Inked Devotion of the Bratva

Chapter 1

Chapter

One

Chloe

Stay or flee?

There was more than myself to consider now.

My infant son, an unexpected twist in my already complicated life.

On one side, I could be an heir to a multibillion-dollar empire, and I had two half brothers I could call family.

It sounded like a fairy tale ending, right?

Except I’d already shot one brother in self-defense.

The moment I stepped into King Tower, the gravity of my father’s legacy seeped into my gut like confidence-eating acid. All my life I sought to be free from my past, but it kept catching up with me. Sometimes I wondered if running from it was futile.

“Chloe?”

Theo’s voice broke into my thoughts and a jittery system poised toward flight.

We were in my brother’s sprawling office.

Floor-to-ceiling windows on two sides with a regal view of Manhattan.

Rows of rich mahogany, shelves on another wall.

Luxury and power pulsed from every corner of the room, tapering to focus on the man in front of me.

Did I really want to bring Sebastian into an opulent lifestyle?

My mother and I had lived our lives as the dirty secrets of powerful men. For the sake of my son, I could give up looking for answers to her disappearance, but I couldn’t ignore the bigger threat, and protecting Sebastian from it was my priority.

“I don’t want to come forward.”

“Let me get this straight.” Theo leaned back against the couch and crossed his ankle over a knee.

To others, that would be a normal move to relax, but it had the opposite effect on me.

Because I’d been conditioned to watch for signs of being taken advantage of by men like him, I braced for a condescending tone.

“You want twenty million for you and your son. You don’t want to come forward and be identified as a King. ”

“Chloe has every right to the money—” Dora spoke up from my left.

Theo’s eyes swept to the third person in the room, to the woman who’d always advocated for me ever since my mother sent me to live with her when I turned fifteen. “There are safeguards to the trust. She can’t give it away to charity—”

“And I don’t want the shares,” I said. “All I want is funding to form an NGO. You can have paperwork drawn up stating I would sign my shares away to you in exchange for twenty million. I’ll have my lawyers look over it, of course.

” Lawyers. I didn’t have lawyers. “Wouldn’t that be better for King Industries? ”

It was another reason I had Dora with me for my meeting with Theo. With over thirty years of experience managing a network of women’s shelters, she could speak to business plan concerns should questions arise.

My brother scanned me contemplatively. Was he considering it? “I had my team comb over the trust documents, and it’s airtight. To receive any money from it, you’ll have to become a King.”

My face flushed. “Be a King.”

“I don’t understand what would make you turn down the life I’m offering you.”

“And I don’t understand why you want to help me. I’m your father’s bastard daughter. I’m sure I’ve caused enough torment in your parents’ marriage. Don’t you want me to disappear?”

“You’re not to blame for Dad’s mistakes.”

Dora snorted, and my brother sliced her with a glare that would have silenced his staff, maybe, but just like me and for even longer, Dora had dealt with men like Theo.

“Is there something you want to say?” Theo challenged.

Dora was about to chastise him, but this was my fight. “We don’t want strings attached,” I said. “We’ve seen many times what’s at the end of that string and it’s not palatable.”

“I’m a businessman, Chloe. I need your help to fix the mess our brother left us.”

“Can’t you leave me out of it?”

Theo laughed darkly. “I’m afraid I can’t since you’re part of the mess.”

“What is he saying?” Dora asked. “I thought Jeremiah had a skiing accident.”

“I’m sorry, Dora.” She was aware of my past, but I’d been careful to fill her in about recent events.

Because the second I shot Jeremiah, I was dragged into a quagmire of cover-ups and scandals.

Leaving Dora in the dark about it was for her safety.

“Just tell me if I’m wasting time so I can be out of your hair. ”

“Would it be so bad to be a King? Be family?”

Your brother might have killed my mother.

I didn’t say it out loud, but by the way Theo’s eyes narrowed at me, he was warning me to keep our little secret.

Ah, beneath its wealthy trappings, the King empire was littered with unhinged family drama laced with mayhem and murder.

Our father, Duncan King, left me four percent shares under an anonymous trust. The existence of the trust led to several murders and culminated in my shooting of Jeremiah.

When I arrived for our meeting, Theo wasn’t expecting to see Dora with me. It prevented us from speaking freely about what happened to our brother. When I told Theo I wasn’t ready to sign anything today, he appeared disappointed and sent his lawyers away.

The truth was I needed more time. Sebastian wasn’t attached to me. I left my baby in Dora’s care for three months while I tried to figure out if we were in danger.

When she showed up in Manhattan with Sebastian, my son didn’t even want me to carry him and clung to Dora and cried.

It cracked my heart, making me question every decision I made to keep him safe. Whether I even had the right to bring him into this world.

I was already feeling like a failure.

Did I even think Theo would hand me twenty million dollars out of the goodness of his heart?

He barely knew me. Theo confronted me at a coffee shop, and that meeting snowballed into a tragedy and a cover-up.

Now with Jeremiah King in a coma and incapacitated, Theo was under siege from his board. Of course I understood the excitement my unveiling as a recently found King heiress would generate. The media always loved what was shiny and new. But a larger threat loomed.

As if reading my mind, Theo stared at his tablet. “We may have a stopgap while you decide. I could draw from personal funds. My legal team will have questions about Sebastian’s birth certificate. You have the father’s last name as blank.”

I stared at Theo. “It was a one-night stand.”

His gaze sharpened. “But you know who he is.”

“I’m not sharing that,” I said firmly. “At least, not yet.”

“Will he be a problem to you? Or will he be a problem in the future?”

The pressure of his questions caused the back of my eyes to twitch and throb.

Because they were the reasons I was here, and I was trying to juggle too many balls in the air, too many paths to consider, and things were happening too fast. Time to sit on a decision was a luxury I didn’t have. “I’m working on it.”

“Chloe, security is imperative. Your only recourse is to fulfill the terms of the trust.”

“I don’t want it.”

“Because of pride?” Theo derided. “Because our father didn’t pick his mistress? I’m trying to make amends now. I am trying to set things right.”

My chest grew tight, my breathing suddenly became raspy, and standing up seemed like a good idea. The flight response took hold. Despite this vast, lush office space, the walls seemed to fold over me, on my independence, my ability to move around and disappear. “I’m sorry for wasting your time.”

Theo appeared surprised at my reaction and surged up, brows furrowed. “I’m sorry if I was harsh, but I just don’t understand—”

“There’s plenty you don’t understand,” I snapped.

And one of them was my inability to simply pick up my son and seek comfort in his baby smell. I’d gone past failure and, with money being involved, closer to being a fraud.

Dora caught on to my distress and moved towards Sebastian’s stroller that was parked beside the long couch we were sitting on.

He was awake, his bright blue eyes so like his father’s.

I couldn’t keep Sebastian a secret from him for long. I fully intended to tell him the second I found out who he was, but I needed insurance and insulation.

“He’s got the Kings’ blue eyes,” Theo said.

Theo’s eyes were slate blue, and with the lighting in his office he couldn’t see that Sebastian’s eyes were closer to his father’s piercing cerulean-blue irises.

My brother sank his hands into his trouser pockets. “Go home. I can email you the hashed-out trust documents. Have your lawyers look over them.” He paused, looking again at Sebastian with a grim set to his jaw. “But this boy needs the Kings’ protection.”

“We can discuss it after I receive the amended documents.” Flight response activated. I was getting out of here.

Theo’s answer was a tight nod, or maybe it was because his attention was drawn to the buzz of the intercom.

“Mr. King, your ten o’clock is here.”

That was our cue to exit.

No. We’re not family, I thought. We’re just another appointment on your calendar.

Trevor was waiting for us in front of King Tower when Dora and I emerged.

He’d been such a godsend ever since I accepted sanctuary with the De Lucci crime family.

A former military intelligence officer who seemed to have every answer to logistical issues on his phone, he was the one who arranged safe transport for Dora and Seb to come out of hiding and join me in Manhattan.

I hadn’t revealed the identity of Sebastian’s father to anyone, at least to anyone who was alive. It was going to cause a shitstorm, but I’d been working on my courage and a way to tell him he had a son.

“Hey, buddy.” Trevor reached for the stroller and helped us secure Sebastian in the car seat.

My boy continued to coo and gurgle, and his eyes were curious about all the sights and sounds.

He hadn’t thrown a fuss, though. I warned Dora not to tease me about Trevor.

Yes, he was single. Yes, he’s got that hot protector bearing with his six-foot-plus, muscular form.

He was wearing a light bomber jacket that hid his sidearm.

His shorn black hair and strong, angular face meant business. But he had oh-so-kind brown eyes.