Page 167 of Filthy Royal

“Darvish.”

“Yes. He went from being a new investor to taking control, intent on using his position as head of the Consortium for his own purposes. He controlled Egan, my handler.”

“Hells.”

“Y-yes. That rotation, after we argued, and we were supposed to meet, I waited for you. Darvish sent Egan instead. He… he, well, you know, he tried to rape me.”

Damien’s fangs pulsed against his gums as he locked his shit down tight. He’d heard it before, but it didn’t make it any easier the second time around. Even the thought of her, scared and alone, and him not there to help, made him want to burn the whole galaxy down.

“It’s okay, Damien.” Now it was Scarlett’s palm stroking slow and steady along his chest. “I made it through. The darkness… it just came out of me, slamming into him.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “It was over in an instant. I knew he was dead. Even before I saw his eyes, I could feel my new gift absorbing his life force, feel it growing in power and need. Worse, I could feel that it wanted to do it again. Cause more chaos, bring more pain.” She shook her head. “It swallowed all my pretty colors. Left me a killer.”

He grabbed her hands and pressed her fingertips to his lips, the slight tang of the water doing nothing to hide the sweetness of her. “Left you a warrior. A survivor.”

Her tormented gaze snapped to his, the doubt and self-disgust in her stare clawing at him.

Again, he told himself, it would take time. Patience. Not one of his strengths, but he’d learn.

“Remember what I said before. That gift kept you safe.” He focused on soothing her. He’d deal with his own guilt and fury—and hit something hard, repeatedly—after he’d taken care of his female. “That fucker was going to hurt you. Your gift stopped him.”

Her eyelids sank closed. “And became the reason I grew so valuable to your half brother. Darvish might have initially kept tabs on me because of my connection to you, but when he saw what I could do, his interest changed.”

She lapsed into silence.

Damien let her.

Yes, he wanted to throw his head back and howl, but instead, he sat stock-still, pretending each word didn’t strike with the force of a fist to the solar plexus. But he’d take the punches if the telling helped purge Scarlett of her pain.

Finally, she found the strength to continue: “Soon after your departure, Darvish made sure Kadon was appointed as liaison to the Consortium board and put in charge of the scheduling and financials of every aspect of the Golden Dome fights.”

Kadon Stormhart. Although hearing the guy’s name wasn’t as bad now, especially since it was Damien’s lap Scarlett sat on, his arms wrapped tight around her.

“It wasn’t Kadon’s choice,” Scarlett continued. “But he did what he did to protect me, and Darvish was insistent that Kadon take the position. Just as Darvish insisted on our prime omega contract.”

“Why?”

“I’m not sure, though I suspect it was the easiest way for Darvish to control us both, consolidate his power, mess with you, and hide his illegal actions.”

“I really hate my half brother.”

Scarlett’s slight smile made him feel a little better. “Me too.” Her expression hardened. “But Darvish isn’t the only problem.”

“Crex?”

She shivered. “Him, yes. But he’s just a greedy follower, a pathetic puppet who’ll do anything to make his puppeteer happy. He’s a monster, obviously. The kind who smiled and pretended you were his friend and, yet, for a great deal of that time, he was spying and working for Darvish.”

Damien would have liked to say he had an inkling Crex was playing him four planetary rotations past and that he’d wondered if the way they met had been orchestrated, but that would have been a total lie.

He’d thought Crex had offered support when they were thrown into a cell together because he was a good guy. He’d believed all the stories Crex told him about why he’d come to the Golden Dome. He’d thought that when Crex got into the cage with him at the tournament, he’d done it because they were friends.

All. Lies.

“I don’t get the sisters, though.” He reasoned aloud. “I’ve met them. Hung with them. Hells, I even gave two of them the funds they needed to make a prime omega match, and I’m currently waiting on the others to decide so I can send them whatever they need as well. They’re all… a handful, but sweet.”

Her expression turned sad, her palm skimming the water’s surface once again. “I suspect they have no idea what Crex is really like. You’ve interacted with the male. You know how good he is at deception. But he told me several times that one of the best parts of being thought dead was that he no longer had to deal with his family. He resented how they drained his resources, held him back. He came to the dome looking for a way to fix that, and I got the impression that if Darvish hadn’t found Crex and offered him a way out”—she lowered her voice— “he’d have solved his problem with his sisters another way. Permanently.”

Shit.Damien made a vow then and there that Crex’s sisters would never find out.

“The only justice in all this,” added Scarlett, “is that whatever Darvish ordered Crex to take to make him look dead had an impact.”

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