Page 10 of Silent Schemes

She recovers quickly, but it’s too late.

The opening is mine.

She straightens, smooths her dress, and says, “Until next time, King.”

She walks away, hips swinging with just enough sway to make me wonder if it’s an invitation or warning.

Probably both.

I finish the drink she left behind.

The lipstick taste is subtle, bitter.

The dealer breathes out for the first time in ten minutes.

Breathing out, my eyes narrow as she leaves.

A little spitfire.

One I intend to break.

CHAPTER TWO

Sienna

Three Days Earlier…

The smell of Cuban cigars and death clings to everything in my father's office.

It's in the leather chairs, the mahogany desk, the very air I'm forcing into my lungs.

Theodore Cross sits behind his fortress of wood and power, and I stand before him like I always do—spine straight, emotions buried so deep even I can't find them anymore.

"Varrick Bane." He says the name like it's poison on his tongue, sliding a photograph across the desk.

I don't need to look.

I've been studying that face for weeks now.

Sharp jawline, eyes dark enough to drown in, a scar through his left eyebrow that makes him look like violence personified.

The Bastard King of Vancouver, they call him.

One of three illegitimate sons now claiming their dead father's empire.

"He's expanding," my father continues, lighting another cigar even though the last one still smolders in the crystal ashtray. "The bastard thinks he can push into our territory, stealour connections. He's becoming more than a nuisance, Sienna. He's becoming a threat."

I keep my face neutral, the way he trained me.

Show nothing, feel nothing, be nothing but what's useful.

It's kept me alive for twenty-four years.

"You want him dead." It's not a question.

Men like my father don't call their daughters into private meetings to discuss the weather.

His laugh is harsh, like breaking glass. "I want him destroyed. But first, I want him vulnerable. Exposed." He stands, circles me the way a predator might circle wounded prey. "You're going to seduce him. Learn his operations, his weaknesses, his plans. And then, when he's buried so deep in your cunt he can't think straight, you're going to put a bullet in his brain."