Page 66 of Scandalous Kingpin

Christian’s body stiffened beside me and aggravation lit in my chest, but I kept my voice indifferent. “You three are guests on his boat?—”

“Our,” he corrected, and I raised my brow. “It’s our yacht, angel.”

I flashed him a smile, my cheeks flushing, then returned my attention to my brothers and started over. “You’re guests on our yacht, so I’d ask that you refrain from insulting my husband. Besides, he’s doing us a favor.”

Aemon, who could rage when the occasion called for it but also had the most rational head on his shoulders, finally chimed in. “You’re right, little sister. Forgive us.”

Eager to break the tension, I smiled and nodded. “Want a tour? Or want to join us at the pool?”

Aemon’s gaze locked on Christian. “Actually, I’d like to go over the plan of attack.”

My other brothers nodded in agreement.

“I fucking hate surprises,” Bren muttered. “And right now, everything will be a surprise.”

“Maybe you should stay behind, then.” Caelan snickered, slapping him on the shoulder. “Sunbathe on this yacht in the nude.”

I was making a puking face as my other two brothers cracked up when one of the crew members arrived with a tray of drinks.

“Bren, if I catch you in the nude, you’re a dead man,” Christian warned casually, and everyone snickered. “As far as a plan, there isn’t one. We catch Sofia off guard, end her, and that’ll be the end of that.”

Bren nodded, completely unfazed by the unsubtle threat he’d just received, then grabbed a drink from the tray and shoved an hors d’oeuvre into his mouth.

“We want to question her,” Aemon stated. Waves of ice rolled from Christian, threatening to swallow this entire yacht, butAemon ignored it. “I want to know why exactly she killed our father.”

And how far back their business and personal relationship went,was his unspoken intention.

“I won’t risk Sofia slipping through our fingers so you can have a conversation with the woman.”

Aemon frowned, studying my husband as if trying to uncover his angle. Truthfully, I was surprised at his response too. I knew it was common in our world to extract information from captives; killing first and asking questions later left you blind to schemes.

And Christian knew that. So why take that approach?

“Fuck that,” Bren hissed. He’d always been the loose cannon in our family, but we didn’t fault him for it since we knew he had a heart of gold. “How will we uncover her agenda?”

“Sofia’s agenda is fucking people over,” Christian deadpanned. “Nothing more. Nothing less.”

“She kills with a purpose,” Bren argued. “So unless you and your family are hiding something, we’ll be holding her for questioning.” His tone was dismissive, almost challenging.

Fury reflected in Christian’s gaze when he spoke again. “Are you accusing me and my family of something?”

Caelan jumped in to try to smooth out the situation. “Absolutely not, but you have to admit, it’s unusual that none of you would want answers from Sofia, especially considering your familial connections to the woman.”

Uncertainty tugged at my throat and nervousness radiated in my every cell, pouring out of me.

“Let’s leave this for now,” Aemon ended up chiming in, his brow rising in humor. “We are guests after all.”

And just like that, my other two brothers fell in line.

Except nobody was fooled—at least I wasn’t—that they’d dropped the subject.

Priest

A few minutes before seven, everyone gathered for dinner. Ivy was glowing from a day spent in the sun, her hazel eyes shining. I hadn’t seen her like this yet—so content and free-spirited.

Her brothers’ visit wasn’t exactly a welcomed one, but it was either that or risk them getting to Sofia before us. They’d been on their way to Montenegro following a tip from Danil Popov’s father, who’d arranged a meeting with Sofia.

I couldn’t let that happen without me, so I invited them here. Everything they said about keeping your friends close and your enemies closer… well, it applied to family too.