Karma Doesn’t Sleep: The Revenge Queen Rises novel Chapter 264

Diana could tell things were about to go sideways. She gripped an empty beer bottle, ready to jump in if she had to, but then Amelia started talking.

Diana felt a rush of relief. Finally, her girl was over that loser.

Clive tried to swallow the mess of emotions churning inside him. He forced his voice into something calm, like pretending nothing happened could erase everything from minutes before.

“Amelia, don’t do this, okay? Let’s just go home and talk.” He stood up and reached out, but Will was quicker, stepping in and putting himself between Amelia and Clive.

Will’s move wasn’t rough, but Amelia must’ve twisted her ankle earlier—pain shot through her and she stumbled back, almost hitting the floor as her foot caught on something.

Right then, all the lights in the bar went out. Pitch-black. People yelling, chaos everywhere.

In the confusion, someone moved up behind her. She caught a whiff of his scent first—a smoky mix of incense and tobacco, familiar and wild.

She knew that smell.

Before she could react, strong arms swept her up and started carrying her out.

She struggled on instinct. “Let me go!”

Somewhere in the dark, a bottle came flying. Amelia flinched, but the man carrying her turned just in time, kicking it away like it was nothing.

“What’s got you so worked up?” His low laugh rumbled through his chest. “You really think I’d let anything happen to you?”

She wasn’t totally sure, but then she heard his voice and it clicked.

“Ryan?”

Before she could say anything else, Ryan was already carrying her out the back door.

A convertible sat at the curb, top down and shining under the streetlights.

Ryan was tall and moved like he owned the place. He bent down and set Amelia in the passenger seat like she weighed nothing.

“Ryan, what are you doing? Let me out,” she protested.

He locked the doors without a word, slid behind the wheel in one smooth move, and shot her a look. His eyes flicked to her ankle, already swelling.

“And where do you think you’re going like this?” His hand rested on the steering wheel, voice cool and lazy. “Or do you want to hang out in there and get pulled back and forth between those two guys all night?”

“Ryan, I—” she started, about to protest.

But he was already raising the roof, then hit the gas, and the car leapt forward. The engine’s roar pressed her back into her seat, the rush almost like a rollercoaster.

She hurried to buckle up, missing the sight of Clive bursting out the bar’s back door, searching for her in the rearview mirror.

Ryan saw him, though. His face gave nothing away, but his foot pressed harder on the gas, the speed climbing.

Tonight, Ryan had only come here to sleep. Literally sleep.

Nathan had told him there’d be a masquerade at the club, lots of people coming in. Ryan booked a booth in the corner, pulled his hat low, and tried to nap.

Until he heard someone mention Amelia’s name.

He lifted his hat to look. One glance at her and he was wide awake.

He couldn’t shake the image—Amelia being tossed around like a rag doll between two men. His jaw clenched as the car picked up speed, anger burning just under the surface.

If he hadn’t worried about scaring her, what happened in that bar tonight would’ve been the least of it.