Page 107 of Shameless Royalty

I shake my head, my heart pounding. “You shouldn’t even know about Vito’s betrayal. That was never public knowledge.”

“I know,” she whispers, her fingers tightening around my jacket. “I wasn’t supposed to know anything, but my father… he talked more than he should have. I overheard a lot growing up,more than anyone thought I did. And when he started dealing in shit he shouldn’t have, I put the pieces together.”

That sends a fresh wave of tension rolling through me, and without another word, I take her wrist and start leading her toward the house. She doesn’t protest, just follows, her breathing shallow.

By the time we get to my father’s study, he’s already waiting, standing near the desk, another whiskey poured but untouched. His gaze flickers between us as we step inside, and he takes Sofia in, reading her just like I did.

“Sofia,” he says, voice even. “Been a long time.”

Sofia straightens slightly, but I feel the tension in her body. “I need protection.”

Da raises a brow, glancing at me briefly before returning his attention to her. “That so?”

She nods. “I know things, Declan. Things that got my father killed. Things that might get you killed if you don’t listen.”

He exhales slowly, walking around his desk before leaning against it, arms crossed. “Start talkin’, lass.”

Sofia takes a deep breath and glances at me before looking back at da again. “I overheard a lot more of my father’s business than I was supposed to,” she admits. “Even before he was killed, I knew something wasn’t right. He was meeting with people he shouldn’t have been. Taking calls at all hours. I didn’t understand everything at the time, but after he died, I started piecing things together. My father wasn’t just dealing in the human trafficking, he was a fucking kingpin and Vito wanted to expand it to kids.”

The air in the room shifts, the weight of those words settling between us like a fucking guillotine.

The Five Crowns don’t deal in skin trafficking, it’s a line we don’t fucking cross.

Da rubs a hand over his jaw. “That slimy fuckin’ bastard,” he mutters. “And you know all this how?”

She looks down at her hands, voice barely above a whisper. “Because I was there when my father got the call five years ago. My father wanted out, but Vito blackmailed him into expanding.”

The silence that follows is deafening.

Santiago Reyes was never a good man—none of our fathers are—but human trafficking was a line we didn’t fucking cross, and if Vito wanted in and was blackmailing Reyes over it, that meant this went beyond just a simple betrayal.

Motherfucking greed.

I drag a hand down my face, my mind already spinning in a hundred different directions. “So what you’re sayin’ is, Vito has been blackmailin’ your father for five years, and because he wanted out, Vito had him killed?”

She nods. “And if he’s still pulling the strings, if he’s still trying to take control, then he’s not going to stop. He’s going to kill anyone who gets in his way.”

I exchange a look with my father. We already knew Vito was a fucking snake. But this? This changes everything. Because this isn’t just about power, this is about blood.

Da sighs. “And you think you’ll be safer with us?”

Sofia lets out a bitter laugh. “I know I’ll be safer with you. Because, according to my father, Vito doesn’t just want to control the skin trade—he wants control of everything. And the only way he can do that is by wiping the current Four Crowns off the board and replacing them with like-minded people.”

My father mutters a curse under his breath, pushing off the desk and walking toward the window. I watch the tension in his shoulders tighten as he stares out into the night, processing what she’s just told us.

If this is true—and fuck, it makes too much sense—then we’re already in a war. We just didn’t know it yet.

Finally, he turns back around, his gaze sharp as steel as he looks at Sofia. “You get my protection,” he says simply. “But if you’re lyin’—”

“I’m not,” she cuts in, voice firm. “I wish I was.”

He studies her for another long moment, then nods. “Connor,” he says, looking at me. “Get her a room. And get the boys on the phone. We need to move.”

I nod, glancing at Sofia one last time before leading her out of the office.

We’re past the point of playing defense.

It’s time to end this.

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