Page 99 of Reckless Royalty

I sit back, staring at the screen as a surge of anger rises in my chest—not at her, but at the situation. At all the shit she’s had to endure.

So I do the only thing I can think of. I open a new message and text my father.

Me:

I need to talk to you. It’s about Maddy.

His reply comes almost immediately, as if he’s been waiting for something like this.

Ion:

Call me.

I glance back at Maddy’s socials, my chest aching as I think about how much she’s been through. She deserves closure, deserves to say goodbye properly. And if I can help her get that… I will.

I switch over to my father’s contact and hit the call button. His voice is calm and steady when he answers, but there’s a sharpness to it, a readiness for whatever I’m about to tell him.

“Mihai?”

“It’s Maddy,” I say, leaning forward, my elbows resting on my knees. “She never had a funeral for her mom and sister.”

He’s silent for a moment, and I can picture him sitting back, his mind already working through a plan. “I see. And what do you want to do about it?”

“I want to give her that chance,Tata,” I say firmly. “She deserves to say goodbye to them.”

Another pause, then a soft sigh. “You’re serious about her, aren’t you?”

The question catches me off guard, but I don’t hesitate. “Yeah. I am.”

There’s a warmth in his tone when he speaks again, one that takes me by surprise. “Then we’ll make it happen. Let me know what she needs, and it’ll be done.”

Relief washes over me, and for the first time since stumbling across her profile, I feel like I can breathe again. “Thanks,Tata.”

I stare at the screen for a moment, my grip tightening on the phone. Maddy deserves closure—deserves to say goodbye to the people she loved.

And I’ll make damn sure she gets it.

MADDY

Iknow sneaking into Mihai’s room probably isn’t my brightest idea, but I wanted to surprise him for once. Besides, the thought of waking him up with a little bit of mischief makes me grin like an idiot. He deserves it for all the teasing he put me through.

His door is unlocked, so I slip inside, careful to close it quietly behind me. The curtains are drawn, and the morning light filters in through a crack, illuminating the room in soft gold.

Mihai’s sprawled out on his bed, the covers kicked halfway off his body. He’s shirtless, the ink on his chest and arms stark against his tanned skin, and his hair is a mess of dark curls. He looks… peaceful, for once.

And utterly fucking fit.

The whole room smells like him, and I take a second to breathe him in. I snuck into his walk-in the other night and found out the name of his cologne. Creed Aventus. Fancy as hell, but what was I expecting? It smells way too damn good on him,

I bite my lip to stifle a laugh as I tiptoe toward the bed. The plan is simple: climb on top of him, wake him up, and watch him squirm for once. Easy peasy, right?

Carefully, I climb onto the bed, straddling his hips, my hands hovering over his chest. I lean down, about to say something, when?—

In one fluid motion, I’m flipped onto my back, the breath knocked out of me as Mihai looms over me. His hand grips my wrist, pinning it above my head, and the cold press of a gun barrel touches my temple.

“Don’t fucking move,” he growls, his voice low and deadly.

My heart doesn’t just pound—it stops. Not out of fear, but pure adrenaline. For a split second, I’m frozen, staring into his wild, stormy eyes. Then I see the moment realization dawns.

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