Page 149 of The Devil's Thorn

I stepped inside. The room was huge—too big for one person. White walls. A sunken tub near the back. A bed like a damn throne in the center with white sheets that looked untouched. A balcony that overlooked the glittering expanse of the ocean below.

It was perfect. Too perfect.

I dropped my bag on the bed and stood still for a moment, letting the silence settle over me. Letting myself breathe.

I should’ve felt calm. I was oceans away from everything. Surrounded by people who, for better or worse, I trusted.

But instead, all I felt was the quiet hum of something coming. Something I wouldn’t be able to outrun.

And as I moved toward the glass doors to the balcony, I realized something else. Whatever this was—this place, this trip, this war brewing under the surface—it wasn’t going to be clean.

And it wasn’t going to end without blood.

Not mine. Not his.

Maybe both.

CHAPTER 11

ISABELLA

Thesky was ink black by the time I pulled the sheer cover-up over my bikini and stepped outside. The air was thick with heat, but not suffocating—just warm enough to cling to your skin like a second layer. It felt like the whole world was sweating secrets, and I was walking through them.

Kellan’s message buzzed on my phone hours ago, telling me to come down to the pool because he and Ash were bored. I’d ignored it at first. But boredom and curiosity won, so here I was.

My bare feet padded softly along the marble floors of the villa, the sound echoing like a whisper behind me. The cover-up I wore wasn’t doing much to hide the deep red bikini beneath it, and maybe that was the point. I tied the sheer fabric at my waist anyway, more out of habit than modesty. The knot rested just below the golden chain around my hips—delicate, feminine, deadly.

I took a turn down a hallway I hadn’t seen before, curiosity tugging at me. The resort was sprawling and silent, a littletoo silent for how many people were here. Somewhere in the distance, I heard music—a low, lazy beat that pulsed like a heartbeat.

Then I saw him. Yuri.

He was walking toward me like he owned the air. A half-empty drink in one hand, a blunt in the other, shirt open, not a care in the world. If chaos had a face and a smirk, it’d be his.

“Well, well,” he said, coming to a slow stop, gaze flicking down and then up with zero shame. “If it isn’t the dagger queen herself.” His voice was smooth, layered with humor, like he was always one second away from laughing at something only he found funny.

I raised a brow, not stopping. “Is that what we’re calling me now?”

He took a long drag,exhaled smoke in a perfect ring, and grinned. “I mean, I’ve seen women stab men in the back metaphorically. You? You went literal. Iconic.”

I fought the smile threatening to pull at my lips. “Didn’t know I had a fan club.”

“Oh, sweetheart,” he winked. “You do now.”

He flicked the blunt away and stepped beside me, gesturing grandly. “Come on. You’re new to the castle. Let me give you a tour before you get bored and start carving your initials into someone else.”

I didn’t answer, just started walking. He fell into step beside me like he’d always been there. Like the two of us were old friends instead of strangers orbiting the same storm.

As we moved past the pool—glowing blue under the moonlight—I spotted Kellan and Ash lounging nearby, drinks in hand. Kellan lifted his glass when he saw us, but didn’t interrupt. He was used to me doing my own thing by now.

Yuri led me further, pointing out rooms like we were on a tour at some twisted amusement park.

“That’s where Nikolai hides when he’s pretending to work. Don’t knock unless you want a gun aimed at your forehead. And this—” He gestured toward a closed-off terrace surrounded by heavy drapes. “—is where Rafael broods and glares out into the night like some Bratva Batman.”

I snorted. “You make a lot of jokes. That your thing?”

He gave me a look, half amused, half serious. “Only way to survive this world with a little bit of your soul intact. Or maybe I just like watching people squirm when they’re not sure if I’m kidding or planning to kill them.”

I stopped walking. “And which am I?”