Page 84 of Royal Bargain

But I’m stalled when the announcement is made, the numbers flashing bold and bright across the screen.

BURNS — WINNER: 52.4%

The room explodes into cheers.

People leap to their feet, champagne sloshing. Hands go up. Campaign staff scream and hug and kiss and laugh like it’s already November. The Brannagan boys are grinning—Lucky slapping someone’s back, Kellan and Rory giving tight nods, even a smirk from Clary’s direction.

But Liam doesn’t move.

He doesn’t clap. He doesn’t cheer. His phone buzzes again in his hand, and he turns away slightly, angling his body to read it in private.

I feel something cold curl in my gut.

He should be smiling. He should be basking in the moment. This is a win—a big one—and he helped make it happen. But his face doesn’t reflect victory.

Only worry.

Something’s wrong.

And whatever it is, he hasn’t told me.

I’m only a few feet away from him when the tone in the ballroom shifts again—cheers falter, eyes swivel toward the main screen as the anchor’s voice sharpens with urgency.

“We have breaking news coming in now out of Thornville—several suspected members of the Russian syndicate have been arrested in connection with an attempted interference in today’s primary election…”

The words echo across the ballroom like a gunshot.

A ripple of confusion and alarm surges through the crowd. Conversations die midsentence. Glasses lower. The anchor continues, detailing how a coordinated sting operation led to multiple arrests at different polling locations, and that authorities suspect the Volkov syndicate may have been trying to tamper with ballot machines or intimidate poll workers.

My blood turns to ice.

I whip my head toward Liam, and for the first time all night, I see him react.

Relief.

Not joy, not panic—relief. His shoulders sag just slightly. The tension in his jaw eases. His phone drops to his side as he exhales, long and low like he’s been holding his breath for days.

“I knew it,” he says, voice low and tight as I step closer. “I knew it. I told Burns. I told Rory. They didn’t believe me, but I knew the Russians were trying to steal the election.”

He turns to me then, eyes flashing with something sharp and vindicated.

“They tried to rig it, Ana. Your family. They tried to take him down. And now we’ve got proof.”

My mouth opens, but the words catch on the way out.

I want to sayAre you sure?

I want to sayWhat if it wasn’t them?

I want to tell him about Sasha’s warning, about the uneasy feeling threading through my chest like barbed wire. That something about this—about the timing, the neatness of it all—feels wrong.

But before I can say anything, a booming voice cuts through the haze.

“Liam!”

Senator Burns strides up to us, grinning like a man who’s just seen his future handed to him on a silver platter. His arms are already outstretched as he barrels in for a hug. Liam barelyhas time to brace before he’s swept into a half-embrace, clapped hard on the back.

“You did it, kid,” Burns says, loud enough for half the room to hear. “We did it.”