Black Swan

by London Miller

  “If you have a point, make it,” Elias said with a frown, oblivious to Uilleam’s presence in the restaurant.

  “I will, in time,” Kit replied, completely in his element.

  Elias reached for his hat, intending to leave. “I’ve had enough. Good day, Mr. Runehart.”

  “Oh, let’s not be overly dramatic, Elias,” Uilleam interrupted, peeling the skin from his fruit. “Only one of us can have that honor, and I’m far better at it than you are.”

  The man in question sat up a little straighter, even squared his shoulders as if he were facing an adversary.

  It was about time he recognized the threat he was.

  He tried to hide it, but suspicion bled from him.

  “I’ve always wondered,” Elias said, a false sense of cheeriness to his voice, “how often the pair of you are in a room together? It always seems as if the two of you are at each other’s throats, no? I’m amazed you’ve made it this far without killing each other.”

  He wasn’t completely wrong about that, but what most didn’t understand about their relationship was their ability to move beyond that when it was called for.

  It never boded well for those they both detested.

  “Who do we have to thank for that?” Uilleam asked, his own humor laced around the words. “I must admit, you’ve held my attention far longer than any other adversary I’ve crossed, but truth be told, I have grown rather annoyed with you.”

  More so than he could ever possibly put into words.

  Elias made a point to shifting to face Kit solely, as if to ignore Uilleam entirely. “We have an arrangement, you and I. This feels like you’re dangerously close to violating it.”

  Ah, yes.

  Their arrangement.

  Which had only escalated the problem he had with his brother in the first place, and in many ways, was the reason he and Luna had been at odds before.

  Kit placed his glass on the table, undeterred by Elias’ taunt. “You violated any arrangement we might have had the moment you decided to threaten my wife.”

  “Is that what this little endeavor is about? Did she call you and tattle on me?” Elias laughed, as if the thought was ludicrous. “Perhaps you should keep her on a shorter leash then we might not have needed to have this conversation.”

  Before Luna, Uilleam might have said there was very little that could get under Kit’s skin. Insults didn’t work on the man, and arguably, the only person who had been able to get a rise out of him was Uilleam.

  But that was before he met Luna and fell in love.

  Once he had her ... if anyone dared speak a bad word about her, they wouldn’t like how he responded.

  Before violence could disrupt their conversation, Uilleam snapped his fingers to grab Elias’s attention. “I won’t mind seeing you put out of your misery, Elias. If you continue as you are, you’re asking for a bullet in your head.”

  “Of course you wouldn’t, but you prefer having everyone else handle your problems for you, isn’t that right? It must be terribly easy for you to try to take over everyone’s organizations when you have a team of mercenaries at your disposal. But they’re not as good as you think they are, or have you forgotten that unfortunate incident three years ago?”

  Before today, that remark might have gotten a rise out of him—he tended to react without thinking when anyone mentioned the day he almost died—but Elias wouldn’t get the reaction he was hoping for.

  “I’ve never realized,” Kit cut in. “You talk too much.”

  “Have you not been listening over the past few months?” Uilleam asked his brother. “Because he hasn’t shut up since the whole ordeal began.”

  “I’ve had quite enough of you,” Elias snapped, losing the careful control he had over his temper.

  “Patience, Elias,” Uilleam said. “We’re merely waiting for our guest of honor to arrive.”

  Elias didn’t speak again, merely watched them.

  Waiting.

  Anyone else might have left already, but Uilleam knew him well enough to know that he wasn’t going anywhere just yet. He also knew despite the man’s annoyance, he would remain there because he was too proud to walk away just yet.

  There was also the fact that he didn’t think anyone could outsmart him—his first mistake.

  Another handful of minutes passed before the elevator chimed once more. The doors slowly slid open and out walked Carmen wearing a fur coat despite the weather.

  Her head was tilted up a fraction as if she looked down on the world, at least until she saw whose company she was in.

  First, her eyes went to Elias—there was no fear in her gaze when she looked at him—but when her gaze fell on Kit next, then Uilleam, apprehension filled her expression.

  Ah, she was figuring it out.

  When they weren’t together, it was harder to discern their relation to one another. And it wasn’t as if they went around broadcasting to the world that they were related unless absolutely necessary.

  It only made this moment all the more sweeter.

  But when they were together as they were now, it was far clearer for anyone to see that they were brothers if they paid attention.

  “Carmen, you’re right on time. Please, have a seat. We’ve only just begun.”

  “What is this?” she demanded of Elias, but this time, he couldn’t be of any help to her.

  “Allow me to introduce you to my brother,” Kit said with a tilt of his head in Uilleam’s direction. “You might know him as the Kingmaker.”

  She did her best to hide her surprise, but as quickly as it came over her, anger replaced it. “Did you know of this?” she asked Elias.

  “Know of it?” Uilleam asked, enjoying himself far too much. “He set this up. Tell me, did you not think it the slightest bit strange that he had Nix brought in for you without warning? And only after we had our meeting discussing the death of your former husband.”

  “You don’t—” Elias started, but Carmen was too focused on Uilleam to care what the other man was saying.

  “Why would he do this?”

  “Why do desperate men do anything?” Uilleam asked. “To guard their secrets.”

  “Mind your tongue,” Elias warned.

  “Or what, exactly?” Uilleam challenged.

  “I’ll have yours removed.”

  Kit didn’t take too kindly to those words. “As interesting as that might be, I’m not going to let that happen.”

  “The truth is Elias has been trying to steal a number of my businesses over the past many years—let’s call it a difference in opinion as to the rift between us. But we managed to come to an understanding a little while ago—a favor for a favor, if you will.”

  Granted, it had taken him far too long to figure out what Elias was up to, but once he did, he knew exactly how to play the man at his own game.

  Now, it was his turn at offense.

  “Uill—”

  “Speak my name, and I’ll slit your throat,” Uilleam said savagely, forgetting all about decorum as he glared at the man.

  Kit placed his hand on Uilleam’s shoulder, a silent command for him to calm down and not react rashly.

  “What my brother is trying to say is, Elias agreed to allow him to continue his deal with you to kill Cesar, so long as he didn’t take any further action against you until he got what he wanted.”

  This time, Elias didn’t attempt to deny a word of what they said, merely glared as if that was warning enough. “You’ll gain nothing from this.”

  “Is this true?” Carmen asked, hair flying over her shoulders as she whipped around to face the man in question. “Did you agree to this?”

  “It’s not that simple.”

  When her gaze skirted over Kit, he chose that moment to speak up. “If you’re wondering why I’m here, it’s merely to keep him in check.”

  “That’s not the only reason you’re here though, is it?” Elias asked him, gaze narrowed. “Because while you’re trying to give her every reason
not to trust me, I can give her just as many reasons not to trust you.”

  “See, here’s the thing about trust, I don’t pretend to be someone I’m not. Every request she’s ever demanded of me, I’ve delivered.”

  “Except for the death of her daughter, you mean?”

  Confusion played on Carmen’s face as she looked back and forth between all of them. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “Yes,” Uilleam said, fighting a smile. “What are you talking about?”

  “Are you playing oblivious now, Kingmaker?” Elias asked, directing the question to him. “Her daughter, Luna Santiago, is still alive. If you recall, Carmen paid you handsomely to end her life.”

  As if he could ever forget.

  There wasn’t a day that went by when he didn’t think about the decision he’d made that day. That if he’d just gone a different way, none of them would be here now.

  But they couldn’t change the past—they could only rectify the mistakes they made and attempt to correct them.

  “Are you quite sure of that?” Kit asked, now smiling.

  Elias didn’t know what to make of them. “Have you gone mad?”

  “By all means,” Uilleam offered. “If you have evidence to the contrary, please share it with the rest of the class.”

  Elias didn’t hesitate in reaching for his phone, ready to pull up surveillance pictures or video feeds to prove to her that Luna was still alive and well and that Uilleam was lying to everyone.

  But that was the beauty of hackers—they could accomplish the impossible without ever showing their faces. They could hide amongst the shadows without anyone being the wiser.

  They could delete a phone’s memory without so much as a drop of sweat.

  “We’re waiting,” Uilleam said encouragingly.

  A muscle worked in Elias’s jaw, but besides the tightening of his fingers around the mobile in his hands, he neither spoke nor looked up at them.

  He knew, without them having to say, exactly what had been done.

  He also knew there was no time for him to correct it because with a woman like Carmen, it was now or never.

  “I’m here,” Uilleam said, “to make you another deal. Should you do something for me, I will ensure you never have to deal with Elias again. And as witnessed from our experience together, you know I’m good for it.”

  “He’s playing you,” Elias warned her.

  But if there was one thing Uilleam had always been good at, it was manipulating the truth to his favor.

  “Haven’t you wondered,” Kit said, “why your businesses have been getting attacked lately? Why your daughter was held at gunpoint to access files she didn’t know were there? Didn’t you ever ask yourself how whoever it was knew about the shipping yard when you had only ever mentioned it to one man?”

  A bit of truth surrounded by pretty lies.

  It was the Runehart way.

  Carmen ate it up, her eyes narrowing as she falsely realized how Elias had tried to ruin her.

  She was making it far too easy.

  Glaring at Elias, Carmen cursed him in Spanish. “I’ll see that you’re cut into pieces for this.”

  “You’re going to regret this day, Kingmaker. I assure you,” Elias said, unfazed by the woman’s threat. “All of you.”

  As he moved to his feet, so did Kit.

  “And to ensure that we all leave this place in one piece, let’s all walk down together, shall we?” Uilleam suggested. “Who better to ensure peace than a renowned assassin.”

  Carmen appeared surprised, which only amused him further.

  “And to think you were only using him as a glorified babysitter.”

  But this wasn’t where it ended, however.

  This was merely the lead-up to the finale he’d been contemplating for weeks on end.

  The reason he’d come to California in the first place. After all, he’d made a promise to himself that he would make the woman pay for her role in Luna’s suffering.

  It was time to collect.

  “What the hell have you done, Elias?” Uilleam demanded once they were all downstairs, Carmen walking out of the elevator ahead of them.

  But she didn’t make it far before a man in an inexpensive suit pulled her aside.

  “Law enforcement?” Elias demanded, just as surprised as Carmen was, though she wasn’t around to see it now. “This will ruin you. No one would dare work with—”

  “You know,” Uilleam said, “I’ve never had a use for the United States general government—oftentimes, they’re only ever in my way—but I’m starting to see that they have their uses after all. Believe me, I would have much preferred having Calavera shoot her in the face, but this, this is so much better, isn’t it? Not only does she have to answer for the crimes she’s committed—the FBI never looks too kindly on human trafficking, I’ll admit—but once word gets out that you’re behind this since it’s what she believes and all, how much do you think your clients will trust you then?”

  “You’re finished, Elias,” Kit summed up for him.

  “I’m never finished.”

  “Oh, but haven’t you noticed?” Uilleam asked, gesturing around them. “We were never here, and as far as Carmen knew, you did this to her. And as she tries to exhaust every avenue she can to gain her freedom, she’s not going to be shy in mentioning your name.”

  It would spread faster than he could contain it.

  And despite them standing there for anyone to see, no one even looked in their direction.

  The game was in his favor.

  “You have a three-hour head start, Elias,” Kit said, dropping his smile. “I suggest you hide somewhere well because once I start hunting you, I will find you, and I’ll show you in the worst of ways how patient I can be as I cut you apart, piece by piece.”

  Elias muttered out a response, but Uilleam didn’t care to ask the man to speak up before he was turning and leaving as quickly as he could.

  “Shame, I was just starting to like him,” Uilleam said regrettably. “I’m going to miss that little bastard.”

  “Only you would, Uilleam. How’d you manage this anyway?” Kit asked, his gaze still on Elias’ retreating form. “You failed to mention this part of your grand plan when you laid it out for me.”

  “I have friends in low places and even more in high ones. Truth be told, I was a bit surprised at how eager they were to arrest her.”

  “It won’t stick,” Kit said, not really sounding as if he minded. “She has too many friends. I doubt she’ll spend a day in prison.”

  “Of course, now,” Uilleam readily agreed. “But that’s not my job, it’s yours. I’m sure you didn’t want me to have all the fun, did you? I got what I wanted from Elias, so now you can do as you see fit with Carmen. Let’s call it a win-win.”

  He deserved some retribution for Luna, admittedly.

  It was the least he could do for them.

  “I wasn’t joking when I told him I was hunting him down,” Kit reminded him. “I won’t wait for you to give me a pass.”

  “Then may the best man win. You gave him three hours, but I promised no such thing.”

  He planned to have Elias in a shallow grave by nightfall. “Give the missus my regards, would you?”

  His work here was done.

  39

  Checkmate

  Just as he had so long ago, Elias came storming into her office with rage in his eyes and barely concealed contempt.

  “You stupid fucking bitch.”

  “Language, Mr. Harrington,” Karina warned him with a smile, gesturing to Jackal with a tip of her pen. “You might want to lower your voice.”

  “This was your plan all along, wasn’t it?” he asked, ignoring everything she had said as he continued toward her with murder in his eyes.

  “My plan?” she asked. “According to you, I didn’t have a plan, no? Just a stupid girl playing dress up and attempting to fill my mother’s shoes. Or something to that effect.”

 
That was the thing about people who underestimated her—she made sure they regretted it.

  She didn’t care how long it took—whether a day, a month, or a year. In the end, it wouldn’t matter how long the journey was as long as she was the victor in the end.

  “He’s ruined me,” Elias said from between gritted teeth, looking as if he was on the verge of a mental breakdown.

  “Ah, well. I did warn you not to underestimate him, didn’t I? Uilleam is quite clever.”

  “Oh no,” he said to her surprise, his gaze narrowed. “This has your stench all over it.”

  “I couldn’t possibly know what you mean.”

  “He shouldn’t be this close this soon,” Elias said as if she were incapable of understanding.

  “What did you expect?” she asked, genuinely curious. “You’ve taunted him for years. Did you actually believe he would roll over and show his belly like a dog? You can’t scare a man like him. He sees it as a challenge.”

  Which was why she’d wanted Elias to keep picking at him.

  It was why she let him take all the credit for everything she was doing.

  From stealing his family’s painting. To manipulating his business deals behind the scenes that made it harder for him to get his job done.

  Everything they had done over the past few years had led up to this moment. Only, Karina was exactly where she wanted to be.

  And Elias? He was in ruins.

  “I’ll never recover from this,” he said with a harsh shake of his head. “No one would ever trust me with their business again.”

  Karina made a low humming noise in the back of her throat. “That sounds very much like a you problem.”

  “No,” he said bitterly. “This is because of you, and I promise you won’t get away with it.”

  “What exactly are you going to do about it?” she asked with a tilt of her head. “You can’t go to my mother, can you? She knows all about the FBI being informed and your client being arrested. How long, do you think, it will take before she severs ties completely?”

  He knew it as much as she did.

  One was only ever important to Katherine so long as they served a purpose.