Page 1 of Royally Arranged

- CHAPTER ONE -

NOVA

Six months ago I met a beautiful man who said ugly things.

Not to me, of course. Hawthorne Badd didn’t speak a single word to me for the entire hour I sat across from him. But to others there, he was quick to let a sarcastic remark bleed from his tongue at every opportunity. He was especially crisp toward my father.

Secretly I loved that.

I’d never liked the way Dad did things. I’d also never say that to his face; I was a good daughter where it counted. I bowed my head and went wherever I was told to go. But I still hated it.

My father’s personal life had long ago mixed with his corrupt business, and there was no way to pull the two apart. It was like mangling a wad of gum into your scalp and then trying to clean every individual strand of hair. He was tangled in sin, and we, as his children, were tangled up, too.

Not that my brothers cared. Both Larchmont and Richard had been eager to come to this meeting between our family and the Badds. They were reveling in having the upper hand, an advantage brought on by gruesome violence and the fear of more to come.

I was different. I’d hoped to go on forever keeping my distance. Neither Mom nor Dad had asked me to dirty my hands. Not yet. The reality is that you can’t separate yourself from family just by wishing. And you definitely can’t walk away once blood has been spilled.

So I sat at the table in the middle of the Badd family’s ballroom, breaking bread with our enemies and waiting for Maverick—the patriarch—and his two other sons to show up. We’d been sitting in near silence for fifteen minutes already.

Like the ballroom we were in, their whole estate was gorgeous. I was especially jealous of all the land they had. My parents were more interested in the clean lines of modern architecture than in greenery and dirt. I’d grown up crawling across cement and marble. I’d wandered nervously down dark halls past the array of warped statues that my mother fancied. They’d watched me with their dead eyes, their arms wound tight over their chests, unable to hold or hug or touch.

Maybe that was why Mom liked them so much.

My attention kept zipping to the door, to the security guards—theirs and ours. If I wasn’t so afraid of the consequences I could walk out of here, get in my car, and be back in Boston within the hour. Even accounting for the time needed to get some Dunkin’ coffee, I’d be snuggled in my bed with a sketch pad before dinner. It’d be heaven.

“What’s wrong?” a feathery voice asked in my right ear. Darla, my younger sister.

“I don’t want to be here,” I mumbled. I wanted nothing to do with any of this. And I was ignorant enough to think that if I just sat there and stared at my chocolate strawberries, I could walk away from this meeting unchanged.

Then he entered the room.

He was shorter than his father and his older brother, Costello, who had entered with him. But somehow he defied reality, his presence looming, filling every crack in the ballroom. Thorne wore long sleeves and a high-necked shirt the color of fresh wheat, things that only hinted at the shape of his body. But I could tell his shoulders were broad, his torso lean and powerful.

Maverick scanned the room with his piercingly icy eyes. Thorne’s were starkly different. They were like those of his mother—who hadn’t stopped watching us from the head of the table—black as a galaxy. He moved with ease, comfortable in a roomful of people who would have loved to see him dead. This was a battlefield seconds before someone began the charge, and he didn’t care.

His strong chin cut the air, his gaze sweeping across the table, ultimately falling on me. I wasn’t ready for that. I don’t think anybody could be. It was like jumping into a swirling storm when you’d been promised a sunny day.

Instantly I ducked my head. In my ears I heard Darla’s muffled giggle, then the warm, heart-pulling sound of Thorne’s chuckle. I glanced up in time to see him whisper something to Costello as they sat down. He didn’t look at me again after that.

I prayed he would, but ... it never happened. It drove me mad.

I couldn’t explain what had created such a yearning inside me. Why was I so focused on getting this man to notice me? Maybe it was because I’d heard so much about him. It was no secret under my roof that my family was obsessed with his. I’d seen photos and videos and even had intel recited to me about the Badds.

I’d always thought Thorne was interesting. Unquestionably handsome, no doubt. But a picture can’t compare to flesh and blood. Hearing his gritty, low voice as it purred casual insults that were hard to counter ... seeing him relax in his seat and swirl his glass and not care at all about what his familyormine thought of his behavior ...

It was fascinating.

But Thorne Badd didn’t find me nearly as interesting. Through all the back-and-forth discussion between his family and mine, he acted like I didn’t exist. And I began to feel like I didn’t. Selfishly, I wished that something would happen. Something that would make him look at me,see me.

My father was speaking—things were heating up. I saw how Costello hunkered in place, his frown severe. His knitted eyebrows pulled the long scar across his face tighter. “We’re not at war,” Dad said carefully. “Because if we were, none of you would be here. Not one.” He lifted his glass. “You’re all part of a grand family ... a grander heritage. Though it’s funny you’d choose a name likethe Badds.” He winked. “What was wrong with Fredricson?”

A ripple moved through the other side of the table. Thorne didn’t flinch, but he did glance at Maverick. This was a bomb my father had been waiting to drop: that we knew exactly who the Badds used to be before Maverick changed his last name.

People didn’t change their surnames without good reason when it gave them access to the advantages of a royal lineage. I knew the reason. But did they know why we knew? Covertly I watched Thorne—he was facing away, showing me his sharp profile. He was gorgeous from every angle.

With a soft sigh, my father said, “We’re a simple family that profits greatly from all of you remembering your place.” His dimples deepened with his wide smile. “This peace was almost broken by one man’s simple mistake.”

He was talking about my brother Darien. He was the reason we were all here.

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