Page 104 of Royal Deception

I lift my chin, swallowing back the nausea crawling up my throat. “You always were a gold-digging bitch,” I say flatly. She just laughs.

Kate steps closer, her heels clicking against the unfinished floor. “Did you really think I’d let you get away with everything you did to me?” she purrs.

I clench my jaw. “What the hell are you talking about?”

Kate lets out a mock gasp, placing a hand over her heart like she’s wounded. “Oh, Clarissa,” she coos. “Don’t tell me you forgot? The way you humiliated me? The way you made me feel like trash? Your father let you get away with it, but I never forgot. I promised I’d pay you back for every nasty little thing you did.”

I stare at her, my blood turning to ice.

I always knew she was a horrible person, a selfish, manipulative gold-digger who married my father for his money and tried to sink her claws into our lives.

But this?

Selling me out to the Russians?

Handing me over to men who want me dead?

I swallow hard, forcing myself to meet her eyes. “I knew you were heartless,” I say, my voice steady despite the rage burning inside me, “but I didn’t think you were stupid.”

Her smile doesn’t waver, but there’s a flicker of irritation in her expression.

“Aligning yourself with the Russians?” I continue, shaking my head. “What do you think is going to happen when this all comes crashing down? You thinkDariyis going to protect you? You think Anatoly’s going to give a shit about you when the Feds come knocking?”

Kate clicks her tongue, stepping even closer. “Oh, sweetheart,” she sighs. “That’s where you and I are different. I know how to pick the winning side.”

My stomach churns, but I don’t let my expression slip.

She smirks. “And you?” She leans in, lowering her voice. “You’re about to lose everything.”

Aleksey chuckles, low and dark. “You’re not dying yet,solnishko. You’re far too valuable.” He crouches beside me, gripping my chin. “You’re going to be our bargaining chip.”

43

RORY

My whole body goes rigid. My grip tightens around the remote, and the sound of the news report—Anatoly Volkov’s arrest, the biggest win of my career—fades into static.

The world feels like it spins around me as I turn to face my brother.

“What do you mean?” My voice comes out sharp, edged with something dangerous, but Lucky doesn’t even flinch. He just looks grim, shoulders tense like he already knows I’m not going to like what he has to say.

“Mark called,” he says, stepping closer. “He’s worried about Clary. She asked him to dig into Callie’s stalker, and he found out the guy’s in Russian territory. Might even be connected to the Bratva.”

My stomach drops. Fuck.

“She went to check it out,” Lucky continues. “Told Mark she’d handle it.”

A slow, creeping dread wraps around my spine, tightening like a noose. Clary, on her own, walking straight into enemy territory? I already know this is bad.

But storming into Russian territory while the whole city’s on high alert after Anatoly’s arrest? That’s a death sentence. The Russians are out for blood, and if they so much as smell an Irishman on their side of town right now, she’ll have a dozen guns aimed at her head before she can even take a breath.

I grit my teeth. Every instinct in me is screaming to move, to go, to find her right fucking now, but I can’t afford to be stupid. I can’t get myself killed before I even have a plan.

“Shit.” I exhale sharply, dragging a hand down my face. “We need to be smart about this.”

“Fuck.” My pulse is hammering. I shove off the couch, pacing fast, my hands flexing at my sides. My mind is already running a million miles an hour, but none of it feels fast enough.

We were just figuring things out. I was trying to be the man I thought she wanted. But I pushed her away, and now she might be in danger because she didn’t think she could tell me before waltzing into enemy territory on a fool’s errand.