Page 119 of Brutal Ice

Her eyes opened just as the door to his office flew inward.

“Royal, you are not going to believe this shit,” Kai announced dramatically. “But you have got to take a look at—sonofabitch. What is happening here?”

Her head jerked toward Kai’s shocked voice. He stood in the doorway and gaped at the body that had slumped right in front of him.

Only Kai wasn’t alone. There was someone else with him. A man with dark blond hair. Wide shoulders. A man who edged closer and peered down at the blood and chaos with zero expression on his face.

A face that was almost an exact mirror copy of Royal’s.

The stranger looked up even as Kai dropped to his knees to search for a pulse at Leo’s throat.

“Not gonna find one.” Royal had moved to stand protectively before Violet. She had to crane her head to see around him. And to blink a few times because surely…surely, she was having some sort of hallucination. Maybe one brought on by shock or trauma. There were not two Royals in the room.

If only she had a good psychiatrist to ask about the problem.

A wild bubble of laughter escaped her.

Is this what happens when the stress breaks you?

The stranger stared back at Royal.

Not an exact copy of Royal’s face. Older. Harder. With a long scar that stretched across his right cheek and over his lip.

“Who the fuck are you?” Royal breathed.

“I’m your brother,” the stranger replied. His stare dropped to the body once more. “Some sins sure do run in a family.”

And what did that mean?

“You gonna need help burying the body?” the man asked.

Violet blanched. “It was self-defense.”

The man with Royal’s face smiled. “Right.”

Royal picked up his phone. His fingers swiped across the screen. Her breath heaved in and out and then she heard him say, “Curran? Yeah. Sorry, got a little busy.” A pause. “Calm down. Calm down. Jeez. Did you get all that? Most of it, at least?”

Wait, had he answered the call? Before he’d tossed it down, had he turned the phone on? It had looked as if he turned off the phone, but as he talked, she realized that he hadn’t.

“Good,” Royal praised. “Was really hoping you’d say that. I’m gonna need you to come over with some of your buddies in blue. Seems I have a killer for you. Is he tied up with a red bow?” His gaze drifted to the body. “There is plenty of red, so I guess you could say that.” Then that gaze shifted to Violet as he turned his back on the man in the doorway and on Kai. Royal’s focus drifted to her throat. His jaw hardened. “Get EMTs here. Violet is hurt. Where are we? I’m at my freaking club. Did you not trace the location yet? Man, don’t be sloppy.”

She touched her neck. Felt the sticky wetness of her blood. “Scratch.”

His eyes glittered.

“It’s a scratch,” she repeated. But that didn’t make the fury in his gaze lessen any. She could feel his rage filling the room. Unable to help herself, Violet surged for Royal. She pressed onto her toes and caught the back of his head. Ignoring the phone, she tugged him close to her. So close that she could hear the thunder of Curran’s voice as he barked out questions.

“I love you,” Violet told Royal.

Then she kissed him.

With a dead body just a few feet away.

With a long lost…brother close by?

With her whole world imploding, she kissed Royal. And when the cops did come bursting in—the cops and the EMTs and a whole cavalry, she was still with Royal. Still right at his side.

And when Curran looked at the still-warm body, then at her and Royal, Violet lifted her chin.

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