Chapter 6
609 Words
The air in the living room felt like it was being sucked out of a vacuum. Roxanne stared at the heavy vellum paper in Silas’s hand as if it were a coiled viper.
"A fiancée," she repeated, her voice flat, devoid of the sarcasm she usually used as a shield. "You want me to move into your house, sleep under your roof, and pretend to be in love with a man who is currently threatening to abduct my sister. Do you even hear yourself, Vane?"
Silas didn't blink. He didn't even look offended. He just tucked the paper back into his pocket with a slow, agonizing grace. "I don’t require your love, Roxanne. I require your competence. My family—my mother, specifically—expects me to settle down. A fiancée provides the perfect 'distraction' while you dig through my organization’s guts. No one questions the woman on the Don’s arm."
"Except for the fact that everyone knows I’m a PI," she countered, her mind racing. "Your people aren't stupid. They’ll see right through it."
"They’ll see a man who fell for a woman he couldn't control," Silas countered, taking a final step that forced her to tilt her head back to meet his gaze. "They’ll see a King trying to reclaim her throne through my bed. It’s a story the underworld loves. It’s a story they’ll believe."
Roxanne’s hand hovered over the table, her fingers brushing the frame of Mia’s photo. She looked at her sister’s smile—the innocence that she had worked so hard to protect. If she walked away, that smile would vanish. If she stayed, she was stepping into a furnace.
"Ten million," she whispered. "And my father’s debt is gone. Completely. In writing."
"I’m a man of my word, Roxanne," Silas said. He gestured to Killian, who produced a sleek, silver fountain pen. "But I prefer it in ink."
Roxanne grabbed the pen. Her hand was shaking, not from fear, but from a cold, simmering rage. She leaned over the coffee table and scribbled her name at the bottom of the contract. The ink looked black, but to her, it felt like she was signing in blood.
"There," she spat, tossing the pen back at Killian. He caught it out of the air without flinching. "You own me for six months. But let’s get one thing straight, Silas. I am here to find a mole, not to be your doll. If you touch me—if any of your men so much as look at me the wrong way—the deal is off, and I’ll burn your empire to the ground from the inside out."
Silas reached out, his fingers grazing her jawline. It wasn't a slap or a caress; it was a claim. His skin was warm, a startling contrast to the icy demeanor he projected.
"I look forward to seeing you try, Roxanne," he murmured. "Killian, get her things. We’re leaving."
"Now?" Roxanne gasped. "I have an office! I have a life!"
"You had a life," Silas corrected, walking toward the door without looking back. "Now, you have a contract. Welcome to the family."
hi guyssss
Silas Vane (28) The Analytical Don, The "Warm-Lethal" lead.
Roxanne "Rox" King (24) The Sassy PI, A genius profiler with a sharp tongue
Mia King (17) The Innocent Sister Roxanne’s "North Star."
Leo King The Deadbeat Father
Killian Vane The Enforcer Silas’s older brother. The muscle and the shield.
Jules Varga The Wildcard, childhood friend/one of the right hand men
David "Pops" Johnson The Mentor, taught roxanne everything she knows now
- Writer
