Page 15 of Depraved Royals

I thought she was totally innocent, but she isn’t. Dani Pushkin may be only twenty years old - ten years younger than me - but her velvet-smooth, wet little cunt is craving me. Iknowit.

She will have my name and my come on her lips before long, and she’ll love it.

Gotta stop thinking about her and deal with business.

“So that’s clear?” I ask. Simeon and Vera both nod.

“I’ll stake out the gallery and watch out for Dani,” Vera says. “When she shows up, I’ll call Simeon, and we’ll go to work.”

Simeon flicks his cigarette at Idina’s favorite topiary rabbit, singeing its ear. “What if her father is there?”

“She’ll arrive early to set things up,” I say. “That’s when you need to do it. But be fucking careful, okay? I’m not invincible and don’t want to end up dead because of your incompetence.”

“Heaven fucking forbid,” Simeon sneers. “Can’t have the anointed one scuffing his shoe or getting a hangnail, can we?”

“You wanna explain to Mommy dearest how youaccidentally,” Vera curls her fingers into exaggerated air quotes, “killed her champion? Because without Kal, we have nothing.”

“What about me?” Simeon asks. “I’m Papa’s son by blood. This duty should bemine.”

Vera ruffles Simeon’s hair. It’s a gesture that would be affectionate in an average family, but we’re something else. My sister knows it enrages Simeon, and that’s the only reason she does it.

“You would have to work up to nothing, Simmi,” she purrs.

Vicious bitch.

There was a time when Vera wanted better for herself, but that’s over now. She wants me to be Pakhan of the Pushkin Bratva so she can get herself a high-ranking Russian man of good stock, have his babies, and do nothing of note with her life.

Then again, Bratva princesses aren’t usually encouraged to aspire to anything, so it surprised me when I learned that Dani’s an aspiring artist.

“Stop fighting,” I scold. “You two are fucking insufferable. I’m going home now. Don’t call me with your petty squabbles anddon’twind Idina up. She’s already gonna be off on her warrior queen trip tonight, and I am not sticking around for that.”

I walk through the garden to the driveway and my car.

I can still hear Simeon. He’s admonishing Vera for calling him Simmi. I get in the car and turn on the engine, grateful to drown them out.

Six weeks until Dani’s exhibition, and then I’ll have her in my sights.

No love, no feelings, no conscience.

No problem.

Dani

Six weeks later…

“These aresoheavy,” Pippa says, leaning a canvas against the wall. “Don’t you know any attractive strongmen to come and shift them?”

“Attractive?” I ask, stacking another painting on top. “No, and my father’s men have been following me for weeks. This is the first and only day that I’m getting some freedom. So thelastthing I need is brawny goons manhandling my art.”

“You’re the one who needs manhandling,” Pippa says with a grin. “Again.”

I laugh. Pip knows the entire story of what happened with Kal, and she’s convinced there’s more to it. I can’t get her to understand that it was a stupid mistake, and I will definitely not be seeking him out.

“Pip, Kal Antonov is a huge threat to me. Why is this so hard to grasp?”

“I thinkyouwant to grasp his huge, hard threat and jump on it,” Pippa says. “You’ve been weird ever since you got back from Switzerland.”

“I told you, I’m pissed off at not being able to go to Paris. And I haven’t been feeling well, either.”

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