Total pages in book: 52
Estimated words: 47961 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 240(@200wpm)___ 192(@250wpm)___ 160(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 47961 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 240(@200wpm)___ 192(@250wpm)___ 160(@300wpm)
Zoya wrapped her arms around herself and walked back inside like she was marching to her own execution. The poor little girl didn’t know her father was the judge, jury, and executioner.
I kept my focus on the empty balcony. I was so close to ending it all, to finally getting what I wanted. I’d be five million richer, and Ivanov would be in pieces.
Debt paid.
But she would burn, too, and all I could picture was my mother and how she didn’t deserve what had happened.
Zoya didn’t deserve the sins of her father even if casualties were part of this world.
I deactivated the bomb even though I contemplated leaving it connected on the off chance he let his daughter leave the property. But I knew better.
Viktor wanted Ivanov’s tongue in his hand. Fine. I would deliver the tongue… later. Tonight, the king would lose something far more precious than his life. His untouched princess. I’d use her as leverage. She’d be a living wound and proof the contract would still be honored, just on my terms now.
I left the office, C-4 and the detonator under his desk still connected. The job wasn’t dead. It was only delayed.
I found the security wing and two guards playing cards. I didn’t think as I slit the throat of the first man before he looked up. The second got half a scream out before my forearm crushed his windpipe and my blade slid home between ribs and pierced his heart. I twisted for good measure.
I dragged the bodies into a utility closet and stripped the uniform off one guard. It was small across the chest, but it would do. Next, I popped the earpiece in, clipped on the keycard, and went hunting for the devil’s daughter.
I followed the private corridor to the east wing, which was where her bedroom was located. Andrey kept her locked away like a porcelain doll he was terrified of breaking. Biometric door at the end, one guard posted outside. Big kid, early twenties, and trying to look hard in a tailored suit.
He straightened when he saw the uniform. “Kuda prysh’, suk—” he started, voice low and threatening. Restricted, bitch—
My hand was already moving. Blade up under the jaw, through the soft palate into the brain. No sound but a wet gurgle and the faint scrape of steel on bone. I caught him before he hit the floor, eased him down, and wiped the blade on his lapel. The keycard from his belt opened the lock with a soft click.
Inside, the suite smelled of orchids and expensive perfume. Vanilla and honey undertones but too sweet, innocent, and wrong for this house.
Zoya was alone in the attached winter garden. It was a room built off her patio doors and made up of glass walls that were foggy from the heat inside and the chill outside. She stood in front of one window, staring into the nothingness of the outside world that I knew she’d probably never truly she’d experienced.
Her ivory gown clung to every curve she hadn’t yet learned to weaponize. I could see the diamond necklace around her neck. I knew Andrey spoiled her with jewelry, materialistic things that she probably hated.
Zoya didn’t hear me, not even when I stopped two feet behind her. I was close enough to smell her perfume and the distinct, natural smell that was only hers. And when she saw me in the reflection of the fogged-up glass, she only had a second to gasp and spin around before I had a hand clamped over her mouth and her back pressed to the glass.
“Shhh,” I whispered. “Ty ne dolzhna byt’ odna zdes’, printsessa.” You shouldn’t be out here alone, princess.
Blue eyes flared wide above my palm, but she stayed silent and still.
I loosened my grip just enough for her to breathe then removed it, daring her to speak. “Esli ty izdadesh khot’ odin zvuk, ya vyrezhu tebe yazyk.” If you make a sound, I’m going to cut your tongue out.
She narrowed those beautiful eyes as she clocked the blood on my cuff, the silver at my temples, and the way the uniform didn’t quite fit a man like me.
“You’re not security,” she whispered, voice steady even with my hand still hovering near her lips.
“No,” I said. “I’m the man who’s going to ruin your father’s night.” For a second, I thought she’d scream. Instead, she lifted her chin in defiance.
“Good. He deserves it.”
The words punched the air out of my lungs. Up close, I could see the bruises coming through under the makeup and finger marks on her upper arm shaped exactly like Ivanov’s grip, I assumed.
I didn’t know what came over me, but I reached out slowly and brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. She flinched but didn’t pull away.
“What’s your name?” Her voice was still soft and almost breathless.