Page 3 of Royal Beast
“Then what?” I demand. “What was your magical plan to avoid paying the debt?”
His voice goes soft. “Darcy, I’m dying,” he says, unable to meet my eyes. My entire world tilts on its axis.
I search his face, waiting for a punchline, a smirk—anything to make sense of what he just said. But all I see is resigned sadness.
I struggle to make sense of his words as he continues. “I’ve got cancer, Princess,” he says, reaching out to touch me. Unlike with Niall, I step into his touch, letting his hand cup my cheek. “It’s late-stage renal cancer. I don’t have much time left. I was hoping to go and leave you without my debts. I thought it was better this way.”
“Papa, don’t say that,” I whisper, my voice trembling. “You can’t leave me like this.” I swallow hard and a thought occurs to me. “Besides, Niall and his men might still come after me for the money.”
“I don’t want you worrying about that, Princess,” he insists. “Let’s just try to enjoy the time we have left together. I doubt they’ll come for you after I’m gone.”
I follow him back into the living room where we sit in uneasy silence as I process the news. I can’t believe my father is sick. I can’t believe he didn’t tell me.
The next morning, I know his hopes will fall short when I see the note attached to my windshield.
“Pay the debt,”it reads.“Or else.”
2
KELLAN
The pungent scent of fish lingers in the air as my younger brother Rory and I stand side-by-side on the docks, watching from a distance as the police lead several of our men away in handcuffs.
“This stinks,” Rory says, wrinkling his nose.
“It’s the fish,” I quip, but Rory shakes his head.
“It isn’t that. This whole situation reeks of a setup.”
It’s barely six in the morning, and instead of being in our office, we’re here in Harborview District, hands in our pockets as we watch the police raid our biggest warehouse.
“What are you thinking?” I ask, turning to my brother. I study his steely blue eyes and notice the tic in his jaw as he crosses his arms, the fabric of his black suit jacket pulling taut.
“I’m thinking that Chief Banes was having lunch with me just last week and now he’s standing over there with the others. Why is he suddenly leading the raid on this place?” Rory’s eyes are hard and his posture is rigid, anger coursing through him.
This place was the heart of our car operations with parts that came straight from Japan or Europe, lifted before they ever touched legitimate hands. The police are swarming the area,boxing up parts and bagging items as if it were the scene of a serial killer’s latest murder.
We’re screwed.
“Hey, Boss,” Frankie says, strolling up with an air of nonchalance. He leans in close. “Word is that just two days ago, a little birdie saw Banes having lunch with the Kremlin.”
Rory’s fists clench and I feel my lip curl.
“I told you this reeked,” Rory says, his tone steely. “This has Kremlin fingerprints all over it. That rat fucking bastard!”
I shake my head. “It doesn’t make sense. Our alliance with the Russians has been going strong for ten fucking years, Rory. Why would he start shit with us after all this time? Why now?”
“We gotta get to the bottom of it,” Rory declares. A few stray officers are standing nearby, keeping an eye on us. I growl, hands balling into fists by my sides.
“The police have nothing on us,” Rory reassures me, though it doesn’t stop me from wanting to go over there and knock a few heads together. “We need to talk to Volkov’s people,” he adds. “Don’t you have a friend over there?”
“Yeah,” I say, forcing myself to relax my hands as I spot Finn climbing out of his car and heading our way. I can feel the anger, always there beneath the surface, waiting for an excuse to break free. But I can’t lose it, not now. Not when everything is falling apart around us.
“I came as soon as I heard, boys,” Finn says. Finnian Leahy is our father’s former bodyguard and one of the few people we trust implicitly in this dangerous world. “How could this shit even happen?”
“We think it’s the Bratva,” I tell him, jaw tightening as I glance at Rory.
Finn gapes at us, his mouth hanging slack. “That’s pure madness! I thought the alliance was still on?”
