Mercenary Princess (Mercenary Socialites Book 1) Read online

  Table of Contents

  Mercenary Princess

  About The Author:

  Copyright:

  Contributors:

  Disclaimer:

  Acknowledgements:

  Titles by Setta Jay:

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Epilogue

  Don’t Miss Out!

  Mercenary Princess

  By

  Setta Jay

  A MERCENARY SOCIALITES NOVEL

  About The Author:

  Setta Jay is the author of the popular Guardians of the Realms Series. She's garnered attention and rave reviews in the paranormal romance world for writing smart, slightly innocent heroines and intense alpha males. She loves creating stories that incorporate a strong plot with a heavy dose of heat.

  An avid reader her entire life, her love of romance started at a far too early age with the bodice rippers she stole from her older sister. Along with reading, she loves animals, brunch dates, coffee that is really more French vanilla creamer, questionable reality television, English murder mysteries, and has dreams of traveling the world.

  Born a California girl, she currently resides in Las Vegas with her husband.

  She loves to hear from readers so feel free to reach out anywhere below:

  NEWSLETTER (RELEASE UPDATES & GIVEAWAYS):

  https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/x5y8l8

  GOODREADS:

  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7778856.Setta_Jay

  GOODREADS FAN GROUP (ARC GIVEAWAYS):

  https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/157130-setta-s-sexies

  FACEBOOK:

  https://www.facebook.com/settajayauthor

  SETTA'S SEXIES FACEBOOK FAN PAGE (ARC GIVEAWAYS):

  https://www.facebook.com/groups/1546076675628394/

  TWITTER:

  https://twitter.com/SETTAJAY_

  PINTEREST (CHARACTER INSPIRATION):

  https://www.pinterest.com/jay0198/

  INSTAGRAM:

  https://www.instagram.com/settajayauthor/?hl=en

  WEBSITE:

  http://www.settajay.com/

  BOOKBUB:

  https://www.bookbub.com/authors/setta-jay

  Copyright:

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  Mercenary Princess Copyright © 2018 Setta Jay, LLC

  All rights reserved. Federal copyright law prohibits unauthorized reproduction by any means and imposes fines up to $25,000 for violation.

  Contributors:

  Editor: Red Adept Editing Services

  Proofreader: Pauline Nolet

  Disclaimer:

  This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any person living or dead is purely coincidental. The characters and places are products of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

  Acknowledgements:

  First off a giant thank you to my editors and proofreader, Jennifer Wadsworth, Neila Forssberg and Pauline Nolet, for helping make this book the best it could possibly be. You’re all incredible!

  I also want to send big hugs to Tracey Band, Lana Kart and Rene Hurt for beta reading.

  Thank you to Richard Thill for helping me brainstorm my way out of a block and adding your fantastic tech and military input.

  Thank you to Sarah Ferguson with Social Butterfly PR for all your hard work promoting this release.

  A shout out to Graceley Knox for helping come up with a name for the book AND series. There is a chance I would have wavered on names for another month if left on my own. :D

  Thanks so much, Eva LeNoir, for your brilliance in helping with the French aspect of the book and coming up with great names for the fictional places.

  As always, thank you to all the Book Bloggers who have given me immeasurable love and support. I truly appreciate all your help.

  I also want to thank those of you in the Setta’s Sexies fan groups on Facebook and Goodreads. You make me smile every day! I love you all!

  A huge shout out to my amazing husband, Kevin, for calming my crazy like only he can.

  And last, but definitely not least, a MASSIVE thank you to all of the readers out there. I wouldn’t be able to do what I love without your support.

  If I left anyone out I’m truly sorry, I blame sleep deprivation caused by writing this book.

  Titles by Setta Jay:

  The Guardians of the Realms Series:

  0.5) Hidden Ecstasy

  1) Ecstasy Unbound

  2) Ecstasy Claimed

  3) Denying Ecstasy

  4) Tempting Ecstasy

  5) Piercing Ecstasy

  6) Binding Ecstasy

  7) Searing Ecstasy

  8) Divine Ecstasy

  9) Storm of Ecstasy

  10) Eternal Ecstasy

  Descended of Guardians Series:

  1) Destined to Crave

  Mercenary Socialites Series:

  1) Mercenary Princess

  Chapter 1

  Paris, France

  Why is he here?

  He’d never once shown up at any of the exclusive nightclubs Sophia had been in. Why now? Her head ached from the heavy bass and the whirlwind of thoughts vying for her attention.

  The flashing lights and simulated fog filtering up from two stories below wasn’t helping anything either. Excès was the hottest nightclub in Paris at the moment. Crystal chandeliers dripped from the ceilings, catching the lights of the DJ’s show. Models in glittery, barely there dresses danced with moguls or lounged in the darkened private balconies, the beat of the music drowning out illicit conversations. If only she were focused on any of that.

  Sophia gritted her teeth. She had a job to do, one that required her to get her mind off the damned Russian currently staring at her from his own private balcony, or she’d risk losing the chance to uncover the secrets of her elusive prey. The loud, thumping beat pulsed in her gut.

  Taking a deep breath, she ran a shaky hand under the back of her hair, lifting the thick dark mass away from her hot nape. In that instant, she stilled, her breath frozen for a moment before she slid her hand away, shocked at the realization the man had her fidgeting like an awkward teenager.

  Get it together, Sophia. You’re a damned princess. You were raised in the public eye.

  At twenty-four, a crowd of flashing cameras no longer had the ability to shake her, yet one man’s bold perusal seemed to have the power to dismantle her entire serene persona. No other man had ever had such an effect on her. But Viktor Petrovich Popov had never been like other men. The dangerous billionaire had been her obsession for nearly a decade, which had been fine, harmless even, when he’d paid her no attention.

  With great effort, she eased her biting grip on the delicate stem of her champagne flute, trying not to look at him again. Focusing on him wasn’t going to stifle either the arousal or the agitation twisting in her st
omach.

  “More champagne?” Tiffany’s exuberant shout rang out over the heavy beat of the music, jolting Sophia from her thoughts. The other woman brandished a bottle in Sophia’s face.

  Sophia managed a smile for the blond socialite while waving away her offer. “No more for now, thanks.”

  Tiffany nodded with a wink and a grin before angling back to the other girls. The women smiled and laughed as they spoke, their words mostly lost in the hum of the music. Sophia made every effort to give the right responses, and judging from their expressions, they were either too buzzed to notice or Sophia was hiding her emotions well.

  Sophia pushed back a pang of guilt for using the women as props.

  Tiffany and the others held coveted spots on her mother’s list of acceptable companions of appropriate breeding and desirable behavior. As far as Sophia’s options went, they were the easiest of her set to be around, and they were always eager and available for a photo op. It was a win-win situation, considering Sophia’s real friends had been stricken from that approved list over two years ago—only two weeks before she would have graduated from university.

  The instant her brother, the cold and unwavering king of Porenza, had learned that Sophia’s childhood friends, Irina and Riot, had posed for the cover of a famous rock magazine, he’d ordered her home from university. He’d refused to listen to reason, as she’d known he would. It hadn’t mattered that Sophia hadn’t even been near the photo shoot, nor had she starred in the sexy image that was splayed all over the internet, having been leaked to the media before the magazine was actually published.

  Sophia and her friends had known what would happen when the scandalous magazine cover—showing the two friends clad in skimpy bikinis and licking dripping ice cream cones—was released. Overnight, her friends had cemented a spot in the party-girl socialite set, perfect covers for their covert work. But it had also made it impossible for Sophia to be seen with them.

  The resulting two-year separation had become a bigger challenge than Sophia wanted to admit out loud, though she knew her friends were aware. She’d chosen her path. That she was isolated—more so when in her family’s clutches in Porenza—hadn’t been without purpose. Though if it weren’t for Jen, the one guard on her security team who knew about her secret life, she might have snapped.

  Maybe she was kidding herself. Have I already lost my mind? What else explained her wandering thoughts and schoolgirl reaction to Viktor Popov being so close?

  She swore she could feel his eyes on her body. Her imagination only made things worse. She wished his strong hands were gliding up her legs to grip her ass. Would he pull her into his lap before letting those hands roam to her breasts? Would he torment her, make her writhe and beg for more? Because that was exactly what he’d done in her dreams a thousand times.

  What the hell is wrong with me?

  Her breathing had grown erratic, and her nipples ached as she snapped her mind away from the fantasy and back to real life.

  Over the past eight years, she’d never once let her mask fracture, but she’d never been in such a situation. It wasn’t the job throwing her off. It was Viktor Popov making her cheeks flush. The man had starred in her dirtiest fantasies for those same eight years. In all that time, she’d indulged in what seemed like a harmless and innocent infatuation with a man who was completely off-limits and had never once given her a second glance.

  Until tonight.

  “Oh my God, this DJ is brilliant!”

  Sophia wished she could muster the same enthusiasm as her companions, who bounced to the music. She’d instructed her guards to keep the privacy curtains pulled back from her VIP alcove on the third floor, allowing a full view of the flashing lights surrounding the DJ console below.

  For the moment, Sophia hovered back from the edge of the balcony, shrouded in partial darkness. A part of her wanted to sink into one of the leather couches situated farther in the shadows, but she was supposedly there for the entertainment. She had to be seen so her prey would come to her.

  Instead of retreating, as she wanted to do, she moved forward, gazing down at—but not really seeing—the crush of club-goers grinding to the beat two stories below.

  Observers with a view of her balcony wouldn’t detect any hint that Princess Sophia of Porenza was so tense they would have to pry her fingers from the stem of her barely touched glass. She’d long ago perfected an appearance of amused composure, one she prayed remain intact. Sophia sucked in a breath and released it slowly, easing the tension from her stance by sheer force of will. If only she could drink enough to relax. But that wasn’t an option. If it had been, she would have swiped the bottle of champagne right out of Tiffany’s hand and downed it as soon as she saw Viktor sitting in the alcove across from hers.

  She hadn’t expected to have to battle her response to being practically undressed by her childhood obsession. The man shouldn’t even be in the club. It wasn’t his scene. Unfortunately, it was most definitely his younger brother’s.

  The club erupted with a wave of heavy, thumping bass. The DJ, Feliks Petrovich Popov, was skilled and a celebrity in his own right because of his creative music mixing. His brother’s financial empire only added to his fame. She blamed Feliks for her obsession with his brother. The DJ was an old boarding-school acquaintance of hers, which was where she’d first laid eyes on the Russian eyeing her. The two men were polar opposites, possibly because of their ten-year age gap. Feliks was playful, fun-loving, and boyishly handsome, while his older brother was dark, intensely sexy, and extremely dangerous.

  She caught her guards eying the area where Viktor sat, which meant he was still focused on her, a fact that would undoubtedly get back to the palace and her self-righteously conservative brother, William. She wondered whether William would dismiss Viktor’s interest or blame her for somehow encouraging it. Her brother’s potential reaction was another reason not to get caught staring in the Russian’s direction and yet just one more reason she wanted to. Reckless impulses like that seemed to be dogging her every step these days, and they needed to stop.

  The Russian billionaire was said to be incredibly ruthless, deadly even, with old family ties to the Bratva. He was definitely not on her mother’s list of suitable companions.

  She mentally sighed. It had been eight years, and he’d only gotten sexier since the first time she’d seen him.

  Sophia stood at the edge of the quad, the whoop, whoop of the helicopter blades signaling a guest. Her long hair whipped against her cheeks as the massive black beast landed. She was just as curious as everyone else about who was visiting La Couronne, their elite Swiss boarding school. Bodyguards, including hers, stood protectively between the students and the newcomers, which seemed odd since the dean was already there to greet whatever high-profile guest had arrived.

  When the door opened, she’d found herself rooted in place. The air left her lungs in a rush. There was something almost electric and very dangerous about the man who stepped onto the lawn. His long wool coat sat on wide shoulders. The material whipped in the air behind him as the powerful rotors wound down. His hair was shorn short enough that it didn’t move in the wind, almost as short as the manly stubble on his strong, hard jaw. His was not the face of a mere boy. She’d guessed he was in his early twenties, though he held himself like a full-grown man.

  She felt her heart rate speed in a way she’d never experienced with the boys at her school. Even from a distance, she could see that his eyes were sapphire and hard, warning any sane girl away. Those eyes had likely seen very bad things. She shivered, knowing there was every chance he’d done those very bad things. That intent gaze scanned the area, searching for something, completely overlooking her and the other girls standing stunned at her side.

  Never in her life had she encountered a man like him. Diplomats, politicians, princes, and heads of state—yes. Though this man wore a dark suit just as perfectly tailored as those civilized men and held himself with the same demanding confidence, his eye
s said he was of a different breed altogether.

  Suddenly feeling warm in her snug navy sweater, Sophia shifted the collar while sucking in a deep breath of crisp fall air. It was impossible to take her eyes off the man as he stalked forward with old Chadwick at his side. Geez, the dean’s graying head only reached the other man’s wide shoulders.

  Her friends’ low voices trailed off into the wind. Sophia was too focused on the man in front of her to pay them any attention. Several tattooed and scarred men surrounded him, guarding a man who didn’t look like he needed anyone’s protection. She caught glimpses of leather holsters and the butts of weapons inside their coats.

  Her own guard stood ahead of her, watchful, his suited shoulders tense. Somewhere through the din in her mind, she’d heard Tony instruct her to head back into the building. She ignored the guard as she waited to see why the newcomers were there. Helicopters came in fairly often, bringing family members of students or taking students home for breaks. Who could he possibly be there to see?

  From the corner of her eye, she saw Feliks Petrovich Popov, a boy two years younger than her, exit the school. She knew him as a well-liked and happy guy, always playing jokes. When he ran to the man from the helicopter, her mouth gaped open. This could not be the boy’s older brother, the one Feliks bragged about any chance he could. They’d all thought his tales were mostly lies since the boy was far too happy to belong in a family that was part of the seedy underworld.

  The way the man’s eyes warmed as he clasped the boy on the neck and pulled him in affectionately made her insides flutter. The action was protective and loving.

  Viktor… She remembered the name Feliks had used. She shook her head at the way he looked down at Feliks as the boy beamed up in sheer adoration. The two were nothing alike, but their affection for each other was obvious.

  She felt a pang in her chest, and her hand moved to subconsciously ease the ache. She couldn’t imagine her brother giving her his attention like Viktor was giving Feliks. Neither William nor her parents had ever touched her with any semblance of affection unless it was for cameras. If she’d been waving her arms, completely immersed in the excitement of some story, as Feliks was, her family would have admonished her harshly for not behaving like a princess.