a strangled curse, but did nothing in response. We both went inching backwards as I grabbed his collar.

"Family doesn't do what you did. That's the first thing you're going to understand."

Grunting lowly, Adrian froze in my grip. A fresh red mark blossomed across his cheek, but he jutted his chin out strongly. "Go ahead, Reina."

Instead of releasing more rage on him, I unclenched my fists and shoved him back slightly. "You all need to understand something now. This is not what a family is like."

As I spun to face Mateo and Soren, my heart revived itself. Lurking within the shadows at the edge of the room with his hands shoved in his pockets, Soren was grinning with pride.

"Amor de Reina."

Those soft, sensual words cut straight through the haze to destroy my effort of ignoring him. "Stop smiling." I seethed.

"I can't help it," he muttered breathlessly. "You're everything and more."

Everything and more. A Queen.

Strong.

"And you're a piece of shit," I grumbled, leveling him with what I hoped was intolerance. "Get me something to light this. Now."

Something about the emphasis sent both Mateo and Adrian racing to the dark doorway. An unexplainable amount of power surged through me. A dangerous amount.

People would listen to me now. There was no going back to being a pampered princess. An ice cold vice clamped around my heart at the concept.

I was a Queen.

A silence settled as they disappeared. When I spun to face Soren again, there was an unspoken agreement.

A Queen and a King. A tainted love between the two as they stood in an inescapable silence.

Was that really us? Why did it feel like I was watching from above... just waiting for one of us to strike?

Something fuzzy and too familiar yanked at my heart as I let my eyes wander up to his face. A dark bruise took over most of the right side, barely revealing the busted cut along the side of his cheek. And as I settled on his lips and found his bottom lip split and bloody, I had to bite back the tears.

My pareja.

"Are you okay?" I asked timidly.

The words floated between us with a longing that I couldn't express any other way. With us, those three words seemed to always be the answer. Siempre.

I didn't even bother asking how it had happened. Whatever chaos had ensued after I'd been knocked unconscious couldn't even catch up to the chaos that had ensued after I'd woken up.

He nodded slowly, as if he didn't know how to act around me. I didn't blame him.

Things didn't feel the same.

"¿Besos?"

And yet, nothing had felt more like home.

I wanted to. The air crackled between us as he opened his arms with the invitation, but I couldn't. My feet stayed glued to the floor. A ragged breath escaped as I tried to count the feet that were between us.

All I knew was that it was too many. I wanted to be in his arms.

A hurt look flashed over his face. It hurt me. As his entire expression crumpled with defeat, I tried to keep mine neutral.

Strong. Like a Queen.

"We're free, Lace," he breathed lowly.

And those three words sent a flood of relief through me so intensely that I felt my knees buckle.

Before I could completely collapse to the dirty floor, I was in his arms. Hovering over me, Soren folded his arms around my waist and tugged me up into his chest.

And as angry as I was at him, my hands reached around his neck and I muffled my sob into his shoulder. "Free."

What was freedom? Were we really free?

We were still shackled to this. One disaster had just melted into another.

There are some things you just can't escape.

Anger dissipated. For the moment, it was gone. Replaced by the need for him. For the man that had helped ground me for months. For the man that always understood when I was falling apart. For the man that had helped put me back together.

Comforting, soothing, loving. Soren Calloway. I needed him to tell me that it was okay — that I would be okay.

Everything would be okay.

And he did. In soft, consoling hums and whispers, Soren helped that ache in my chest dull. He helped stop the painful throbbing of my heart. He helped me be who I needed to be.

A Queen.

His palms rubbed down my back as he cradled me. Violent sobs shook my entire frame, but they wouldn't stop.

"Fuck, princesa. You're okay."

And just like that, I stilled.

"Every man wants a princesa."

It would always haunt me.

Anger returned with a vengeance and before I knew what I was doing, I was bawling and ripping myself away from him. A hard slap resonated through the room, so much like when Seth had hit me that I froze.

And then I realized that I had slapped Soren.

His dark eyes widened slightly, but they were open with that truth. He'd known me.

"Rambling about the princess he found in Chelsea."

A princess, a princess, a princess.

Who was he to fuck with my life? Because of some adoration? Some infatuation?

I sent my other palm flying for his cheek. With every harsh crack, I could only hear those words.

"Rambling about the princess he found in Chelsea.

"So fucking whipped. Infatuated. Over a girl that he didn't even have the balls to speak to."

"I'd never seen my brother like that."

One after the other, Soren took every weak punch and slap and hit that I could muster up. As the words played on repeat, I just kept pummeling into his chest until I was sniffling in exhaustion. Running on nothing but rage and betrayal, I collapsed against his chest to reach for his hair.

And then I was yanking and ripping and clawing with the subsiding feelings. Soren grunted and cursed and hissed the entire time, but he did nothing to stop me.

I was so angry at him. It just kept coming back in waves.

Soren had become a punching bag. And he took every single fucking hit as if he deserved it. As if it was a punishment.

Finally, the cries cascaded into broken pants and I slumped in his arms tiredly. Groaning slightly, his arms looped around my back. A fire filled me at the gentle touch.

Even after I beat the shit out of him, Soren still loved me. That wasn't healthy.

He didn't say anything. I didn't say anything.

Eventually, I roped my arms around his waist and looked up to him. A soft look met me. With his bottom lip tugged between his teeth into a sheepish smile and red handprints dancing across his face, his eyes still held an unstoppable amount of love.

"Lace."

"It's Reina." I reprimanded wearily, resisting the urge to raise onto my tiptoes and kiss him. "Especially to you."

That green in his eyes brightened so quick that it blinded me. The gold fringe that I loved so much fought forward and I felt my toes raise as I tried to close the distance. "Lo siento, mi Reina. Siempre."

Sighing, I landed back on my feet and wrenched out of his arms. I couldn't kiss him. Not when I didn't understand anything.

"Was this a plan?"

Noticeably deflated, Soren spared a glance at the man on the floor. He lingered for a second too long and I found myself wondering if it hurt. In the end, Seth was still his brother.

A brother, a husband, a King.

In some twisted, Shakespearean tragedy.

But before I could ask him, he pinned me with a serious look. "It was, but it derailed a few weeks ago. I didn't want to risk this. You."

"Actually," a voice drifted from the hallway. "He didn't trust me."

All the emotion from his tired expression drained to a blank mask. "Adrian went rogue."

On cue, Adrian shuffled into the room with a sly grin. "I learned from the best." Raising his brows, he directed the teasing look at Soren. "How does it feel to be out of the loop?"

Soren fucking growled. His back tensed in that way that I could feel. Permeating through the air, a rage emanated from him that could rival even mine. "When it involves this woman, I will never be left out of the loop again." And then he darted across the room. 

"¿Qué carajo, O?"

Fisting his collar viciously, Soren slammed him back against the wall. "You think you're lucky she didn't kill you?" He shook his head to give him a haughty laugh. "Tienes suerte porque debería matarte. I should."

"For doing something that you two have been trying to for months or years?" Adrian scoffed, coughing slightly when Soren tightened his grip. "Eso es gracioso."

"You knocked her out!"

"Actually, Mateo did." Adrian drawled in defense. "And for the record, I was the one that convinced him not to use any drugs because she's got a bun in the oven."

Silence descended again. Only interrupted by the sound of footsteps approaching down the hallway, Adrian and Soren simmered in some deadly tension that made my breathing hitch.

Breathe.

"Te ayudé." Adrian hissed forcefully, squirming in his grip. "I put my own life on the line by coming in here and taking their oath for you two."

I had nothing to say to that. He was right.

"Working with Seth, giving him false information. I wasn't even a double agent, I was like... a triple agent!"

I could see the muscles in his back relax. Releasing Adrian harshly, Soren stumbled back with a dry laugh.

"¿Qué carajo, O? You two were about to leave town like a couple of runaway teenagers. Get hitched in Vegas and then try your luck in Mexico?"

Hearing Adrian say it made it sound absurd. It made it sound like ages ago. In some budding hope for a future that would give me Soren Calloway at the beach.

To burn it all down and rebuild. To start over.

Some small sliver of me wanted to go back to that. To that blissful ignorance.

Neither of us responded and I wondered if Soren was thinking the same thing.

My eyes flickered over to the man that I was about to flee to Mexico with. Adrian scoffed, "you're fucking welcome, by the way. Now you two don't have to leave."

We didn't have to leave New York. We didn't have to leave. We were free.

In a gentler tone, Adrian continued, "Seth is dead. You can stay here."

A slight desperation laced through the words. It softened everything inside of me. "Gracias, Adrian." I murmured with as much gratefulness as I could.

Soren didn't return the gesture. "Puto cabrón," he spat dryly.

One side of Adrian's lips quirked higher. "You're welcome, compadre."

Or maybe that was his way of thanking him.

From the corner of my eye, I watched Mateo enter the room hesitantly. Holding a bottle of whiskey in each hand and a pack of matches between his lips, his eyes darted over the three of us as he came to a halt.

I couldn't forget that he'd been a part of it. "So what?" I demanded, shifting my attention solely onto Adrian again. "You were going to miss us too much?"

The next silence was riddled with a tenderness that pierced me. As his dark eyes wavered to meet mine, they were almost as heavy as my heart.

Finally, he mumbled softly, "We're family. You can't leave your family behind."

Despite the tears that surfaced, I felt a small smile edge onto my face. A small, sad smile. "Oh, Adrian."

"Sí, Reina." He squirmed as a blush crawled up to his cheeks. "Family keeps you safe."

"You did this for us."

I wasn't prepared for his chuckle. "I did this for you."

Wincing, I waited for Soren to curse, but he only grumbled under his breath. "Gracias, compadre."

Something about his stubborn nature made me grin. Still, I was baffled by his confession. "You did it... for me."

"Lacey is a leader," Adrian mused lightly, glancing to Soren. "Isn't that what you said about her?"

Why did he have to think so highly of me? Fuck, it made it hard to be as angry as I should be. As my eyes flitted to his, I caught the tail-end of a cringe. "What?"

He shifted his gaze to the ceiling, as if he was uncomfortable. "That was... uh, that was the plan before."

The plan?

My brows rose. That didn't explain anything.

Adrian gave a short laugh. "If you killed the King, you would take over."

"And if I was in control of Bloodline..." Soren cut in.

"You wanted us to be rivals?" I asked in disbelief.

With a low laugh, Adrian kicked himself off the wall to wiggle his brows at us both. "That would be hot. Some real Romeo and Juliet shit, right?"

His teasing comment didn't even register. I was still shuffling through all the plans that Soren had never told me. There was always a new one and that just couldn't keep happening. I'd be drowning in them for the rest of my life.

Soren finally turned his gaze back to me. Something dark and dangerous lurked beneath the tempting shade of green.

"No, I wanted us to merge them. Unite them."

**So. I know that in the end it kind of veered into something else, but Lacey is REALLY mad at him still. At least he didn't try to lie about it... 😭

HOW ARE WE FEELING ABOUT THIS? TELL ME YOUR THOUGHTS ❤️❤️

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH! Drop a vote or a comment and let me know if you're excited for this one... because I'm really, really ready for this one to get started. (Hence why I posted it this soon after CBA finished 😅)

besos 😘