“Omsk?”

“Yeah. I went there with my brother. Coop’s big in Russia. Which means these are all places where my mother and brother would perform before dignitaries and royals. But I’ve never been to bear territory in Russia. And do you know why?” Ricky shook his head. “Because my parents told me to never go to bear territory in Russia! In fact, their exact words to their offspring were ‘you will die if you go to bear territory in Russia.’ ”

“It won’t be that bad. I’ll be there, and I’ll have your back the entire way. Promise.”

“Do you know what’s really going to be the worst part of this, though?”

He gave her a one-sided smile. “Telling your family you’re going to Russia?”

Toni dropped her head on the desk, not even bothering to use her hands this time.

“This is going to be a nightmare,” Toni said again, this time directly into the desk. Not that doing so helped any.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Delilah Jean-Louis Parker dug through her sister’s clothes. Sometimes Oriana kept cash in her dresser drawers. Since their parents pretty much paid for everything and all Oriana cared about was dancing, she rarely spent her allowance. Actually, most of the kids didn’t spend their allowance and a few of them didn’t realize when the money was gone. Which was a nice little boon for Delilah.

Finding a healthy wad of cash, Delilah took more than half and put the few remaining bills back in Oriana’s dresser. She closed the drawer and stepped out of the room. She looked up and down the hall, saw no one around, and went into the next bedroom over.

She searched quickly and quietly, bored by anything but cash or something she could sell for cash. The best thing about her family was that they were so absorbed by what they did every day that they barely noticed anything she did.

Not finding any cash or cash-worthy items, she sat on the bed. She saw a backpack and eased the zipper open. She went through it until she found a notebook that seemed out of place. Delilah pulled it out and began flipping through the pages. Unlike the rest of her siblings, Delilah didn’t consider herself one thing or another. She knew she was a good artist. For her, drawing was easy. But so was math and science. She’d been offered multiple academic scholarships before she left high school. She said “left” because she never actually graduated. Her parents thought she’d graduated. She’d told them she’d graduated. Del had even managed to walk into the hall at graduation. Until, you know, that bomb threat got called in and the rest of it was canceled. Then, with the help of Troy’s PC and her design skills, she’d been able to show her parents a lovely diploma.

But when you were as smart as Delilah was, who needed a real diploma or a degree? What was the point? Because evenwithout them, she still knew she had something worthy in her hands now. Something she could really make money on.

“What the hell are you doing in here?”

At first, Delilah thought it was Toni when she heard that snarled question, but she looked up into the face of Oriana.

Putting the notebook back—why steal it when she’d know exactly where it was at all times?—Delilah stood up. “Nothing. Just being nosey.”

Oriana watched her for a moment, then shook her head. “I’m telling Toni you’re stealing our shit again.”

The little snitch would, too.

Delilah watched her sister turn around and start to head out to find Toni. And if there was one thing Delilah was not in the mood for, it was one of “those” discussions with Toni.

So Delilah grabbed the back of Oriana’s neck. Not by the extra flesh that all young canines had. This wasn’t some loving correction given from one sibling to another. Instead, she just grabbed the cunt’s throat and yanked her back until Del could press her mouth to her sister’s ear.

“How about—” Del began.

“Get off me!”

“—you just forget what you saw, little sister?”

Oriana started twisting her body and reaching back for Del’s arms. “Get off me, Delilah!”

One of Oriana’s hands slapped Delilah’s face. It hurt but Del didn’t care. She’d always had a high tolerance for pain and, most times, didn’t even remember the pain a day or two later. Sometimes even ten minutes later.

So it wasn’t anger that had Del pressing the point of her little butterfly knife to her sister’s face, right below her eye. In fact, Delilah felt nothing at all except a little bit of pleasure when her sister abruptly stopped moving.

“I’ll say it again . . . forget what you saw. Or I’ll make sure you stop seeing all together. Understand?”

“Yes.”

Delilah held her sister a little longer. Not to make her point clear but because she was really struggling with her desire to cut her sister’s eyes out of her head. But she knew if she did that . . . she’d have to deal with Toni. Delilah hated dealing with Antonella. So cutting up her younger—and prettier—sister would have to wait.

She shoved Oriana away from her, grinning when her sister hit the wall and spun around to glare at her.

Delilah dragged the blunt side of her blade across her own cheek, just so her sister understood exactly what she was risking by fucking with her. She took a step toward her, and that’s when Toni’s best friend stepped into her line of sight.

Quickly dropping her arm behind her back to hide her knife and closing it, Delilah smiled at Livy Kowalski.