Ruined Kingdom: The Complete Duet

RUINED KINGDOM THE COMPLETE DUET NATASHA KNIGHT Copyright © 2022 by Natasha Knight 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. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is purely coincidental. Cover by Coverluv CONTENTS Ruined Kingdom About This Book Prologue 1. Vittoria 2. Amadeo 3. Vittoria 4. Amadeo 5. Vittoria 6. Amadeo 7. Vittoria 8. Vittoria 9. Amadeo 10. Vittoria 11. Vittoria 12. Amadeo 13. Vittoria 14. Bastian 15. Amadeo 16. Vittoria 17. Vittoria 18. Amadeo 19. Bastian 20. Vittoria 21. Bastian 22. Vittoria 23. Amadeo 24. Vittoria 25. Amadeo 26. Bastian 27. Vittoria 28. Bastian 29. Amadeo 30. Bastian 31. Amadeo 32. Vittoria Broken Queen About This Book 1. Vittoria 2. Amadeo 3. Bastian 4. Vittoria 5. Amadeo 6. Bastian 7. Amadeo 8. Vittoria 9. Amadeo 10. Vittoria 11. Amadeo 12. Vittoria 13. Bastian 14. Amadeo 15. Vittoria 16. Bastian 17. Amadeo 18. Vittoria 19. Bastian 20. Vittoria 21. Bastian 22. Vittoria 23. Amadeo 24. Bastian 25. Vittoria 26. Vittoria 27. Amadeo 28. Vittoria 29. Vittoria 30. Amadeo 31. Bastian 32. Vittoria 33. Amadeo 34. Vittoria Epilogue 1 Epilogue 2 Epilogue 3 Bonus Epilogue What To Read Next Also by Natasha Knight About the Author RUINED KINGDOM ABOUT THIS BOOK Loyalty. Duty. Deceit. I never imagined my first trip to Italy would be to bury my father. But there I stood, alone in the ancient cathedral with my father’s casket, a handful of soldiers standing guard. It never occurred to me that anyone would disrupt the sanctity of the moment. But the Caballero brothers have little regard for the church and even less for my family. They marched in weapons in hand and turned my world upside down. They shattered what peace I had. They desecrated my father’s body. And they took what they wanted. Me. I’m a princess in a tower in a breathtaking villa. My bedroom overlooks the turquoise sea but the door is locked. And I have to contend with not one but two dragons. PROLOGUE AMADEO 15 Years Ago Hundred-dollar bills float to the peeling linoleum floor. Five. Ten. Fifteen. Fifteen-hundred dollars. It’s what a life is worth to them. My mother can’t stop sobbing. She’s going to choke on her tears. My father stands defiant, his hands fisted at his sides. Fifteen-hundred dollars lie on the old green-and-yellow floor. Does he expect us to drop and rush to collect them? Thank him for his generosity? He’s going to be disappointed if that’s the case. Lucien Russo moves to his father’s side, inadvertently stepping on one of the bills with his polished, expensive shoes. Or maybe it’s not so inadvertent. I ignore him, though. He doesn’t matter. Not now. He is not the one in control. He whispers something to his father while I take in the cut of the older man’s suit. The scent of their combined cologne permeates the air in the small room as if syphoning out the oxygen. As my father instructed me to, I keep my gaze low and memorize the ring on Geno Russo’s finger. The insignia. Lucien has one too. It looks out of place on his hand, though. Like a boy wearing a man’s ring. He’s new to his family’s business with hands like that. His father’s hands are dangerous. Violent. Although I know the damage Lucien can do. Today is evidence of it. “No hard feelings, Roland,” the older Russo says. My father clenches and unclenches his hands. I shift my gaze up, just for a moment. I want to know if Russo has seen that fisting and flexing. That barely pent-up rage. He has. “You won’t make trouble, Roland,” Russo says, and I realize he hasn’t missed my glance either because his eyes meet mine. I step forward, flanking my father’s right. “Amadeo.” My father says my name like a warning. He’s still looking at the older man, who smiles a cunning, terrifying smile as he lays a heavy hand on my head. “Amadeo,” Russo repeats. “Your son is brave,” he says to my father, then shifts his gaze to Bastian, who peers out from behind my father’s back. “Tell me, are you as brave?” he asks my younger brother. My mother swallows back a sob. “They are children,” my father responds, and it sounds like they’re having a different, parallel conversation alongside the spoken words. The undercurrent of danger is undeniable. “Two boys. Boys who will grow into men.” No one says a word for a long minute as the unspoken threat hangs between us. My mother’s crying is the only sound in the room. “We had a sister, too,” Bastian says, his voice high. He’s not yet a man. They all turn their attention to my brother, and I know this is a fatal mistake. This moment. Just then, the door opens, and we all turn to it, surprised when a little girl comes hopping into our small, ugly kitchen. She’s softly singing a Disney tune and seems oblivious to the tension as her eyes quickly scan the room and land on Geno Russo. She smiles a huge smile. “Daddy,” she says. “Look what I picked. Daffodils.” They’re actually dandelions. She holds her bouquet up to her father. Her father. A man comes running in after her, expression hurried, frazzled. “I was… She…” Russo gives him a deadly look that lasts an instant before he bends to scoop up his little girl. “So pretty. Go pick more for me, will you?” She nods, but she’s sensed something is off. I see it in her expression. And as he carries her toward the door, she catches my