A surprise, considering how often Isla was willing to offer her opinion even when she wasn’t asked for it.
“A friend of yours is good enough for me,” the woman answered to whatever Zoran had said, though her expression didn’t change. “I’m Malaki. What do you need?”
Zoran looked at Karina, giving her a jerk of his head for her to answer.
“We’re looking for someone. As far as I can find, the man doesn’t exist.”
She frowned, coming around the table, her task forgotten. “Where’ve you looked?”
“All the intelligence agencies—known and not. And no database I’ve searched even has him as a citizen, living or dead.”
Malaki didn’t even blink. “I can find him.”
Karina didn’t express her doubt out loud—she didn’t know who the woman was or what she did—but it was there all the same as she pulled out the thumb drive with the surveillance pictures they’d screenshot from the video.
Silently, Malaki passed the drive to the man who hadn’t spoken a word since they entered, and he stuck it in the side of the laptop open in front of him. Once he had the image open, he turned the screen to her.
Karina watched, interested, as she opened up a new browser and brought up a website Karina had never seen before.
“What’s this?” she asked, daring to take a step closer to get a better look.
“A resource for mercenaries,” Malaki answered, pointing briefly at the screen. “It’s relatively new, but it’s a database to keep track of someone’s legend.”
Every kill could be attributed to them.
Particular skills.
Codenames and countries of origin.
“Where did you find this?”
Her smile was nothing short of arrogant. “We founded it.” She instructed the man on what to do next, the context of it clear as he opened up a new window that cycled the photo of the man she was looking for through the rapid blur of images that opened beside it.
“What’s he done to you?” Malaki asked, her gaze curious. “If Zoran is here asking favors of me for you, he must have done something terrible.”
“If it’s all the same to you—” Isla cut in, her voice tight, but Karina interrupted before she could finish that.
“He took something precious from me.”
She couldn’t be sure what the woman was thinking as she looked at her, but whatever she saw in her face had her nodding almost subconsciously.
The laptop chimed as the white box that hovered over the man’s picture turned green, another image popping up beside it.
Her hands grew clammy, knowing they’d found a match. She had come here to be disappointed, expecting not to find any more answers than she had before she arrived.
This was supposed to be a long-winded search. One that took months, if not years, before she got any return.
But now, the answer was there at her fingertips.
Malaki, oblivious to her growing anxiety, leaned closer to read off the screen. “He’s relatively new—only a few years on the scene as far as the data I have. Goes by the name Grimm.”
It wasn’t familiar. It didn’t even ring a bell.
But her heart was still hammering away, and she still felt like she couldn’t catch her breath. “Does he work for someone?”
“A man named Z.”
Uncle Zachariah hardly ever came around when I was younger, but when he did come around, he still wasn’t Uncle Zachariah. We just called him Z.
11
The Next Step
Rain pelted the car, a backdrop to Uilleam’s chaotic thoughts.
For a moment, he’d been overcome with emotion when he was back at Lawrence’s estate. Learning that Luna was alive and there was more to the story of his warehouse burning down.
Who could he trust if he couldn’t trust his own brother?
He’d thought himself immune to Kit—thought he had let go of childhood grievances even as he gave the man a hard time about them. They were who they were, and neither made apologies for their actions.
But this …
This was different.
This was a betrayal, and for as long as Uilleam had lived, he had never once acted against his brother. Even when he’d been at his most petulant, he still hadn’t acted out of anger or frustration.
Perhaps, it was time to have him answer for that, and as he stared across at the girl who was finally stirring after their long journey to the airstrip, he knew just how to accomplish that.
“Where are we going?” she asked, her voice hesitant as if she hadn’t wanted to ask the question at all.
But curiosity and self-preservation couldn’t be denied.
“Is that really the question you want to ask?” he asked, genuinely curious. He’d thought the first thing she would ask about was her freedom.
He certainly thought he would if their positions were reversed.
“New York,” he answered when she nodded, gesturing for her to get out of the car and follow him over to the waiting jet.
And seeing the way she looked around with wide-eyed wonder reminded him that he’d grown desensitized to the life around him. For him, this was just his everyday existence. He’d flown in private jets and drove expensive cars since the moment he was old enough to understand their significance.
But after more than a decade, he didn’t see it for what it was through the eyes of someone like Luna.
He left her standing in the middle of the floor, off to find the pilot to let him know they’d be leaving soon. She was still in the same spot when he returned, but he did notice the way she stiffened when he drew close, her gaze on the back bedroom where the door was already cracked.
“There’ll be none of that,” he said quickly. “My heart is not my own.”
Never mind that in many ways, she was still that same girl he’d taken from her home, but he would never do that to Karina. Not when her memory was as fresh as it was. He didn’t care that she was dead or even that three years had passed since he found her that night. He couldn’t bring himself to feel anything for anyone else.
“Please,” he said before she could ask what he meant by that, “have a seat.”
She glanced at where he pointed, seeming unsure as she sank down onto the very end of the sectional, her back ramrod straight.
He couldn’t let her know that he knew who she was—he didn’t imagine her learning about his involvement in her extraction would go over particularly well—but he still needed answers.
For now, he needed to be the same man he always was.
“As I’ve secured your freedom, I would like to ask for something in return.”
“You bought my freedom?” she asked as if she hadn’t been in the same room when the negotiation went down.
“I did,” he replied with no hesitation.
“I don’t understand.” Luna shook her head. “Why would you do that?”
“The reason is immaterial, though I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that your freedom comes at a price.”
A price he wasn’t sure she would want to pay when it came down to it, but it wouldn’t matter—not for what he had planned for her.
“Then what do you want?”
“We’re not quite there yet, are we? For now, how about you tell me how you came to be at Emmett’s infamous brothel. And please,” he said, pressing a button along the side of the remote he held that would tell Dominic his presence was requested. “Spare no detail.”
His comment only seemed to make her more tense. She was upset—he could see that written all over her face—but she had a fire in her, buried just beneath the surface. She wouldn’t break so easily.
“I was home in Mexico when men broke into my house and kidnapped me.”
He knew that very well. After all, he’d been there that day. “Go on.”
“I don’t really remember much about what happened next. I think I was drugged with something, and I passed out after. But ... I remember being in the back
of a car … or maybe it was a truck.”
She had gotten so lost in her telling, she hadn’t realized they weren’t alone in this part of the plane. Dominic emerged from the shadows, astute as ever without betraying a single thought on his face.
He set a glass of whiskey down in front of Uilleam before turning his attention to Luna.
“For the lady?”
She blinked in surprise, still so unused to basic kindness. Lawrence deserved to die for that reason alone.
When she didn’t offer a response, Uilleam asked, “Are you hungry?”
“I’m fine.”
Uilleam wasn’t inclined to believe that. “Bring whatever we have on hand, Dominic. Thank you.”
He disappeared as quickly as he’d come.
“What do you remember about the days following?”
“I was taken to a warehouse where I was held for three days.”
This she said so matter-of-factly. “What happened while you were there?”
“Nothing.”
“Nothing?” he asked in disbelief, wondering if she just didn’t want to discuss it, but as he faced her, he realized that wasn’t true.
“No, nothing. They kept me there for three days, but I was mostly confined to one room.”
That aligned with what he already knew.
He’d made sure his men understood that she was not to be harmed whatsoever, and should she try to escape, they were to use minimal force to make sure she didn’t leave.
Yet on that third day, the warehouse where she’d been had caught fire … or so he’d been told.
“After that time, is that when you were given to Emmett?”
“Yes.”
It didn’t make sense.
Not the fact that she was alive or that she had ended up in a brothel thousands of miles away from where she had supposedly died.
Dominic returned with a platter of sandwiches, giving her a short reprieve. He allowed it, if only because he saw the way she carefully restrained from gobbling it all down.
She’d been a treasured pet, Uilleam thought, remembering Lawrence’s reluctance to sell her, yet he had allowed her to go hungry and undoubtedly hurt her in ways he didn’t want to know.
And knowing the sort of men the Kendalls were, he couldn’t imagine that his brother would willingly sell off a young girl just because he was cross with him.
That wasn’t the Kit he knew.
Yet evidence to the contrary stared back at him.
“Interesting.”
“Why would—”
“Since we’ll be landing soon,” he said before she could finish, “I think it’s best I explain to you why we’re heading to New York. As of now, you’re of no use to me, but there’s potential that I intend to exploit.”
She’d been too young before, and while she wasn’t much older, she would be more able to stand the training she would have to endure to become a mercenary.
She could be the perfect weapon.
“But don’t worry about that now. One day, after all this unpleasantness is behind us, and you complete a rather minor task for me, you’ll be free to return to an ordinary life if that’s what you choose.”
“But I still don’t know what you want from me,” she whispered, and for a moment, she looked her age.
A girl wary and unsure after the hell she had suffered.
“Loyalty,” he said, finally answering, with a nod for her to continue to eat.
“Okay.”
She offered it so quickly, he almost wanted to laugh. “So freely given, yet you haven’t the slightest idea who you’re offering it to.” If she did, she would have run from him. “There’s a reason why they call me the Kingmaker, after all. One of these days, I’ll do something that will inevitably test that loyalty you’ve promised. We’ll see where you stand then. Consider this your warning.”
It was the only one he would ever give her.
“Do I need to call you that?”
Of all the things he expected her to ask … “For you, Uilleam is fine.”
By the time they were approaching the château outside of the city, Uilleam was already contemplating how he would handle this situation with his brother.
But to get to the truth, he wouldn’t be able to keep the girl with him at all times, and he certainly didn’t trust leaving her anywhere to be found. The last time he’d taken his eyes off her, she’d supposedly died.
“Runehart Château,” he explained as they rolled to a stop in front of the ornate gate that led to Kit’s property. “You’ll remain here, and to quell whatever thoughts you might have of running the moment you’re out of my sight, I have something for you.”
After they had landed at the hangar, he’d had a package waiting for him full of specialized equipment he’d only recently acquired.
Like the tracking anklet he pulled from his trouser pocket. It was slimmer than the traditional model most agencies used with a red light that glowed in the very center like a beacon.
He held it up for her to see. “It’s a tracking device,” he explained. “A bit more sophisticated than most—waterproof and tamper proof—and should you think to run with this little device on your leg, it will send seventy thousand volts of electricity through you. Now, I hope that deters any hint of rebellion, but should it not, feel free to test it. It’ll amuse me. Of course, you’re free to walk the grounds if you’d like, but should you go beyond those gates we just drove through, you won’t like the consequences.”
When he reached for her leg, she jolted back, though there was hardly any room in the car for her to get anywhere.
“You don’t have to do that,” she said quickly. “I won’t try to leave.”
“I believe you,” he lied.
It was just basic human nature. Whether conscious of the decision or not, she would try to flee this place at some point.
If only because she wanted to return to her family.
“But you’re an investment I can’t afford to lose,” he finished, moving slower this time as he lifted her leg by the ankle and snapped the device into place.
And the last thing he needed at this point was Carmen Santiago learning the truth about what he had done that day—that he hadn’t, in fact, kept his end of the bargain. And he couldn’t imagine that it would go over well if he told the woman just exactly what he planned to use Luna for.
There was plenty of time for that.
“Give it time,” he said before sitting back. “You won’t even realize it’s there.”
Now she didn’t look as if she believed a word he said.
Extensive, lush green lawns awaited them at the top of the hill—trees going back as far as the eye could see and even beyond.
Kit had always been very particular when it came to this sort of thing. Unlike Uilleam, who was more than happy to live in a tarnished castle because it didn’t really matter.
But even as his brother lived out in the middle of nowhere and was far more capable of defending himself than should have been humanly possible, he still had a number of guards stationed around the property.
Four of them, from what Uilleam could see. All in dark gear with assault rifles strapped across their backs.
But that wasn’t what snared his attention. Rather, it was the masks they each wore.
The sight of them, at the very least, made him curious because as far as he knew, Kit no longer worked for the Lotus Society, so why their recruits were here, he wasn’t entirely sure.
The four disappeared by the time they were parked—off to inform his brother of his presence, he imagined—but Uilleam paid them no mind as he guided Luna from the car to the room she’d be staying in.
“Bathroom is there”—he pointed to a door on the other side of the room—“and I’ll ensure you have everything you need before I leave, but should you require anything else, ask for Kit.”
Now she appeared mildly panicked. “You’re leaving?”
Words he didn’t often hear. “I can never stay
too long here.”
One of Kit’s guardsman interrupted them with that gray mask still in place. “Nix is looking for you,” he said in Romanian, his voice flat.
If he had to guess, the man wasn’t overly impressed with his presence.
Children.
Heading out of the room, he walked down the hallway of familiar faces, his family members through the ages depicted in elaborate portraits that he’d wanted to incinerate the first chance he got once Runehart Castle was in his possession.
But Kit had felt an annoying sentiment for them and hadn’t wanted to see them destroyed. Instead, he’d hung them here.
If there was a hell, he’d be certain it would involve walking down a hallway quite like this, having the eyes of these people staring at him with that judgment he’d always hated.
They had nearly circled around to the back of the property when he realized that the Lotus Society recruit hadn’t drifted off in the way they usually did. It wasn’t as if he didn’t know the property as well as he knew his own.
No, by walking with him, Uilleam had subconsciously followed where he walked, thinking his brother would be wherever they ended up at.
A diversion.
“I do actually wonder why I put up with Kit,” Uilleam said to himself as he turned back around and headed back the way they’d come.
But not before he caught the shrug the recruit offered in response.
He had only made it back to the room he’d left Luna in before their voices gave him pause.
“The Kingmaker?”
“That’s what they call him anyway. I understand he brought you to my home, yes, but I’m not sure as to why.”
Uilleam didn’t think he could be surprised any more, but learning now that his brother had no idea who the girl in front of him was … mind-boggling.
This was going to be far better than he’d expected.
“I bought her,” Uilleam said as he came around the corner.
Kit, knowing him far too well, didn’t look particularly surprised by the remark. “For what purpose?”
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