Page 24 of Owned By Royal

“For Father to make a mistake big enough that even he couldn’t hide it.”

I search his face. He’s telling the truth. Every board meeting. Every business dinner. Every compliment he’d paid Marco. Every obedient nod. It had all been another performance. Just like mine.

“I never knew.”

“I didn’t want you involved.”

I can’t help smiling bitterly. “That’s ironic.”

“It is.”

We sit quietly for several moments, each lost inside our own thoughts. Finally Riccardo speaks again.

“So, do you still think Sierra invented everything?”

I close my eyes. “No.” The answer comes far more easily than I expected. “I don’t know what to think anymore.”

“That’s honest.”

I do know that I’m in love with her. Ever since she met with the guys and Nadia, and she blended right in, I knew she was the one for me. I understand why she wasn’t honest about her suspicions before now.

“So why are you still angry?” Riccardo asks, interrupting my thoughts.

“Because she didn’t trust me.”

“Or because you think she used you?”

Both. The answer comes immediately. “I don’t know which hurts more.”

He stands, placing a hand briefly on my shoulder. “Figure out which one it is.” Then he leaves me alone.

And as I watch him leave, I realize that I’m also hiding a secret that may break the already fragile relationship Sierra and I have.

⁎⁎⁎

The next morning, I drive straight to 4R Ink before the shop officially opens. River looks up from the reception desk as I walk in.

“You’re early.”

“I need the basement.”

One glance at my face wipes the smile from his. “You okay?”

“No.”

He doesn’t ask another question. “Go.”

I descend the hidden staircase beneath the shop. The familiar security door slides shut behind me before I enter the room almost no one outside our family knows exists. Rows of monitors illuminate the otherwise dark basement while humming servers line one wall.

Each is custom-built over the years to handle the amount of surveillance, encryption, and investigative work our team performs. This is where I become someone entirely different from the billionaire the city thinks it knows.

This is where I tell the truth. I sit before the largest monitor, crack my knuckles once, and begin. Father’s network has always been difficult to breach. I designed most of its security. Ironically, that also means I know exactly how to dismantle it.

Passwords fall first. Encrypted drives next. Archived emails. Private servers. Financial ledgers. Deleted correspondence. Hidden offshore accounts. Hour after hour passes as I dig deeper than I’ve ever allowed myself to before, refusing to look away no matter what I find.

By early afternoon, I wish I’d never started. The evidence fills screen after screen. Bribery. Money laundering. Judges paid to alter outcomes. Politicians purchased through shell companies. Illegal land acquisitions. Witness intimidation. My stomach twists. Then I find the file.

Project Atlas.