Page 106 of Royal Deception

“I can do a lot of shit you don’t know about,” he mutters, fingers flying across the keyboard.

I hover behind him, every muscle in my body wired tight as he works. The only sound in the room is the rapid clicking of keys and the sharp thump of my heartbeat in my ears.

“C’mon, c’mon…Yes! Got something.”

I lean over his shoulder, barely breathing. “Where?”

Lucky’s jaw tightens. “Russian territory, alright." His eyes flick up to me. “Deep in it, looks like.”

My stomach drops. I already knew it. But hearing it confirmed feels like a death sentence. Hands curling into fists, my nails dig into my palms as I push myself to think. Fuck.Think, Rory. Think!

We know where she is—roughly. That should be a good thing. But it doesn’t do shit if I can’t get to her without turning this into an all-out war.

"Okay," Lucky says, still typing. "We’ve got a location. What’s the move?"

I open my mouth, then close it. I don’t fucking know. My instinct is to tear through the streets, guns blazing, but that’ll only get Clary and me killed.

I could call in reinforcements. I have guys in the area, people who could be there fast. But if I make that call, it won’t just be them who finds her. The second word gets out that an Irish crew is sniffing around Russian territory, every Bratva soldier in the city is gonna be on high alert.

Clary’s already in deep. I can’t make it worse.

Lucky watches me, waiting for an answer. I rake a hand through my hair, my pulse pounding.Think, goddammit.

“We can’t send anyone in.” The words taste like acid.

Lucky frowns. “Why the fuck not?”

“Because the second the Bratva catches wind of this, Clary stops being just some girl who wandered into their territory. She becomes a fucking target—a pawn, leverage, bait. Who the fuck knows? But whatever they do to her after that? It’ll be worse than whatever they’ve got planned now.”

Lucky exhales sharply, leaning back in his chair. “So, what, then? We just sit here with our dicks in our hands and hope for the best?”

I shake my head. “I’m going in,” I say, clutching my phone tightly in my hand.

Clary is in danger. Our baby is in danger. And it’s my fault.

I wasn’t there when she needed me. I kept pushing her away, kept holding her at arm’s length like a coward, telling myself it was for her own good. But she’s never needed my protection.

All those years, I thought she was weak, that she needed someone to shield her. But she was always stronger than I gave her credit for. Stronger than I ever fucking deserved. And I was too blind to see it.

Fuck.

I could lose her right now, and the thought makes me sick, makes me realize just how much I took her for granted.

This can’t be how it ends.

But maybe—maybe—she’ll be okay. She’s strong, so strong. Strong enough to go after a damn stalker on her own just to prove it.

And I let her feel like shehadto. All because I couldn’t get out of my own way. All because I thought I had to prove to everyone that I could run the show, that I didn’t need anyone else, that it could be just me, shouldering the burden of being head of the family.

And it turns out that all this time, I’ve been running away from the best thing that’s ever happened to me because of that. What’s worse is, some part of me knew that deep down, in my bones, Clary doesn’t need me. She’s never needed me.

I’m the one who needs her. But it could be too late. Now she could be?—

But Lucky snaps his fingers, shaking his head as though something just occurred to him. “Kellan.”

I blink at him. “What about him?”

“He and Aleksey used to be tight, right? I know that they stopped speaking after everything went down last year, but maybe we can get Kellan to try to talk to Aleksey and plead for him to return Clary to us safely.”