Page 64 of I Was Always Yours (RCA: Royal Crown Academy)

I turn back, settling into my seat as I meet his gaze, the grin long gone. “Not if I kill him first.”

And talking about Six,lookingat her? That’s the surest way for a man to get an express ride to meet his maker.

Although I play it off on the outside, Rogue’s words eat at me. As does the fact that he apparently follows her on IG and I don’t.Is she really posting thirst traps for everyone to see? I open the app and go to her profile, but it’s still set to private even after all these years.

I tap follow. I might not marry her, but she is my fiancée and it would be weird if we didn’t follow each other.

At least, that’s the excuse I tell myself.

I stare at my screen steadily for long moments, as if expecting her to accept my request right then and there, but nothing happens.

After what feels like hours, I darken the screen and put my phone in my pocket, resigning myself to checking again later.

I stay for a few more hours of tedious socializing, but when I can’t take the constant noise of other people’s conversations or the charade of pretending I give a fuck any longer, I go back to my suite.

I resist the urge to check IG to see if she accepted my request or not and call my new banker instead.Rogue put me in touch with a bank connected to CKI and completely separate from any of my family’s holdings or my father’s reach.They’ll partner with me to funnel money from my family’s accounts into my new one.

“Bachmann speaking.” He answers, his tone clipped and uninterested.

“It’s Phoenix.”

“Hello, Sir.” He says, dispassionately, “Confirming that your new account has been created and the wire transfers initiated. They’ll be fully encrypted and the statements you’ll receive from your current bank will reflect dummy transactions in the event anyone goes looking.”

“What’s the cadence of the transfers? You understand that the goal is to siphon as much into this new account before summer, right?”

“Yes, Sir. There’ll be daily smaller withdrawals of different amounts, never using whole numbers so as not to attract suspicion, and then every week or so larger withdrawals around the two-hundred-thousand-dollar mark. Anything larger than that will get flagged.”

“What’s the anticipated total before summer using this strategy?”

“We’re predicting around four million euros.”

“Then that’s the number I want to see in my account by June. Make it happen.”

I end the call, looking out of my window as I stand deep in thought. My father thinks he can use this engagement to control me and bend me to his will. If I can get the four million set aside by June, then that’ll be enough for me to start over by myself, leaving my family in the rearview mirror.

Leaving Six behind.

I run my hand down my face, trying to rid myself of the frown that furrows my brow when I think of being the one to drive away from her, and for good this time.

My phone dings and pulls me from my thoughts. Unlocking it, I see it’s a text from Rogue.

Rogue:Remember a couple hours ago when I said I looked forward to wiping that smug expression off your face?

Rogue:Looks like Christmas came early for me this year.

My grip tightens around my phone. He’s a vindictive bastard when he wants to be and I know he’s got something up his sleeve.

I’m about to put my phone back in my pocket without answering when another text comes in.

Rogue:You might want to come get your girl before someone else takes her home.

The text has a lead ball forming in my stomach even before the photo comes through.

When it does, darkness edges my vision and singes the corners of my eyesight as violence fills my veins like it’s being added via intravenous drip directly into my bloodstream.

Because Six is sitting on a velvet couch in what looks like a club, miles of glorious skin on display in a two-piece forest green set that matches her eyes and complements her hair, a small smile curling her lips as she leans forward and reaches for her glass.

Wrapped around her is a dead man.

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