Sinful Kingdom

SINFUL KINGDOM KNIGHT’S RIDGE EMPIRE BOOK 18 TRACY LORRAINE CONTENTS 1. Evie 2. Evie 3. Alex 4. Evie 5. Alex 6. Evie 7. Alex 8. Evie 9. Alex 10. Evie 11. Alex 12. Evie 13. Evie 14. Alex 15. Evie 16. Alex 17. Evie 18. Alex 19. Evie 20. Alex 21. Evie 22. Alex 23. Evie 24. Alex 25. Evie 26. Alex 27. Evie 28. Evie 29. Evie 30. Alex 31. Evie 32. Alex 33. Evie About the Author Also by Tracy Lorraine The Mistakes You Make The Revenge You Seek Sneak Peek Copyright © 2022 by Tracy Lorraine All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Editing by Pinpoint Editing Proofreading by Sisters Get Lit.erary Photography by Wander Aguiar Models - Zakk Davis & Evan Keys 1 EVIE Exhaustion like I’ve never felt before seeps through my bones. Tears stain my cheeks, but they’re nothing compared to the blood running down my skin. I’m covered in the scratches and deep gouges left behind by the thistles and thorns I’ve run through. And my feet… I can barely stand. The pain is like nothing I’ve ever experienced. Give me a ridiculous pair of stripper heels and tell me to dance for twenty-four hours straight. I’d take that over this hell any day. I’m soaked from head to toe; the rain that started earlier has barely let up in all the time I’ve been running. It mixes with the blood, turning pink and pooling at the ground. Stumbling forward, I just about manage to catch myself before I fall flat on my face. It’s dark. Unbelievably so, and cold. My entire body shakes, my skin is covered in goosebumps, and my teeth chatter. But there’s nothing I can do about it. There’s no shelter, no blankets, no nice warm bath to soothe my aching muscles. I’m out here, alone, with fuck knows what prowling around me. We’re in England. It can’t be that bad. There are no wild bears, lions, or tigers. But there are the men in masks. The sun might have set and the hours ticked by, but that doesn’t mean they’re not still out here searching. They came here for me. To take me to my rightful owner to embark on a life of Christ knows what. I can’t imagine that they’ll give up easily. I search my black surroundings for any sign of light, movement, anything. But there’s nothing. Nothing but raindrops and the wind that whips around me, ensuring I’m frozen to the bone. The fear of them returning with search dogs flicker through my mind. I need to keep moving. But I can’t. My body is shutting down, no matter how much my brain pushes me forward. Slumping against a thick tree trunk, I slowly slide down until my arse hits the wet and muddy ground beneath me. Wrapping my arms around my legs, I curl myself up into the tightest ball I can and let the tears flow. With my emotions ripped to shreds and my body not far behind it, my sobs soon fade out, overtaken by exhaustion. Every noise, every howl of the wind and large drop of water startles me. But there are no voices, and more importantly, there are no hands lifting me from the ground and dragging me away. This might be hell, but it could be worse. I could be under the control of the man who paid… I still have no idea how much for me. An eighteen-year-old virgin. He might be wealthy. He probably lives in a mansion with staff and all those pretentious things. But nothing, nothing is worth losing your free will over. Alex might have lied, but all he’s done is protect me, care for me… love me. He knows I’m gone. He has to. He should have returned from his exam hours ago. He could be running through these woods right now searching for me, or he could be hunting down the men he thinks have me. There might be a lot I don’t know about Alexander Deimos, but I know one thing. He won’t rest until I’m safe. He did all of this because he cares. It might be naïve or wishful thinking or whatever, but when he told me he loved me yesterday, I believed him. He won’t give up on me. I know he won’t. And nor will the others. They’ll all be out searching, doing whatever they can to find me, to bring me back to my family. Thoughts of Blake and Zay make my sobs return full force. Do they even know I’m missing? Will Alex and the guys have kept the intel locked down so they don’t scare them? Are they hoping to return with me before Blake realises there’s an issue? Fuck, I hope so. With my energy depleted, I slump to the side, curling up in the foetal position as the rain continues to pour and my hope seeps out into the puddle around me. As soon as the sun rises, you’ll find your way out of here… As long as they don’t find you first… * * * Birds are the first thing I hear as the woods surrounding me begin to wake with the rising sun. Opening my eyes hurts. It gives me very little optimism for what it’s going to be like to move the rest of my body. Right now, I’m so cold I’m numb. And that’s probably a very good thing. I scan my surroundings as the orange hue from the morning sun begins to flood everything around me with light. The ground is wet and muddy from the storm the day before, but from what I can make out through the gaps in the leaves far above my head, the sky is