Page 97 of Royal Bargain
But it’s hard to tell where the muck ends and I begin.
One of the advisors asks me something, but I miss it. Burns repeats it, slower.
“Can your family’s construction firm take on the western district rehab if we lock it in?”
I nod automatically, heart somewhere else. “Yeah. We can handle it.”
The room moves on, the voices low and sharp as knives, slicing the city into pieces.
And I just sit there, silent in the smoke, wondering when, exactly, I became one of them.
The meeting winds down just before dawn, the men and women around the table dispersing with hushed goodbyes and half-finished drinks. Maps are folded, folders tucked away, and promises hang in the air like smoke—thick and hard to breathe.
I’m making for the door when a voice calls out behind me.
“Mr. Brannagan—got a moment?”
I turn. It’s Courtney Ashton, one of Burns’s oldest donors. Wealthy. Connected. The kind of woman who smiles with her teeth but not her eyes.
She’s lingering by the window, tapping a finger on her handbag, watching the sky start to bruise with morning light. I don’t like her, but I walk over anyway.
“I just wanted to say,” she begins smoothly, “it’s a good thing you’re doing, staying involved. Burns needs people he can count on. Loyal men. Fighters.”
I nod once. “I’m here to protect my people. That’s all I’ve ever cared about.”
“Of course,” she says, with a knowing smile. “But protection takes resources. Influence. Access.” She looks out the window again. “The kind of things a man like Burns can offer… and take away.”
My spine stiffens just slightly.
“You’re on the winning side, Liam,” she continues, voice calm. “And you’re smart enough to know what happens to the ones who back the wrong horse.”
I study her, but she doesn’t flinch. Doesn’t blink.
She steps a little closer. “Burns rewards loyalty. Always has. Always will. Stick with him, and you’ll have everything you need. Your family will thrive. Your daughter will grow up in a city her father helped shape.”
Her tone shifts, almost gentle. “But if you start pulling away? If you let doubts creep in?”
She lets that hang there.
I don’t respond.
She smiles again and pats my arm once, firmly. “Burns is building something real. Be proud to be part of it.”
And just like that, she strolls off down the hall, high heels tapping merrily along like she hadn’t just threatened me with the softest blade in the room.
I stand there a minute longer, fists clenched in my pockets.
What the hell am I getting myself into?
I finally step out into the night air, lungs aching for something clean.
But the sunrise doesn’t bring peace. It just reminds me how long I’ve been away.
I pull out my phone to check in again—maybe call Shane, hear Ana’s voice, anything to ground me.
That’s when it buzzes.
A new message. No name. No contact saved.
