Chapter 6 - The Sister's Venom
The luxury suite of the Savannah Mansion Hotel was filled with the scent of white lilies and expensive champagne. Lily Carter stood in front of the full-length mirror, adjusting the straps of her emerald-green silk dress. At twenty-eight, she looked be
autiful, but her sharp features and calculated smile carried a bitter, brittle edge.
Her mother, Eleanor, sat on the velvet chaise lounge, sipping a gin and tonic, her brow furrowed over a guest list. "Are you absolutely certain the Detroit representatives will be here tonight, Lily? Your father is frantic. The audit reports clear on Monday, and if the allocation funds aren't verified, the firm goes under."
"They'll be here, Mom," Lily said, her voice tight with a dark, plotting satisfaction. "And I’ve already sent them the address of the little cottage by the marsh. Emma has been playing the poor, innocent schoolteacher for five years while we suffered the fallout of her running away. The Detroit syndicate will take her, verify the signature on the fraudulent allocation sheets, and our debt is wiped clean."
"It seems... harsh," Eleanor muttered, though she didn't set her glass down. "She is your sister."
"She’s a coward who ruined my chance to marry Adrian!" Lily turned on her mother, her eyes flashing with a deep-seated venom. "I was supposed to be the Volkov matriarch. I was supposed to have the penthouse, the cars, the power. Instead, Adrian spent five years systematically freezing our family firms out of every shipping dock from Chicago to New York. He ruined us because she ran! It’s only fair she pays the price to fix it."
Just then, the double doors of the hotel suite were forcefully kicked open.
Two massive men in dark suits stepped into the room, their faces expressionless, their hands resting near their jacket lapels. Behind them walked Adrian Volkov.
Eleanor dropped her glass, the gin splashing across the velvet carpet. Lily froze, her face draining of all color as Adrian walked into the room. He didn't look like the man she had tried to seduce in Chicago; he looked like a god of war descending on a corrupt city.
"Adrian!" Lily stammered, trying to pull her calculated smile back onto her face. "What... what a wonderful surprise! We didn't expect you at the gala tonight."
Adrian didn't smile. He walked to the center of the room, his eyes fixed on Lily with a cold, clinical disgust that made her skin crawl. "I know about the private investigator, Lily. I know about the address you sent to the Detroit syndicate."
Lily took a step back, her hand clutching the vanity table behind her. "I... I don't know what you're talking about! We were just trying to find Emma! We missed her!"
"You looked for her to sell her," Adrian said, his voice a low, lethal rumble that seemed to vibrate the walls of the suite. "But you made a catastrophic miscalculation. You assumed I was tracking her to punish her. You didn't realize that I was tracking her to protect her."
May you like
He stepped closer, his shadow completely covering her.
"Tonight, you and your parents are going down to that ballroom," Adrian commanded, his voice sharp as a razor. "You are going to welcome the guests. You are going to host your little charity gala. And then, you are going to face the guest of honor I brought with me."
