Black Swan

by London Miller

Once they became a liability, they were discarded like trash.

  “I’m going to make you regret this, girl.”

  Karina laughed as she stood. “I invite you to give it your best try.”

  If he could have strangled her at that moment, he would have. But with one glance in Jackal’s direction, he thought better of it.

  Instead, he merely left her office, shoving people out of his way as he went.

  A part of her wished this would be the last time she saw him, but she knew better.

  Elias would be back.

  Three days later …

  “He’s here!”

  Karina looked up in time to see the alarmed expression on Kava’s face as her gaze darted from the tablet in her hands to the bank of elevators across the room.

  “Who is?”

  “The brother.”

  Ah, Kit.

  She had always known it was only a matter of time before he sought her out. After all, he blamed her for the riff in his marriage, instead of considering he’d been the one to lie to her in the first place.

  Men. “Don’t panic,” she told Kava. “I’ve prepared for this.”

  The other woman looked surprised, her blond brows shooting up. “You have?”

  Of course, she had. It was always important to plan for any event. The last thing she needed, especially now, was to be unprepared.

  “Here,” she said, reaching into her desk for one of the ear mics—the same as the one Elias had been wearing the night he met with Uilleam. “Wear this and I’ll guide you.”

  At that, she turned paler. “You want me to meet him?”

  “He knows my face,” she said regrettably, thinking back to the first time they’d met in the café when he was pretending to be a stranger. “But you needn’t worry, if he had come here to kill you, or me as it were, you would never see him coming.”

  That was his specialty, after all.

  “I don’t … I don’t think I’m ready for that.”

  “You’re stronger than you’re giving yourself credit for. I believe in you.”

  Before Kava could respond, a voice came over the intercom in her office. “Belladonna, there’s a man heading up to our floor.”

  Karina pressed a button on the phone. “Take him to conference room A.” Once she clicked off again, she looked back to Kava. “Do you trust me?”

  With a sigh, Kava placed the mic in her ear.

  Karina ventured to the lone room on the entire floor that required her own handprint for entry.

  “Just repeat everything I say,” she said as she sat in the chair inside the room, flipping the monitor on the wall on and turning through the camera feeds until she found the one she wanted. “You’ll be fine.”

  Kava seemed to whisper a soft prayer to herself, drew in a deep breath, and finally walked into the room where Kit was no waiting.

  “So sorry to have kept you waiting,” Karina said, hearing Kava echo her words. “I understand your time is valuable, and I terribly hope I haven’t wasted it.”

  That seemed to throw him for a loop. It was clear from the way he looked her over with those pale assessing eyes that Kava wasn’t who he had been expecting.

  No, some part of him had believed it was Karina.

  The thought made her smile.

  “Nearly two years ago,” Kit started, folding his arms across his chest, attempting to appear casual but Karina knew better, “a woman by the name of Belladonna contracted an assignment with the Kingmaker. I’d like to speak with her.”

  “Yes. You’re speaking with her now, but you don’t have to call me Belladonna—Kava will do just fine.”

  He still didn’t look convinced.

  “My apologies,” Karina continued, and despite what Kava had initially believed, she was very good at this.

  She didn’t stumble over her words, and she was able to act normally by gesturing for Kit to sit at the table alongside her.

  “I was under the impression that a contract with the Kingmaker offered anonymity,” Karina continued. “While I understand your relation, I don’t understand why you’re here today questioning me about a job I asked of him.”

  “I’m not here because of whatever contract you signed with him. I’m here because of Calavera.”

  Karina smiled at the heat behind those words. He was very protective of her. “Your wife, isn’t she?”

  “Your business is your own,” Kit said, though his gaze narrowed dangerously. “But once you decide to make my business a concern of yours, you open yourself up to scrutiny.”

  “You misunderstand. As I’m sure you’re aware, I contracted one of the Kingmaker’s mercenaries to find a man who owed me a debt,” Karina lied easily. “If your wife happened to learn the truth about other matters in the process, I can’t possibly be blamed for that, can I?”

  It was quite clear from the expression on his face that he most certainly blamed her. “I don’t believe in coincidence.”

  “Duly noted, but that still doesn’t tell me why you’re here now. Shall I guess?”

  “Who told you his name?”

  “I’m sorry?”

  “Andrei Kanekov may have done work for my brother occasionally, but he worked for me—meaning very few even knew of the man, let alone how to find him.”

  No, it hadn’t been easy at all to track the man down, but she had phenomenal help, and with the software Zoran had acquired for her, she could just about find anyone with enough patience.

  “You’re treading dangerously close to asking about my business, and I regret to inform you that my business is none of your concern. As I’ve said, if you wife stumbled upon information, that’s no fault of mine.”

  “Don’t make an enemy of me, Kava,” Kit warned, his tone saying he meant every word. “You won’t like how I play the game.”

  “I welcome you to try, Mr. Runehart. I know how you Runehart brothers feel about idle threats, so I won’t bother issuing a warning. But please hear me when I say this, if you move against me, I’ll ensure you regret it.”

  Karina cleared her throat, Kava mirroring the action.

  “Besides, you have far more important things on your plate at the moment, don’t you? I suggest you finish what you started in California. Carmen Rivera isn’t done with you yet, and rather than to try to bully me, perhaps you should prepare for the problem you’ll face with her.”

  Because Carmen wasn’t the type of woman to go down without a fight. She would try to take down everyone with her.

  “Understand something Kava,” Kit said as he rose slowly, and for a moment, it felt as if he was speaking directly to her. “Ghosts don’t stay hidden forever—I’ll always find them. And you tell her, or whoever it is you work for, that the second I become available, I will make it my mission to flush her out.”

  Karina smiled, watching him leave the room.

  Duly noted.

  “You did well,” she told Kava once she left the office after ensuring Kit was no longer in the building.

  “I’m not so sure. He’s not going to give up on this. I can tell.”

  Karina smiled wistfully as she took a seat beside her, her gaze drawn to the blue roses on the table—a simple thing she had never been able to let go of. “They’re like dogs with bones. If I didn’t want his attention, I wouldn’t have approached his wife.”

  “Then you know,” Kava said hesitantly. “You know they’re going to figure out you’re still alive.”

  Of course, she did.

  That had always been a part of the plan. While Elias might have wanted all the glory, in the end, he was never going to get it.

  “Kit knows,” Karina said without a doubt. “He just wants proof for that thickheaded brother of his. He’s practical that way. Uilleam … if he doesn’t believe it by now after all that’s happened, then he’s in denial.”

  “Are you planning a big reveal?” Kava asked.

  “I have one more thing in play, and should that happen as I anticipate, I’m sure the Kingm
aker and I will soon be having a very nice chat.”

  “And Kit? What do you plan to do about him?”

  “Kit will be too preoccupied with his wife and those orphans who work for him to devote too much of his time on me.”

  Besides, she didn’t want anyone else’s interference.

  This was between her and Uilleam, and the sooner she got the other players off the field, the sooner the game could be won.

  “And the Kingmaker?” Kava went on. “What will you do about him?”

  Because he was coming, sooner or later.

  “I’m going to make him feel what he has made so many others feel over the years.”

  Kava frowned. “And that is?”

  Plucking one of the blue roses from the bouquet on the table, Karina brought it to her nose and inhaled the delicate scent. “Pain.”

  40

  Power and Information

  “Luna is missing.”

  Of all the things he had expected to hear this afternoon, those had never factored in Uilleam’s mind.

  And for the first time in a long while, he felt panic.

  “Call Kit and let him know. I’m on my way.”

  Today was supposed to be another day of celebration. One where he was meant to toast himself for getting rid of a man who’d made it his mission to ruin everything Uilleam had built.

  But it seemed, Elias wasn’t done with him yet.

  “Drive,” he told the man as he slipped into the back of the car. “And don’t stop for anyone.”

  Even as he knew that Luna was a fighter—that she had been trained by one of the best—it didn’t stop him from wondering what had happened to her … and just what Elias’s plans were.

  But knowing the man, he intended to make her suffer.

  Uilleam rattled off an address, his mind on what needed to be done. He couldn’t allow himself to lose his cool simply because this was Luna they were talking about.

  He needed to be rational.

  And if there was any hope of finding her, he would need one person in particular.

  The second they arrived outside the bungalow, Uilleam stepped out of the car and hurried up to the front door, beating his fist against it until the door finally swung open.

  “What the hell is your—”

  Winter cut off at the sight of him, her annoyance replaced with surprise.

  He and the hacker had worked together plenty over the years since she and Synek had joined his Den—though hers was more of an honorary position since the latter refused to allow her to go through initiation.

  “Is something wrong?” she asked, looking him over. “You’re all … sweaty. And you’re never sweaty.”

  “Luna’s been taken,” he said without preamble.

  Her head jerked back in surprise. “By whom?”

  “The who isn’t important. I need you to find her.”

  “Let me grab my things.”

  She raced back into the house before reemerging with a bulky laptop and a bag tossed across her shoulder.

  “We need to do this on the go,” he explained before ushering her over to the car and opening the door.

  She didn’t hesitate in opening the laptop and turning it on, her fingers flying over the keys.

  Winter was playful most of the time and rarely went without a smile, but today, she was focused and ready. Never looking up or breaking eye contact with the screen no matter how many hard turns they took.

  More than a dozen questions came to mind, but he knew asking them would only distract her, and before long, they arrived outside of Kit’s residence.

  And his brother … he was not taking his wife’s disappearance well. The expression on his face was nothing short of murderous.

  Uilleam opened the door. “Get in.”

  “Where the hell is she?” Kit asked, sounding as if he were seconds from killing anyone who couldn’t answer that question.

  Uilleam … hesitated. Because, as it stood, his brother wasn’t in the most rational of moods, and the last thing he wanted to do was make it worse.

  “By whom then?” Kit asked, repeating the same question Winter had asked.

  “Let’s not ask questions we already know the answer to,” Uilleam said after a moment. “The serial number on her phone, we need it.”

  Kit glanced at Winter, who was staring at him with a mixture of fear and awe.

  “Who the hell are you?”

  And just that quickly, the fear was replaced with annoyance. “Winter. The hacker.”

  Kit shook his head. “I have my own.”

  Uilleam opened his mouth, ready to tell him that no matter how young she was, Winter was exceptional at what she did, but the girl in question beat him to it.

  “If it’s the same one you tried to use when you were hiding your involvement with Calavera, then, by all means, waste precious time when I’m the best there is.”

  She had also adopted Synek’s arrogance.

  After a heartbeat of tense silence, Kit finally reached into his pocket for his mobile and tapped over the screen before he passed the device over. “Find her.”

  At least this time, his voice was a touch gentler, the most he could manage under the circumstances.

  But when he turned his gaze back to Uilleam, he could see that he still wasn’t nullified. “What. Happened?”

  “I’m not sure,” he answered honestly. “And before you interrupt, I know she was taken, that much I’ve gathered. The question is which of them took her.”

  It could have very well been Carmen, considering Luna had played an instrumental role in making sure her mother would never see another day of freedom.

  But then, it could also be Elias who they had ruined.

  “That’s not my question. I want to know where she is?”

  “Calm yourself, brother, and think rationally. If we know who took her, we can better know where to find her.”

  Kit knew he was right, even if he didn’t want to admit it.

  “The options are pretty clear, aren’t they? It can only be one of the two.”

  “The problem is that I can’t get near them.”

  “Why the fuck not?”

  “It’s com—”

  “I’ve got the address,” Winter announced, tossing Kit back his phone.

  She rattled off the address, the driver pressing his foot down a little harder and blowing through a red light.

  “Can you shoot a gun?” Kit asked, pulling one of the Glocks he kept on him, ready to pass it over to Winter, but Uilleam stopped him.

  “She stays here.”

  It didn’t and wouldn’t matter if she could use any weapon of any sort—Winter Banes wasn’t to be harmed. Uilleam knew all too well how Synek reacted to even a scratch on her, and the last thing he needed was the mercenary on the war path here in California if she got hurt because of him.

  “Her phone is pinging off the East tower,” Winter said before they could get out of the car. “That’s on the other side of the lake.”

  Uilleam ran for no one, but the thought of Luna being held here against her will had him racing across the grass, searching for any sign of her.

  But instead of Luna, they found Elias instead, holding her phone.

  The man gave it a little shake for emphasis as he smiled. “I knew you wouldn’t keep me waiting.”

  Kit barely restrained himself enough to ask, “Where is she?”

  “She’s safe … for now, but if you want her to remain that way, I’m going to need something in return.” His gaze shifted to Uilleam, the malice in his expression deepening further. “And let’s not do with your threats, Kingmaker. This doesn’t involve you.”

  “Understand me,” Uilleam said without hesitation. “Should any harm come to her, nothing will stop me from hunting down every single thing you care for and destroying it. I vow that.”

  “He’s never done well with listening, has he? But I suppose we wouldn’t be here if he knew how to stay in his place.”

  The t
ension in Kit only seemed to rise. “What do you want?”

  “I want you to do what you do best.” Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a scrap of paper. “At this address, you’ll find a man by the name of William Tremaine. If you ever want to see that lovely wife of yours again, or your assistant, he needs to die at precisely 7:15. Not a minute before, not a minute after.”

  Uilleam racked his brain, trying to place the name, but as far as he was aware, the man wasn’t important.

  “How will you know when it’s done?”

  “The man has a pacemaker, one that an associate of mine is monitoring. Once his heart stops beating, I’ll know.”

  Kit glanced down at his watch, checking the time. “How do I know they’re still alive?”

  Elias picked up his phone and made a call before turning it around for them to see.

  Uilleam tried to make sense of what he was seeing, but the cameraman, whoever he was, was very careful, making sure that Luna and the plain background behind her were the only things visible.

  Her arms were shackled above her head with heavy chains, a strip of duct tape covering her mouth, but there was no fear in her eyes as she glared at the camera.

  There was a calculated gleam there, one that said should the man get any closer, she would find a way to get free.

  She was safe … for now.

  The call dropped abruptly.

  “Will Tremaine,” Kit repeated, committing the name to memory. “And once he’s dead?”

  “You will receive a call from my associate with an address.”

  He stood, arrogant as ever. And the sight of him like that rankled. “D’you think I’m just going to let you walk away?”

  “I don’t see that you have much of a choice,” Elias returned easily. “You can probably guess what will happen should any harm come to me. They’ll be dead before my body gets cold. If you don’t mind that, then, by all means, unleash that hatred I see swimming in your eyes.”

  He wanted to.

  He truly did.

  He could see himself even doing it in his mind’s eyes.

  But he couldn’t risk Luna.

  “You’re playing a dangerous—”