The Reborn Duchess's Ruthless Revenge

t put it down. She needed the prop. It gave her hands someth

Jerald

thick, fleshy neck. To anyone else in the Royal Hall, he was a pillar of the community. A fa

carrion crow who had picked her

een plastered across every news feed, every tabloid cover. The Queen Mother, her beloved grandmother, a paragon of dignity, reduced to a caricature of shame in her most private moments. The blackmail that followed had brought the Crown to its knees, but it was the public humiliation that had truly broken the old woman's spirit, sending her to an ea

emory receded, but the cold fury it left behind was a fire in her vein

the Minister. His eyes kept darting to the velvet rope at the far end of the ballroom. The rope t

rd rotation," a low vo

id warmth of her husband, Duke Elliot Powers. He smelled of san

r leaving Levine. "He's been waiting for this gal

d the line of her spine, a possessive, reassuring weight. "Are you sure about thi

A face she had once seen only in fading photographs after it was all over. He didn't know. He couldn't know that her certainty was forged in the fires of a future that had

likes antique restoration. Tell him the Queen Mother recently acquired a Mi

e never did. He just squeezed her waist and walk

mething to a waiter. She saw the waiter approach Levine.

ne all over her white dress near the garden entrance. It was a clumsy, staged accide

all Levin

He slipped under the velvet r

her warm champagne. I

her's suite was silent. The thick car

is back, soaking his dress shirt. His heart was hammering against hi

all device from his pocket-a digital decoder. He had paid a fortune

ic

ht turn

elled of lavender and old paper. The Queen Mother's scent.

sing area. The large, ornate mirror was framed with

d out a button. It looked like a standard tuxedo button, but t

mirror frame. He needed to wedge it right in the center, where it

eft," a voice said

d from his sweaty fingers and bo

un ar

the room. He wasn't looking at Levine. He was looking at an unlit ci

thless. "I... I was just conducting a security audit. Una

said. His voice was s

use

p. His eyes were dead. There was no anger in t

"It's not a camera. It'

ace. He walked over to where the button lay and crushed it under the heel of

ur left breast pocket," El

away, hitting the dresser. "I have diplomatic

litical misunderstandings," Elliot said, closin

us, bubbling sound. "Don't be absu

terial for leverage," Elliot said. He reached out, his hand moving faster than Levine could rea

bound notebook. He flipped it open. Photos. Grainy, zoomed-in photos t

the room seemed to drop ten degrees. He ripped a p

," Elli

ared at h

. His hand clamped over Levine's jaw, forci

ered. "Or I will make sure

the hidden servant's entrance. They didn't look

o the floor, coughing, spitting out wet paper. "The Royal Military Police a

evine wheezed.

"Your family's name will be stripped from every record in this

kle on his sleeve. He waited until the door clicked shut

e lit h

t appear at the top of the staircase. He caug

up of federal marshals entered the ballroom, heading straight for Mrs. Levine

r didn't cease. But the Levine fam

another sip

do