Page 54 of King of Pride

She paused, her brows knitting together as another thought crossed her mind.

“Unless…”

Her voice dropped to almost a whisper.

“Unless he really, really wants you.”

Zoe immediately fell silent.

A confused look settled over her face as she considered the possibility. But just as quickly, she dismissed it.

“No. There’s no way Maverick would do something like this.” She shook her head firmly. “Even if he can be wicked and cruel, he’s never been the type to resort to something like this. If he wants something, he gets it. He doesn't scheme behind someone's back.”

Rose reached over and touched Zoe’s shoulder, pulling her back from her thoughts.

“I’m not going to let this go,” Rose said firmly. “Someone took a photograph of me without my knowledge and captured your brother and me kissing in a photograph. Then they sent it to my dad. Whoever did this knows enough about me to know exactly what would happen if my dad saw it.”

Her eyes narrowed with determination.

“I need to know who’s behind this. And I need you to help me find out. I’m going to get to the bottom of this.”

Zoe immediately nodded in agreement.

“Of course we will.”

Her expression hardened.

“We’ll find out who did this, and we’ll kick his ass!”

***

Ivan was drowning his frustration in alcohol.

He sat at a table surrounded by a group of friends, bottles and glasses scattered across the surface. Terrence sat beside him, watching as Ivan downed beer after beer.

Ivan was already heavily drunk, but he showed no intention of stopping.

One of his friends finally leaned toward him.

“Ivan, what happened to the cars that were burned down at your house? Did you find any clue about who did it?”

Ivan glanced at him before taking another drink.

“No. I haven’t found out who did it yet.”

His voice was strangely flat, as though the matter barely mattered to him.

Adam, who was sitting across from him, frowned.

“What are you talking about? Those cars were worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Some of them were worth millions. You’ve already lost a fortune. Didn’t the police find anything?”

“Yeah, the cars are already burned down,” Ivan replied casually. “There’s no value left in them anymore. I guess it’ll be sorted out in a few days.”

Adam stared at him in disbelief.

Then he turned toward Brian, who was sitting beside him, and leaned closer.

“Brian, don’t you think his reaction is a little underwhelming?”