Page 115 of Vicious Little Princess

Relief rolled through me.

That was something, at least.

A bigsomethingfor him right now, I had to admit.

“As for the flash drive that Joe handed over, I’ve decrypted it.”

Frowning and tensing at the same time at the unsettled look in her eyes—and all over her, in fact—I stepped forward and asked, “What was on it?”

“Intel. Concerning you and me, Nico.”

I cocked an eyebrow.

“Our marriage.”

“How so?”

“Remember that stand-in priest that married us because the other one had fallen ill and all of that?”

“Of course.”

“It was all a setup. Joe poisoned the guy who was to marry us and his colleagues. I guess he drew the line at actually killing men of God—well, what they were supposed to be, considering their affiliations with my father—because they all survived, albeit some ended up in the hospital for a few days. He did all of that so he could puthisguy there that day.”

“Hold up,” Julian said. “You’re telling us that Stover was actually able to infiltrate a mafia wedding, plant one of his own guys there and make everyone believe he was an actual priest who they all would have vetted to hell and back, and have no one none the wiser?”

She nodded. “Not even me.”

“Why?” Milo asked. “To make sure you weren’t really married in the eyes of God, or something, at least?”

“He’s not religious, so no. That wouldn’t have even crossed his mind. It was so he had somebody in a position to do what came next.” She shook out her hair and revealed, “Somebody skilled enough to basically switch out our marriage documentation—the license, all of that, right under everyone’s noses, without any of us noticing.”

I scrubbed my hand over my roughened jaw. “You’re saying—”

“I’m saying that our marriage wasn’t just bullshit to us, it is legally, too. Joe ensured it and he actually went to greatanddangerous lengths to make it so. We never signed a real marriage license that day. Our marriage isn’t legal, Nico.”

“I don’t… no… that… it can’t—”

“All the proof of it is on that flash drive. You can see it for yourself anytime you want.”

I looked back and forth from her to Milo and Julian, trying to get a handle on one hell of a revelation from her.

“Why didn’t he clue you in?” Milo asked. “He knows you. He would’ve realized how much you reviled being forced into that, pulled back into the family. Knowing Stover was doing that would have taken some major weight off for you.”

“From what I can determine, he wanted me here with the three of you.Safehere. If the marriage hadn’t appeared to go ahead, that wouldn’t have happened.”

“He wanted a force at your back,” Milo realized aloud.

“That means he somehow knew that you were safe with us all along,” I pointed out.

“It does, yes. It didn’t come from me. And it couldn’t have come from my mom either, because she didn’t even know until after the ceremony, after we’d signed. By the way, that awful contract? That was also taken that night and destroyed by Joe’s guy.”

“Fuck me,” I breathed. “Why wouldn’t he tell you any of this? Especially about that twisted contract?”

“Because we’re all fucking puppets to him, aren’t we?” she burst out with, that stoic and calm façade being breached now with it all obviously compounding for her. “Just like the rest of them. Yes, this was in my best interests, but thewayhe went about it, the underhandedness of it, him determining when and what we were made aware of regardingourown lives… it’s still manipulation of the highest level.” She shoved her hand through her beautiful hair. “And I’m sick of it. I’m sick of it all. Especially all the secrecy.”

Julian tensed noticeably as she stepped forward.

I even saw him give her an attempted covert nod of encouragement.

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