Page 72 of Reign By Wrath

“That’s all you have to do to see your sister.” I inclined my head. “Well, see her in twenty-five to life.”

“You’re not fooling me.” Her laugh couldn’t have been more forced. “I know you’re full of shit.”

“Everything I’ve said is true. I had a little chat with William Burkhardt.” Katie’s brows shot up over Everleigh’s shoulder. “Back in the day, hunting down Rogues was his favorite pastime. After your dad went on the run, William was afraid Alistair’s old troublemaking friend would run back here to Regalia. He had private investigators hunt him down, but they were always a step behind. On one of those steps, they found his daughter.”

“No.”

I shrugged. “Fine. Don’t believe me.”

“Of course I don’t believe you. Even if I did, why would I confess to fake crimes for this imaginary sister?” She shrugged. “Haven’t needed a sister for nineteen years. I’m cool to keep going without one.”

“Too bad for her.”

That nose she had high in the air came down an inch. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means if you come after my family, boyfriends, or fiancé.” I looked her dead in the face. “I’ll do to your sister everything that you did to mine.”

A flicker of something lit in her eyes, then went out too fast for me to recognize. “Ridiculous. Even if she did exist, you wouldn’t do that to a ten-year-old girl.”

“Before this conversation, I wouldn’t have. But you’re putting everyone I love in danger so that you can kill my father,” I barked, and not quietly. “If it’s a choice between your family and mine, I choose mine. What’s your choice, Starling?”

Her gaze darted around. I could tell her thoughts were flying a mile a minute. I was lying. I had to be lying. But... what if I wasn’t?

“I’m not falling for this.” Her voice was an octave higher than usual. They called that doubt. “You think I can’t check up on your lies?”

“There’s a lot of Melanies out there.”

“But I know my dad.” She took out her phone and waved it in my face. “I know everywhere he went those years he was hiding from trumped-up charges and your father. I’ll find out in two seconds if he fathered some kid along the way.”

I zeroed in on her cell.Of course. Why in the hell didn’t I think of this before?

“—more proof that you’re a liar, spewing whatever garbage pops in your head.”

Everleigh is accessing the club through her cellphone.

“Better come clean now,” she said, unlocking the screen. “Because if I have to call your bluff, it’ll be even worse for—”

I snatched the phone and bolted.

“Hey! What the—? Give that back!”

I beat it across the quad, dragging a nonplussed Victor along for the ride.

“Uh, future wife? Want to explain why we’re adding petty theft to the rap sheet?”

“Don’t just sit on your asses. Stop her,” Everleigh screeched. “Get my phone back.”

No one moved. Everleigh was barking at a bunch of pampered Royals. They weren’t playing linebackers for a cellphone she could replace with one swipe of her credit card.

“Whoever gets it back has their slate wiped clean.”

I didn’t know what that meant. I just know it worked.

I jumped—leaping over a grabbing hand that went for my ankles. Thunderous foot stomps pounded the ground, charging straight after me. I screamed went a figure came in from my right—a huge, bulky guy running too fast for anything but one hundred and ten pounds of me to slow him down.

Victor flashed out of the corner of my eye. He rammed the guy, dropping him flat and shaking the earth.

I’d never seen Victor in action on the rugby field. After that, I’d attend every game and the practices too. That was damn sexy.

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