Page 70 of Fatal Scheme

On the side, I’ve been communicating with my father, who is adamant that we need to put a deadline on this operation, and placing a ticking clock on my forehead.

The Cassini family wants results to prove my worth, and the longer I stay at Emory, the less chance I have to take the throne at the end of all this.

Of course, I can’t let my father know that I’m pushing back on my legacy, seriously contemplating running away and leaving everything I’ve ever dreamed of behind.

Instead, I lie by updating him on progress that doesn’t exist, and assuring him that the boys are no longer of any concern.

It kills me to put on such an elaborate ruse, especially to my dying father, but I’ve made my choice, and my heart lies with Tyson and Jasper.

I belong with them.

I belong to them.

A loud yell breaks me out of my thoughts, and I roll over in Tyson’s bed, the silky sheets making it nearly impossible for me to find the will to move.

“Boys?” I call out, expecting them to run in and share what all the fuss is about, but it’s silent on the other side of the door.

My paranoia kicks in, reminded of the night of the ambush, so I reach for my blade, holding it tight as I tread across the hardwood floors in nothing but my panties.

My clothes lead the trail, a flurry of stripped fabric covering the ground, but I carefully side step my heels and various shoes, reaching slowly for the doorknob.

Before I can twist, it swings open, and I scream in horror, shoving the knife forward as I stumble backward.

“Jesus Christ, Principessina. I thought we talked about this?” Jasper smirks, snatching the blade from my hands and pulling me into his arms.

“What the fuck is going on? You scared me!” I yell, slamming my fists against his rock-hard chest, but he only swats me away, walking us backward until my body lands on the bed.

“We got the meeting,” he says, snaking his hands along my waist, pressing open-mouthed kisses on my neck.

“With the Corazza’s?” I squeal, finally able to celebrate a win after all the losses we’ve endured recently.

One of Jasper’s big ideas was to team up with a smaller family, one that knows the Ricci’s well enough to give us intel, and all the rejection we’ve had only amplifies this moment now that we can finally take a step forward.

“Tomorrow night at seven. We’re meeting in the city,” he answers, a certain giddiness in his voice that has been absent over the last few days.

“New York City?” I ask, sitting straight up in the bed, unable to contain my excitement.

“The one and only. How about we make a date out of it? Spend the night in a big fancy hotel, maybe order room service? I’ll take you shopping for all your little devil clothes,” he says, making the deal sound sweeter with each word that leaves his lips.

“I’ve never been to the city! This is going to be so fun.” I slip my hands into his, but he looks up at me from his spot on the floor, a mix of confusion and skepticism on his pretty face.

“You lived upstate but never visited the city?” He questions, and I freeze in place, realizing how badly I may have just screwed up.

This is the first time I’ve slipped so monumentally, and I try to catch my breath, to come up with something to say on the spot, but my mouth has gone dry.

My head is spinning, but if my poker face cracks in the slightest, he’ll begin to unravel the web of lies I’ve told since the moment I stepped foot on Emory campus.

Fuck.

“Uh, well. I haven’t been since I was a little girl, but I barely remember the trip. This would be my first time as an adult,” I lie through my teeth, my heart pounding so hard in my chest, I’m afraid he can hear it, but he only smiles, the Cheshire-cat one that melts my heart into a puddle.

“Well, then I can’t wait to spoil my little ice princess with the best weekend of her life.” He draws small circles on my thighs with his fingers, and I tilt his chin until those perfect icy silver eyes meet mine, finding nothing but love and trust staring back at me.

He believes me.

He doesn’t see right through me, and I decide at this very moment that once we’re far away from here, I’m confessing everything.

By then, I’ll have proven my loyalty, shown that my beginning didn’t match the ending, and offer the reminder that we’ve already seen the truest parts of one another, ones that outweigh my real name by a long shot.