Page 85 of The Devil's Thorn

The dagger strapped beneath it presses against my skin like a second thought.

It’s light. Sharp. Comfortable. Easy to reach.

Hidden unless I want it seen.

I’ve worn dresses like this before. Fabric that clings like confidence and black as the void I’ve made peace with. But tonight, it isn’t for seduction. It’s for war.

Because Rafael Romanov gave me a task fit for a doll.

Flirt. Smile. Extract intel from a drunk man with loose lips. A man I could disarm in three seconds. Four if I let him speak.

And he had the audacity to make it sound like atest.

Like he didn’t realize I could’ve pulled the trigger that first night with his life in my scope. Like he still doesn’t know how close he came to never breathing again.

I haven’t decided whether that makes him blind… or just arrogant. Either way, it pisses me off.

I pace the length of the living room, heels striking the polished floor in steady rhythm. My dress moves with me—sleek, backless, daring. The neckline plunges just enough to draw eyes. The material shimmers faintly under the warm lights. It’s my own. My choice. And it tells the worlddon’t touch unless you’re ready to bleed.

Kellan and Ash sit on the couch like the seasoned operatives they are—relaxed in their suits, but alert beneath it all.

Kellan’s the first to speak.

“You’re going to wear a hole into the floor.”

I don’t stop walking.

“He gave me a child’s mission.”

Ash leans back, one arm slung over the edge of the couch.

“You expected him to give you the location of every Bratva safehouse?”

“I expected him to give me something worthy of my time,” I snap.

Kellan exchanges a glance with Ash before pushing up from the couch and walking toward the bar. He grabs a glass, pours something amber into it, and hands it to me.

“Drink this before you start throwing knives at the walls.”

I take the glass but don’t drink.

“He told me to seduce Romano.”

“And?” Kellan asks. “That’s the intel mission.”

“No,” I say sharply. “That’shisversion of it. His assumption. That I’d smile and cross my legs and play pretty until Romano spills a few secrets.”

Ash lifts a brow.

“Are you not?”

I finally stop pacing and turn toward them, glass still in hand.

“No. I’m going to get what I need. But I’m going to do it my way.”

“Which is?”

“A way he won’t forget.”