Page 205 of Ruin My Life
The Black Rose.
My jaw slackens.
I reread it again. And again.
Questions slam through my skull faster than I can untangle them.
When the hell did she find the time to dig up that much leverage?
How long has she been planning this—without me even noticing?
Where the fuck did she gethalf a milliondollars?
But even through the shock, one feeling barrels to the surface—louder than confusion, sharper than the echo of betrayal.
Pride.
Pure, raw, chest-deep awe.
She didn’t just protect herself. She protected me. Protected my people. Protected my city.
And she did it in the mostBrieway possible.
Bold. Calculated. Quietly ruthless.
She became the weapon I didn’t even know I needed. And somehow—she made it look easy.
Matthias sighs, long and weary, folding his hands over the desk like a prideful ruler conceding a lost battle but already plotting the next war.
“Well, I’d be a fool not to accept... considering what I stand to lose. The terms stand. No retaliation. No more trouble for you—or your littlegirlfriend.”
A muscle ticks in my jaw. My hands flex, ready to curl into fists. But I don’t flinch.
He wants the reaction—wants to pull me back down to his level.
So I give him nothing but ice.
“Then it’s agreed. No more bodies in Kings. That includes your Songbirds,andthe women I’ve helped. I don’t want any more blood showing up on my doorstep, O’Doyle—not unless I’ve spilled it myself.”
Matthias arches a brow, something like curiosity flickering beneath the frost. “Women?”
I lean in, voice low, clipped. “You know damn well your men killed Jennifer Pietro. Left her in a dumpster behind my apartment building. Same way Isabella was found.”
For the first time, something cracks in his mask—just for a breath.
Not guilt. Not smugness.
Confusion.Genuineconfusion.
He shakes his head, slow and deliberate, like he’s trying to decide if I’m testing him or if he’s missing something enormous. “Contrary to what you think, I don’t let my people operate that way anymore. That was Xander’s sickness—his stain. I cut him loose so they’d remember who they answer to. No freelance hits. No collateral bodies without my say-so. And I sure as hell didn’t authorize that one.”
A cold weight roots itself in my gut.
“No,” I say through clenched teeth. “It had to be one of yours.”
Matthias doesn’t flinch. His gaze stays steady—steady enough that it chills me deeper than any denial could. “I’m telling you, it wasn’t,” he says, calm and certain. “Seems there may be another threat in Kings that neither of us knew of.”
A new threat. Impossible.
