Ruthless King

Hopefully, she could still catch Regent eating breakfast. She entered the kitchen, but she only saw Gerald there, pouring coffee into a mug.

The older man’s eyes widened. “Ms. Crane? Is everything okay?”

She slumped against the wall, hand on her heart as it raced. “I missed him, huh?”

“Mr. Malone?”

“Yeah? And please call me Jilly. Every time you say my last name, it reminds me of my father. And he wasn’t a nice man.”

“Very well, Miss Jilly.”

She guessed that was slightly better.

“Did I miss Regent? Has he gone already? I wanted to eat breakfast with him.” She was starting to feel like a lazy lump now that she was feeling better.

“He’s in the dining room. You haven’t missed him.”

“In the dining room? For breakfast?” Did no one use the kitchen table in here?

Oh, well.

“I’ll go find him then.”

Gerald gave her a strange look. Almost as though he was amused. “You do that.”

Rushing out of the room, she ran down to the dining room. Sheesh, why was the dining room so far from the kitchen?

It made no sense.

Running in, she unfortunately started to cough.

“Jilly! What’s wrong? Why are you running around?” Regent rushed over and rubbed her back until she caught her breath.

“Sorry,” she said, tears streaming down her face. “I, um, might not be up to running yet.”

“You are definitely not up to running yet,” he told her sternly. “Do not do that again.”

She saluted him. Then she heard a soft huff of laughter and froze. Glancing over, she saw a very large, well-built man sitting there. He had short dark hair and a beard.

Victor Malone.

She’d only seen him once, but he was hard to forget.

Great. She was going to meet his brother for the first time after having a coughing fit while dressed in a ratty old robe.

Just perfect.

“Sorry,” she said hoarsely, glancing back at Regent. “I didn’t realize anyone else was here. I would have gotten dressed.”

Regent was already dressed in a button-up shirt and black pants. Victor was less formally dressed in a dark T-shirt that clung to his muscles and jeans.

But she was still way under-dressed.

Sooo. Apparently, people got dressed for breakfast around here. Good to know.

“I’ll just go now . . .” She attempted to move toward the door, but Regent wrapped an arm around her and walked her over to the table.

Once there, he drew out a chair and stared from her to it.