Page 83 of Shameless Royalty

I smirk back. “Then let’s make sure we know every fuckin’ move he makes.”

Because if Dawson thinks he can strengthen his position without us knowing, he’s in for a rude fucking awakening.

Giovanni exhales sharply, rolling his shoulders like he’s shaking off the weight of the conversation. “Alright, so Dawson’s making moves. We’ll keep eyes on him. But let’s talk about something that isn’t a pain in my ass for five fucking minutes.”

Mihai laughs and leans back in his chair. “Like what?”

Giovanni raises a brow. “Like the fact that once the coup is over, we’re bringing in a new Crown.”

The room falls quiet. I glance at Mihai, whose smirk widens slightly as he taps his fingers against his glass. So, we’re finally talking about it.

Nikolai’s voice comes over the speaker, a low hum of interest. “You mean Drakos?”

Giovanni nods. “Yeah. Konstantin’s been proving himself for a while now. He’s got the resources, the influence, and most importantly—he’s loyal.”

Mihai lifts a brow. “Is he?”

Giovanni tilts his head. “He brought Marina back.”

That shuts Mihai up real quick. We all remember what went down when Marina and Cat were taken. It happened under Konstantin’s watch, but when it came time to make it right, he did. He was in the trenches with us, no hesitation, no excuses.

And he didn’t just help. He fucking delivered. He killed men with his bare hands when he saw the state Marina was in. Apparently, he went full blackout and doesn’t even remember the shit he did to those men.

I swirl the whiskey in my glass. “You trust him?”

Giovanni’s gaze sharpens. “Yeah. And you should too.”

Mihai exhales slowly, then nods once. “I don’t trust easily, but I’ll say this—he didn’t run when shit got bad. He stood with us.”

Nikolai hums. “So we’re making it official after the coup?”

“Reyes is out, so Konstantin takes that seat at the table. Our fathers know we need to fill that fucking seat before there’s a full-out war for it,” Gio explains.

I lean forward, my elbows on my knees. “That means we back him completely.”

Mihai looks at me. “You got a problem with that?”

I shake my head. “No. Just makin’ sure we’re all clear. If he joins, he’s one of us. No second-guessin’. Noalmost loyalty.If he fucks us over—”

“He won’t,” Giovanni says. “But if he does, I’ll be the first to put a bullet in his skull.”

Mihai lifts his glass. “To the future Five Crowns.”

Giovanni smirks, lifting his own. “To the Five Crowns.”

Nikolai chuckles over the line. “Well, shit. Guess I’ll drink alone, then.”

I laugh, clinking my glass against Mihai’s. “Merry fuckin’ Christmas, boys.”

The house is quiet now. The kind of quiet that settles after a long night of drinking, laughing, and pretending we’re not all living on the edge of war.

Most of the others have gone to bed. Giovanni was the first to turn in—something about needing sleep before Chiara caught him looking exhausted and gave him hell. Nikolai hung up not long after, making some sarcastic remark about how it wasn’t hisfault he had better things to do than stay up listening to us talk politics.

Now it’s just Mihai and me.

I pour two glasses of whiskey, sliding one across the desk before taking a seat across from him. He takes it without a word, studying me with that sharp, calculating look he gets when he knows I have something on my mind but haven’t said it yet.

I lean back, swirling the amber liquid in my glass, watching the way the firelight flickers across the dark wood of Mihai’s study. It’s late—later than I should be up, considering how fucking tired I am. But I need to get something off my chest.

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