Page 21 of Ruthless Reign

Thor, KC, Hollywood, and Roman worked in the garage while Selene ran the front desk. She snorted and rolled her eyes when I sat next to the coffee machine and pulled out my phone. Just because I wasn’t at home didn’t mean I couldn’t be productive, and I had wedding dresses to select. She blew a piece of gum into a bubble, popped it, and reeled it back into her mouth, eyeing me with disdain.

“What?” I finally asked when I couldn’t take it anymore.

“You going to sit there the whole time or…” She raised her eyebrows.

“That’s the plan.” I saved a beautiful Versace gown I could get at the boutique in DC.

“There’s a stack of receipts that need sorting in the back office,” she said. “If you’re going to be here all day, you might as well be useful.”

I took a deep breath and let it out.Useful.She didn’t know planning this wedding and researching my despicable aunt was my way of being the most help I could to this new life, but hey…I’d been trying to get on her good side. Maybe this was a way to soften her resolve. Girls’ night was in two days. It might be less awkward if I helped, right?

Swallowing down every rotten retort I had, I stood and walked into the back room. Besides, how long could the sorting possibly take?

Hours, it turned out. They needed to be filed by month and then alphabetized by the last name of the customer, and they were printed out on an old machine that used some kind of ink transfer. My hands, fingers, nails, and dress were covered in the stuff by the end of the day.

That was how my husband found me at five o’clock—purple, filthy, and frustrated.

“How could you let it get like this?” I blew hair out of my face and shoved another receipt into the filing cabinet. “It’s like you haven’t organized a thing in years.”

He laughed, crossed his arms, and leaned against the doorjamb. He was also dirty from head to toe. Dark oil patches smudged his massive arms, and his fingers were nearly black with grease. I ignored the rush of heat that gathered between my legs and went back to my filing.

“You almost look like you’re enjoying yourself.” He raised an eyebrow and smiled. “Maybe I’ll bring you here more often.”

I scoffed. “Like I don’t have better things to do with my time than sort your orders. Some of these are so old, I’m surprised they haven’t disintegrated into ash.”

“Well, I think you’ve earned your keep for the day. Let’s go home, huh?” He nodded toward the front, and I shut the drawer I’d been working on to follow him out. When Selene saw me, she giggled hysterically and threw me a towel.

“Rubbing alcohol and vinegar,” she said with a wink. “Nice work today. See you at the clubhouse tonight?”

I smiled, surprised by how much her compliment warmed my midsection. Maybe I could get along with the princesses after all. Maybe all I had to do was figure out how to exist in this new world. It wouldn’t be easy, but I’d done harder things.

“We could use you at the garage, ya know,” Roman said from the driver’s seat. “If you ever wanted something else to do besides sitting around the house all day.”

Part of me wanted to agree. Despite the mindlessness of the task I’d been given, the time had flown by, and I found organizing had actually been…well…fun? Normal? It was certainly better than entertaining thoughts of how to destroy the matriarch of my family. But then the mafia princess in me spoke up, demanding I be reasonable. Caputi heiressesdid notfile paperwork.

Of course, once I got home and saw myself in the mirror of my bathroom, I understood why Selene had been laughing at me. I had ink patches on my face from where I’d brushed hair out of my eyes or scratched at my cheeks.

Hilarious.

It took me an hour and an entire container of 90 percent proof rubbing alcohol to get it all off.

When I got to the clubhouse that night, Selene threw her arm over my shoulders and announced to Ru, V, and Alba that I was the employee of the month at the garage. If I kept it up, she’d have to find devious new ways to get Thor to hire me full-time.

“Well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” I said, holding up my hands. “I look like I’ve got frostbite. My manicurist is going to murder me.”

“I know a good one,” Ru cut in. “We’ll get you fixed in no time.”

V, Ru, and Alba laughed and clinked their beers against my glass of water, and some of the weight that had been on my chest vanished. After that, the princesses seemed to soften toward me, as if I’d been put through some demented hazing and come out the other side still standing. Maybe they just wanted to see me get my hands dirty…literally.

Now if I could only figure out how to cook.

By girls’ night, I’d started to look forward to hanging out with them, so I woke up on Friday morning regrettably grateful Albahad invited me out. Roman couldn’t tell me no, especially not when his sister and cousins would be around to babysit me.

“KC’s gonna be here the whole time?” Roman said when he dropped me off at the house Alba shared with her husband. I stood to the side and glanced around at the tiny space, my focus catching on the soft feminine details that must have been Alba’s influence—a vase of flowers on the dining room table, matching towels hanging from the oven, bright decorative lamps in every corner.

“Yes, oh my God!” Verona rolled her eyes and huffed. “You’re so overbearing.”

“Where is he?” Roman said, raising an eyebrow. “I want to talk to him.”

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