Nix. (Den of Mercenaries Book 3)

by London Miller

  “Then perhaps now you’ll let me talk you into taking a vacation.”

  She smiled. “We just got back from vacation.”

  “I fail to see why that matters.”

  Laughing, Luna said, “Maybe. But I have to finish this first, so our plans are on hold.”

  “If you insist.”

  As Kit finished getting dressed, and her attention was stolen by her chiming phone, something was bothering her, but she couldn’t for the life of her figure out what it was.

  At least not at first.

  Not until Kit was gone from the room with a whispered goodbye and she was left in silence.

  It was the silence that put the pieces together.

  When Uilleam was shot and she was with him, Kit had sent the Wild Bunch in to retrieve her and take her to a safe house, and she hadn’t even been the target of the assault.

  Yet, he hadn’t seemed fazed at all by the events of the day.

  And even if he had taken extra security measures to ensure that nothing happened to her, why hadn’t his security shown their face?

  Something wasn’t adding up.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  She was too curious, his Luna.

  Kit had seen it in the stubborn tilt of her jaw when she walked away from him. Sure, she was agreeing with him verbally, but she wasn’t going to let this go, not when she still had questions.

  But it didn’t matter, not when Andrei had been the last loose string.

  Kit had become a master at keeping secrets, what was one more?

  Once he was dressed, Kit left his bedroom, only to come up short when Fang appeared in the hallway, a tight smile on his face as he nodded at whatever Aidra was saying to him as she walked in the opposite direction.

  “My office,” Kit said without looking at him, already heading in that direction. He knew what the man had come to say, but he didn’t want their conversation to be overheard.

  “I know you said no witnesses,” Fang said the moment they were closed away in the soundproof room. “But I figured you would make an exception.”

  Kit didn’t laugh. “Did she see you?”

  “I think you would know by now if she had,” Fang suggested, digging his hands into his pockets.

  “Or anything of yours? You’ve turned her into a bit of a motorcycle enthusiast. I’m sure she would have noticed yours had you parked it around.”

  “Found a truck.”

  Meaning he stole a truck, but Kit didn’t care about that little detail. “In any case, I’ve told her that I had you following her for the time being, so should she ever mention it, that’s your story.”

  “Understood.”

  Kit’s gaze drifted to the monitor on his desk, depicting seven different video feeds of the grounds. Nothing was out of the ordinary, not until a fleet of black SUVs came into view.

  “Are the others here as well?” Kit asked Fang, though not taking his gaze off the screen.

  “Yeah, why?”

  “It seems my brother has come to pay me a visit.”

  Kit didn’t arm himself as he left his office—though he was partly glad that he’d decided to put on his vest before dressing. There was no telling what his brother would do now that he was here.

  He was down the stairs and out the door in seconds, standing in front of the doors as Uilleam and his mercenaries unloaded—all of which had rifles aimed at Kit’s head.

  Kit was unfazed.

  “You’re asking for war, Kingmaker,” Kit said mockingly once he was looking down into the face of rage as he stared at his brother. “Don’t tempt me to actually kill you.”

  “I invite you to try.”

  “What did you expect, Uilleam?” Kit asked as he walked down the last few steps until they were within a foot of each other. “We wouldn’t be here had it not been—”

  “I’ve never liked those that play at being a victim,” Uilleam said with a modest shake of his head. “Wolves in sheep’s clothing, I say. They have their minions that tell them they couldn’t possibly have done any wrong, yet we both know the truth, don’t we? Just a two-headed dog begging to be put down. Make no mistake, you only have yourself to blame.” The hollows of Uilleam’s cheeks stood out more—he’d lost weight. “Yet, you think to throw it in my face?”

  “And what do you suspect you’re doing, Uilleam? You’re so blinded by your own ego that you can’t see your own flaws. When you’re not plotting one of your schemes, you’re acting like a petulant child. Grow up.”

  Uilleam’s laugh was harsh. “That’s astonishing coming from the man that decides to get into business with the very people he condemns me for. Did you think I wouldn’t find out about your arrangement with Caesar Rivera? The man couldn’t wait to spread the good news. Do you care to know why? Because the last time I saw them, I told them they were both beneath me.”

  “You think everyone is beneath you, Uilleam. That’s your problem.”

  “I’ve never thought you were,” he said with so much venom, it made Kit blink.

  No, Uilleam had never treated him as though he were less than him. He liked his games, sure, but he had always thought of Kit as a worthy opponent.

  Until Kit had stopped wanting to play the game.

  But it didn’t matter anymore, they were both bound by the choices they had made. And though this looked like another betrayal, Kit was sure, he couldn’t tell him otherwise.

  Not just because of Luna, but because of Uilleam.

  Despite it all, he was still Kit’s brother, and he didn’t want to see any harm come to him. Until he could see a way out of the hole, he had his part to play.

  Even if he had to hurt everyone he loved.

  “You were sloppy,” Kit said. “You were in over your head and this—this is the result. There’s no reason for you to be here anymore, is there? You’ve said they were beneath you, there’s no reason why you should be upset that I’ve taken them on. Don’t be a sore loser, brother. It’s unbecoming.”

  For a moment, Kit thought he could actually see the younger version of Uilleam standing there, staring up at him with wide eyes filled with hurt.

  Kit didn’t gloat.

  Yet, here he stood making a mockery of the only family that had ever truly loved him.

  “I’m going to make you bleed,” Uilleam said, eyes never straying. “I’m going to cut the heart out of you.”

  “Don’t threaten me unless you’re ready for war.”

  “You must have forgotten,” Uilleam said as he backed away, “I excel at wars.”

  They were acting weird.

  From the minute Luna arrived in the building, service was sluggish. It almost felt as though they were purposely taking their time. But Luna didn’t have time to wonder about their behavior, not when she was going over her explanation to Belladonna.

  She couldn’t imagine the woman would be pleased with what she had to say, especially considering the fees the Den charged for finding someone. Undoubtedly, she wouldn’t like that her target was dead before she could get whatever she wanted from him, and worse, Luna still didn’t know who was responsible.

  As she stepped out of the elevator, she had to double-check to make sure she was on the correct floor. Unlike the last time she had been there, the walls had changed colors, the receptionist’s desk had been moved, and if she wasn’t mistaken, half of the people she was seeing inside the office were new.

  What the hell?

  “I trust you’re here because you have news?” Belladonna asked, heels clicking as she came around the corner. The white of her outfit was nearly blinding against her tan skin. She gestured to her office and said, “Shall we?”

  Belladonna’s offie seemed to be under construction as well, plastic wrap covering majority of the surfaces in the room save her desk and the flat screen hanging on the wall. Though the TV was on and turned to one of those celebrity gossip shows, it was muted.

  With everything going on with Kit, Luna didn’t want to waste any time with excuses an
d preambles. “Andrei is dead.”

  Luna expected surprise, or annoyance maybe, but she got neither. In fact, Belladonna hardly reacted to the news that the man she was hunting had been killed.

  “Before or after you found him?”

  “After—I saw it happen,” Luna explained further.

  “How?”

  “Sniper.”

  Belladonna’s red painted lips curled up. “You know two of those, correct? Red, I believe he’s called, and Fang.”

  It wasn’t Red’s name that made Luna’s eyes widen in surprise—he was well known in their world for what he could do with a rifle in his hands—but Fang …

  As far as she could tell, the Wild Bunch lived like ghosts. Even the mercenaries, with the exception of Skorpion, didn’t know about them.

  More curious was that she hadn’t known Fang even was a sniper. She knew he handled knives well, was far beyond efficient at hand-to-hand, but he had always seemed like the one that would be right in the middle of the action.

  It was strange that no one had ever bothered to mention that.

  “Did you get a chance to speak with Mr. Kanekov?” Belladonna asked while Luna was still lost in her thoughts.

  How was she meant to answer that question?

  Belladonna had never mentioned what she wanted Luna to do once she did in fact find Andrei, only that she wanted him found. As far as her talk with the man went, she didn’t see how the gibberish Andrei had spoken would mean anything to her.

  “No,” Luna settled on saying. It was the closest thing to the truth.

  “That’s unfortunate,” Belladonna said with a sigh and a shake of her head.

  In her movement, Luna’s gaze was drawn to the television behind her. It was still showing the same episode from the time she walked into the room, but now it grabbed and held her attention.

  Because the man they had caught on camera was Kit.

  Her husband was anything but a celebrity—rather a man that prided himself on his anonymity—yet there he sat, looking particularly cozy with a woman that had dark hair and …

  Luna leaned forward so fast she was almost out of her chair, trying to make sure she was seeing clearly. Even as her brain tried to process what she was seeing, it still wasn’t making sense. It just wasn’t possible.

  The girl who had been snapped with Kit wasn’t just anyone, it was Ariana.

  Her sister.

  Someone she hadn’t seen for years, yet one look at her felt like no time had passed at all. She still had the same hair, though a touch longer, same flawless skin, and her somewhat mischievous grin was the same. There was no denying who she was seeing—Luna doubted she would ever not recognize her own family.

  Realizing that the television had stolen Luna’s attention, Belladonna didn’t demand she focus on her, but rather grabbed the remote and turned the volume up.

  “Celebrity jewelry designer, and daughter of the renowned human activist, Carmen Santiago, was spotted having a late lunch with a mysterious new man. This news comes only months after Ariana announced her engagement to a wealthy businessman from …”

  Luna tried to listen, or rather make sense, of what the woman was talking about, but it was too crazy to believe.

  Though, was it?

  Ariana had always had an interest in fashion, and if she had managed to make a career of it, that was amazing. But Luna didn’t understand how she knew Kit …

  And why Kit had never mentioned that he was having lunch with her.

  Just as Luna thought what she was seeing couldn’t get any stranger, there was another show of not just the pair of them, but Luna’s mother as well, and a man she didn’t immediately recognize.

  “Oh dear,” Belladonna said, watching along with her. “I wonder what on earth Caesar and Nix have to talk about? Perhaps one of his infamous deals?”

  Luna had always heard the saying, ‘a picture is worth a thousand words,’ but as she stared at the video footage, she couldn’t find anything to say that described the confusion she felt.

  And in the rapidly spoken words of the reporter, one stuck out.

  California.

  Was that what business Kit had out there? Was that why he was so secretive about that meeting?

  She understood that she couldn’t see them—or at least had until now—but what confused her was why he had never bothered to mention it.

  Was it really innocent though?

  Just now, Belladonna had hinted that it may have been a business deal, and Kit had already told that it was for that reason that he was even going to California.

  She didn’t think her heartbeat had ever sounded so loud in her own ears.

  “I want to tell you a story,” Belladonna said, though Luna had yet to take her gaze from the television. “About a girl who life was not her own.”

  It didn’t make sense.

  Kit told her everything, even things she didn’t particularly enjoy. That was just who he was, honest to a fault, but why hide this?

  What was there even to hide?

  “Now this girl,” Belladonna went on as she twisted the gold Cartier bracelet on her wrist, “beautiful girl, she was, had become a pawn in a game she didn’t know she was playing.”

  Squeezing her eyes shut to try and get her bearings, knowing she needed to focus on the present, Luna forced her gaze away from the TV. “What? What are you talking about?”

  “I’m talking about a martyr—about a girl whose life was taken to give another power.”

  She was speaking in riddles, Luna thought with an inward shake of her head. If she didn’t know any better, she would have thought she was talking to Uilleam.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I need to—”

  “One question before you go,” Belladonna said raising a perfectly manicured finger. “Did you ever wonder why you?”

  “I’m sorry?”

  “At some point over the last—how many years has it been?—you had to have asked yourself why the Kingmaker wanted you as badly as he did.”

  Luna had wondered that very question since the second Uilleam offered to buy her. It wasn’t as though he knew her, or cared about the horrors she faced. Over the years, she’d had an up close and personal view of how callous he could be.

  And because that was what he did, Luna thought, but didn’t voice it aloud. It wasn’t as though she were the first mercenary Uilleam recruited, and she knew she wouldn’t be the last.

  So why did she feel anxious all of a sudden?

  “I’ve learned a great many things about the Runehart brothers since my business began. And one thing I learned is that you never get in between them—there are often casualties in their wars.”

  “You know something,” Luna said—it was the only thing that made sense.

  “It’s not what I know that’s important, it’s what you don’t.”

  “Then tell—”

  “I think our business is concluded, Luna, don’t you? Unfortunate what’s happened to Mr. Kanekov, but I would wager you’ll find your way soon enough. But I do have something for you, because I’m sure it bugged you nearly as much as it bugged me. I finally found the owner of the warehouse I’ve been asking you to track down.” Belladonna’s gaze didn’t stray from Luna’s as she said, “I’m a bit surprised really, that Uilleam was willing to buy the place instead of having it put in someone else’s name—but I’m also sure he didn’t intend for anyone to filter through the shell companies under his employ.”

  There was a dangerous thing about fear and doubts. Sometimes they could be ignored, pushed aside because the worries were unfounded, but other times it only took the smallest bit of information to make those doubts morph into something bigger.

  Something like suspicion.

  And very much like realization.

  Luna didn’t even notice that the woman used a name most didn’t know.

  The roar of her bike wasn’t enough to quell the storm brewing inside Luna as she drove to the New York comp
ound where she knew Uilleam was staying. Even as her mind was a thousand miles away, she still expertly navigated through traffic.

  Too many questions but not enough answers plagued her as she drove. There was so much that didn’t make sense, but more and more of the pieces were beginning to fit together.

  But the picture was not one she wanted to see …

  No, she wouldn’t jump to conclusions. She wouldn’t assume things she wasn’t sure of, not when she could get them from the source.

  Riding up to the steel reinforced gate that surrounded the acre of property, she keyed in her personal code, whipping inside once the gate was open far enough.

  With Uilleam’s attendance, the facility had been locked down, only those that he permitted allowed to come and go. One would have thought, considering the attempt on his life, that he would have requested more security to ensure that if anyone tried again, they would be dealt with quickly, but Uilleam had sent most of the security away.

  His trust was hard earned, she knew. And despite him being the one that wrote the checks, he knew there was always the potential of someone risking a foolish mission because someone else offered more money.

  The entire west wing of the facility was off-limits, but Luna was permitted to enter. Perhaps because she had Uilleam’s trust.

  Or maybe because he didn’t see her as a threat.

  Whichever the answer, it wouldn’t end well for one of them.

  Uilleam was sitting in the rec room, a cloth napkin tucked into the collar of his shirt, a knife and fork in his hand as he cut into the massive steak on a plate in front of him. He was paler than usual, bruise-like shadows beneath his eyes, but as his gaze shot to her, she could see that underneath it all, he was still the Kingmaker.

  “Luna, always a pleasure. What can I do for you?”

  “42nd and Hamilton,” she said without preamble, refusing to look away from him. Needing to see even the most minute expression on his face. “You own the warehouse there.”

  Uilleam didn’t blink. “I own many warehouses.”

  She had spent enough time around the younger Runehart brother to know when he was evading, and that realization made her snap. Jerking one of the knives she kept hidden at her wrists, she palmed it before walking over to him and slamming it down hard into the steak, shattering the plate beneath it.