Chapter 4 THE DEVIL'S DEAL

OBSIDIAN VEINS

Book One – The Spark & The Secret

CHAPTER FOUR: The Devil's Deal

"If secrets were currency, Carmine City would be richer than Rome."

SIENA

The body was still warm when they dragged it out.

Ricci crest on the cufflinks. Expensive watch. A splatter of red across the marble floor like spilled wine. The ballroom was silent now-no music, no laughter, just the quiet hum of people holding their breath.

"I thought your parties were legendary," I muttered.

Nikolai didn't smile.

"This was a warning," he said. "And someone inside my house sent it."

"You're saying one of your people invited a sniper?"

"I'm saying someone helped them set the stage."

He turned away from the corpse, his eyes scanning the crowd as Lucien stepped in beside him, whispering something only they could hear. Nikolai's jaw clenched.

Then he pointed to the guard.

"Lock the doors. Everyone stays."

I should've left.

Slipped out with the crowd or through the servant's wing.

But I didn't.

Because something about the way Nikolai looked at me-like I was both problem and solution-held me in place.

Because I had blood on my own hands.

And one of the people in this room knew the truth.

EVA – ONE HOUR EARLIER

Eva's heels clicked through the cathedral-like silence of the Moreau estate's north hall.

She didn't belong here either.

But when your best friend swore she had to infiltrate the most dangerous family in Carmine City for answers, you didn't let her do it alone.

Not without watching from the shadows.

Not when your friend's mother had been gunned down by someone wearing a Moreau crest.

She pressed her ear against a door.

Inside, a voice: "He doesn't suspect. She's already in the ballroom."

Another: "You're sure she's connected to the Riccis?"

Silence. Then, "Her mother was Ricci's sister. I'd bet my life on it."

Eva's stomach dropped.

Siena was a Ricci.

NIKOLAI – NOW

In my office, behind two inches of reinforced wood and glass, I poured her a drink and waited.

Siena stood by the bookshelves, fingers grazing the spines like she wasn't just stalling.

"I didn't kill him," she said.

"Didn't say you did."

"But you think I'm involved."

"I think you're clever enough to pretend not to be."

She turned. "What do you want from me, Nikolai?"

"You."

Her breath caught.

"Not like that."

"Then how?"

"As an ally."

She scoffed. "You trust people that easily?"

"No," I admitted, sipping my whiskey. "But I believe in leverage."

"And what leverage do you have over me?"

"I know you stitched me up in a back alley without hesitation. I know you lied about your name. I know you dance like a spy and flinch like a soldier."

He stepped forward, slow. Dangerous.

"And I know you're not just some girl who wandered into a gala. So let's stop pretending."

Silence.

Then she said, "What if I am a spy?"

"Then you're in the wrong house."

"What if I'm a Ricci?"

I paused.

Let the weight of that sink in.

"Then I should kill you."

"But?"

"But I haven't stopped thinking about you since the alley."

SIENA

It felt like the air had changed.

He stood so close now I could smell the smoke on his suit. My pulse screamed at me to run. My body didn't move.

"I don't care about the Riccis," I lied.

"You're family."

"Barely."

"Your mother was-?"

"Dead. Fifteen years."

His gaze flicked, sharp as a blade.

I hated how much I wanted to touch him.

He raised the glass again. "So let's make a deal."

"What kind?"

"You help me find the traitor. I protect you from Ricci's wrath."

"Why would Ricci come after me?"

"Because he thinks you're his leverage. And I think you're mine."

He took one more step forward, and I didn't step back.

"There's going to be a war, Siena. Pick a side."

"And if I don't?"

"Then you'll be the first casualty."

LATE NIGHT – THE EAST WING

Lucien and Nikolai reviewed the security feed.

"There," Lucien said, freezing the image.

A figure in a maid uniform-slipping away just before the shot rang out. Wrong height for any staff. No face. Just a glimpse of black gloves and a limp.

"Ricci sniper," Nikolai said.

"Inside job."

"Could be Siena."

Lucien raised a brow.

"Would you kill her?"

Silence.

"I'll do what's necessary," Nikolai said. But he didn't believe it.

Lucien leaned back.

"You're slipping, Nik. The girl's getting under your skin."

"No one gets under my skin."

Lucien chuckled. "You keep telling yourself that."

SOUTH WING – GUEST QUARTERS

Siena stared at the old Polaroid in her pocket.

A photo of her mother.

And the man standing next to her.

Vittorio Ricci.

Her uncle.

Her enemy.

Her blood.

She hadn't told Nikolai everything. Not yet. Not about what her mother whispered the night she died, or about the red book with Ricci's secrets, or the name of the real traitor she suspected.

Because if she told him...

She wasn't sure if he'd protect her.

Or kill her.

And worse-she wasn't sure which one she wanted more.

SOMEWHERE IN CARMINE CITY – MIDNIGHT

A phone rang.

A man with burnt fingers answered.

"Status?" the voice on the other end asked.

"Moreau's catching on."

"And the girl?"

"She's in."

The voice hummed. "She better stay in. Or I'll gut her myself."

Click.

END OF CHAPTER FOUR