Beautiful Vengeance

by Kaylea Cross

  The betrayal had sliced deep, opening wounds he’d carried with him from childhood. She’d fooled him. Made a fool out of him.

  Then he’d found out what the brand on her left hip had meant. Before that he hadn’t even known the Valkyries existed.

  Once he’d learned the truth he’d had no choice but to punish her. No one betrayed him and lived, and he couldn’t risk appearing weak. But he couldn’t kill her, because an interested buyer had come along at the right moment, offering a fitting punishment for her.

  Her mark was how he’d been introduced to the Architect. The Architect had been hunting Valkyries and was willing to pay three million to have Kiyomi, and in addition promised to deliver her a lifetime of servitude and suffering. Kiyomi would have lived the rest of her days praying for death while remembering that he was the reason she had been captured in the first place.

  And then…she’d disappeared. Someone had broken her out of her cell one night and he hadn’t been able to find a single trace of her since. Only rumors. Never a concrete lead. It tore him up inside.

  She was still out there, and he couldn’t bear or allow that. He would never stop searching for her, no matter how long it took or how much it cost. He would use every last resource at his disposal to make sure he brought her back to pay for her betrayal.

  No matter what he had to do, what he had to pay and who he had to kill, Kiyomi would be his again one day. And this time, he would succeed in breaking her before he sold her to the Architect.

  Chapter Four

  Marcus was out checking the perimeter fence lines early the next morning in the steady drizzle when Megan called him on his mobile. It was just past oh-six-hundred, and she didn’t usually call this early unless she wanted to go riding. “Morning.”

  “Hey. The police are at the gate wanting to talk to you.”

  Ah, shite. He’d been hoping they would just call him rather than show up. “I filed a complaint about Karas last night,” he said, walking back to his ATV. He’d gone back and forth about it for several hours, then decided he couldn’t let it go. Filing a complaint should have no consequences whatsoever on the situation with his houseguests.

  “Well, that’s part of what they want to see you about.”

  He frowned as he started the engine. “Why, what else is there?”

  “They won’t say. I’ve stalled them here at the gatehouse and alerted everyone at the main house to give them time to get out of sight.”

  “All right. Tell them I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

  “Got it.”

  Karas being injured aside, what was so important that the police were here at daybreak to see him? He drove the ATV back to the shed and arrived at the main house in eight minutes. The house was quiet and still, everyone having scattered after Megan’s warning. He was waiting out on the front steps when the police car parked at the top of the driveway. He recognized both constables.

  “Good morning,” he said, shaking hands with them, then stepped back. “Please come in.”

  He brought them into his study and shut the door. Karas lifted her head when they entered but otherwise didn’t budge from her bed in front of the fire. Marcus had stoked it three times overnight to make sure it stayed lit for her, because even with the heat on, this time of year the house was chilly. He’d slept on the sofa beside it rather than in his room, not wanting to move Karas.

  “I assume you’re here about my complaint about what happened to my dog last night,” Marcus began.

  “Yes.” The first constable, a man in his early thirties or thereabouts crouched down to let Karas sniff at his hand. “Hey, sweet girl. I’m sorry this happened to you.”

  “We’re also here about an incident that occurred late last night near your property,” the older constable said.

  “What incident?” Marcus asked, setting his cane aside as he lowered himself into the chair behind his desk.

  The older cop remained standing as he spoke. “It seems three teenage boys were attacked not far from your front gate.”

  He already didn’t like where this was going. “Attacked how?”

  “They claim someone jumped out of a tree and ambushed them, cuffed them with plastic zip ties, then stripped them down to their undershorts and left them tied to the trunk of the tree where they were found later.”

  Marcus’s eyebrows drew together. “What?”

  The younger cop pushed to his feet. “Someone called in about it just after midnight and we were sent to pick them up.”

  “Were they harmed?” Marcus asked.

  “Just their egos,” the younger said.

  “One of them had a sign taped to his chest that read I’m an animal abuser. And, ah… Because I’m a coward with a small dick.” The older cop cleared his throat, his gaze never wavering from Marcus. “They’re claiming it was you who attacked them.”

  Anger punched through him, but he kept his expression and tone neutral. Dammit. One of the Valkyries had done this. And he had a fair idea of which one. “They claim I jumped out of a tree and attacked them,” he repeated.

  “Uh, yes,” the younger cop said, his eyes darting to Marcus’s cane.

  Marcus leaned back in his chair, stretching his left leg out onto the ottoman. He didn’t want pity or to draw attention to his disability, but there was no help for it here. “Does it look like I’m capable of climbing a tree, let alone jumping out of one to ambush three lads?”

  “You’re former military,” the older one said. “Possibly former special forces, from what I’ve heard.”

  One of the few things Marcus disliked about living in a rural area like this was that the locals all knew each other and they talked too damn much. “I haven’t been able to climb a tree in over two years now,” Marcus replied, a cold edge to his voice. And being selected for The Regiment meant he had better control and discipline than most people walking this earth. “So it wasn’t me.”

  The man acknowledged his statement with a nod. “Then who?”

  “I have no idea.”

  “Someone who knew about what happened to your dog.”

  “The lads might have hurt another animal last night too. They’ve been setting off bangers three nights in a row now, and deliberately throwing them onto people’s property to spook the animals. It could have been someone else’s dog, or even a sheep the person who left the note was talking about.”

  The two constables shared a look, then the older one turned his attention back to Marcus. “I understand you have security cameras set up near the front gate. Mind if we look over the footage from last night?”

  “Not at all.” Though he already knew what they’d find. He would bet this house that as soon as Megan had informed Amber of what was going on, Amber had wiped the video feed clean.

  Wanting the cops out of his house and this entire situation done with so they could all move forward and he and his houseguests could go back to staying off the radar, Marcus turned his computer screen around for the constables and pulled up the video feed from last night.

  He showed them the clip of the boys arriving during the bonfire, and one of them throwing the device at Karas. It still made his blood boil. “What time did the boys say they were attacked?” he asked when it finished.

  “Just after twenty-three-hundred hours.”

  Marcus fast-forwarded through the feed, stopping short of the mark before he played it for them. As expected, nothing showed up on video. No sign of the boys coming anywhere near the range of the cameras.

  He fast-forwarded again, looking for any sign of them at all, but of course there was nothing right through oh-one-hundred-hours this morning. Amber’s edit was seamless. Not that he would expect anything less.

  When the video feed in question was done, he eased back in his chair to regard the men and raised an eyebrow. “Satisfied?”

  They both nodded, looking slightly uncomfortable. “Thank you for your cooperation. We’ll keep looking into the matter,” the older one said.

&nbs
p; “As for the matter concerning my dog,” Marcus added, “how long will it take for the lads to be charged and reported to the Crown Prosecution Service? I keep to myself and prefer to live a quiet life. I don’t want this matter dragged out or publicized in any way, and I don’t want my name showing up in the local paper. This is a small town. People will talk. I want to avoid that at all cost.”

  The older cop regarded him for a moment, then nodded. “Understood. The process will likely take months.”

  Kiyomi and the others would be long gone by then, perhaps not even in the UK anymore. The tension in his shoulders eased. “Thank you. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to get my dog in to see the vet first thing.”

  “Of course.”

  He walked them out, anxious for them to leave. He waited on the front step until their car turned out of the gate at the end of the driveway, then shut the door and stood there a moment and expelled a long breath. Crisis averted.

  Seconds later came the sound of voices as the others came in through the back door, no doubt alerted by Megan the moment the police had driven away from the house. She and Ty were absent, as were Jesse and Amber.

  Marcus spun around and started down the hallway, heading for the breakfast room. All conversation ceased the moment he entered, everyone gathered around the table.

  Five sets of eyes fastened on him, including Kiyomi’s, but his gaze paused on her only for a moment before cutting to Chloe. “Had an eventful night, did you?”

  She blinked her big brown eyes at him, wearing a T-shirt that read: Explosives expert. If you see me running, try to catch up. “What do you mean?”

  She wasn’t fooling anyone with the innocent routine. “Three teenage boys matching the same description as the ones who hurt Karas last night were found tied up just after midnight. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”

  Across the table, Heath cut his girlfriend a wary look. “Chloe,” he said in a warning tone. “What did you do?”

  Marcus glanced over his shoulder as someone came up behind him in the hallway. It was Trinity, holding a newspaper. “She in there?” she asked.

  There was no doubt about who she meant, or that they’d come to the same conclusion. Nodding, he stepped aside to let her pass.

  “Well, there you go, Chlo. You finally made the local paper.” She tossed the paper onto Chloe’s plate, front page up, and folded her arms.

  “Me?” Chloe said, feigning offense.

  The others craned their necks to see the paper as Chloe read the headline aloud. “Local teens terrorized on Bonfire Night.” She snorted. “Terrorized, my ass. They don’t have a clue what terrorized even looks like.”

  Eden snatched the paper up to continue reading, a slight frown pulling at her forehead. “‘A bloody ninja jumped out of this tree and attacked us,’ one of the boys reported. ‘We didn’t get a good look at him, but the guy had stun grenades and everything.’ After a tip to police from a concerned local, the boys were found…” Her eyes widened as she trailed off to stare at Chloe. “Stripped to their underwear and tied to a tree in a field just off the A436.”

  Trinity made a strangled sound and covered it with a cough, her blue eyes wide. Snickers broke out around the table, then laughter, and even Marcus couldn’t help but grin.

  Heath wasn’t laughing. He was shaking his head at Chloe in alarm. “There’s something very wrong with you. You know that, right?”

  When Chloe gave a careless shrug, Heath narrowed his eyes in accusation. “You said you were going downstairs to make hot chocolate because you couldn’t sleep.”

  “I did, and I couldn’t,” she said with a defensive scowl. “Then I waited for those little bastards to come back, because I knew they would. And when they did, I taught them a lesson they won’t soon forget.”

  When Heath just kept scowling at her, Chloe huffed out an annoyed breath and slathered a piece of toast with a sickening amount of Mrs. Biddington’s homemade raspberry jam. “Relax, they were only out there for half an hour before I called in the tip.”

  Kiyomi smothered a laugh, and Eden and Zack were both smiling.

  Trinity shook her head at Chloe, her expression fond. “You’re still as much trouble as ever. Good thing we’re already getting ready to leave here soon anyway, so I guess there’s no harm done.”

  At the reminder, Marcus’s gaze strayed to Kiyomi, a shock of awareness ripping through him when he found her watching him. Time was running out in Laidlaw Hall’s tenure as Valkyrie headquarters.

  The team leaving here and spreading everyone out was the smart choice at this point, but part of him didn’t want to see it end. Seemed strange now, but he’d gotten used to having everyone around, and having the old house full of life instead of just him and Karas knocking around this great pile of stone. He would miss them all when it was over, especially Kiyomi and Megan.

  “Amber managed to wipe the security feed clean?” Trinity said to him.

  “Aye, it was flawless.”

  “Good. If those idiots know we’ve got them on video attacking Karas, let’s hope they figure out their only option is to admit what they did and take the punishment.”

  “They never saw my face. They even assumed I was a man.” Chloe’s expression was full of annoyance. “Little misogynist pricks have no idea. I should have left them out there for an hour-and-a-half.”

  “It’s November, Chloe,” Trinity reminded her. “Half an hour in their underwear when it’s just above freezing was more than enough to drive your point home.”

  “How is Karas, anyway?” Chloe asked Marcus.

  The woman was diabolical, but adorable, and he had a soft spot for animal lovers, especially when someone had gone to the trouble of avenging his beloved dog. He didn’t have the heart to be annoyed with Chloe anymore. “Sore. I’ll be taking her in to see the vet. But if she could understand what you did, I think she’d approve.”

  Chloe beamed. “I think so too.”

  “Well, I’d best shove off. I want to have Karas at the vet office the moment it opens.” His gaze strayed over to Kiyomi as she stood.

  “I’ll come with you.”

  Her announcement surprised him. He’d thought that she and the others would want to hole up here and keep a low profile now, getting everything packed and organized for the upcoming move. “Under the circumstances, are you sure it’s a good idea—”

  “Yes. I need a break from our investigation and I’ve been wanting to look around the area for ages. Maybe you can even show me around Stow for a bit later, if Karas is up to it.”

  He’d love to spend hours taking her around town and showing her the places he loved most, but a short visit was all he would allow, for safety’s sake. “All right,” he said with a nod, and she followed him out into the hallway.

  He felt her presence with every step, the rush of awareness and desire growing stronger every passing hour. He wanted to touch her. Hold her.

  Take her to his bed. Protect her. Make her smile. Maker her laugh.

  Make her his.

  That would never happen now, and it was for the best that she was leaving here soon. Safer for her.

  And for you.

  Aye. A woman like her would never want a cripple like him. Even if she did, the ever-present ghosts he carried with him were always there as a reminder that after what had happened that fateful night in Syria, he was the last person on earth who deserved happiness.

  Chapter Five

  Kiyomi got out of Marcus’s old Land Rover at the vet clinic just outside of town, sorry that the trip was necessary but glad to get away from the manor for awhile. The investigation to find Rahman and the Architect was wearing on her, and she had an intensive online therapy session coming up tomorrow that she’d been dreading for a while now.

  In spite of all their efforts, no one had a clue yet who the Architect might be. It had to be someone connected to the Valkyrie Program or the CIA who knew or had known Kiyomi, but no one stood out in her memory.

&nb
sp; They still didn’t know whether the Architect was responsible for all of this, and who the women with the stylized tats on their hips were, killed by Kiyomi’s team on a recent mission in Virginia. The design of the tattoo was different from the brand Kiyomi and the others had, but the similarities were disturbing.

  It was almost like they were dealing with another group similar to the Valkyries, which should have been impossible since everything had been shut down after the shit storm following the Balducci trial. So yeah, she desperately needed this quick break, even if it only lasted less than an hour.

  “I’ll text you when we’re done, then come find you,” Marcus said to her as he lifted Karas out of the back.

  “Sure.” She stroked Karas’s head, then watched as he carried the dog inside the old stone building. What would it be like, to be with a man who treated her with such care?

  The increase of traffic was immediate as soon as she reached The Bell, a centuries-old pub Marcus sometimes went to at the bottom of the town. Her insides tightened at the sudden, sharp rise in anxiety caused by a sense of exposure, even with a hat and sunglasses helping to disguise her. Instinctively she was still on alert, watching for threats.

  As soon as she realized what she’d done, she berated herself. She was in the middle of the freaking Cotswolds, not Syria, and she could damn well walk around this countryside market town like a normal person without seeing a threat in every shadow.

  It was only a few minutes’ walk along the hill up Sheep Street to reach the heart of Stow-on-the-Wold, the highest village in all the Cotswolds. Once a bustling wool market town, it remained a collection of narrow, winding streets filled with charming, old, honey-gold stone buildings housing vacation rentals, shops, tea rooms and restaurants.

  A light carpet of orange and gold leaves dotted the sidewalks and grassy areas. Brilliant splashes of scarlet Virginia Creeper clambered up the front of an antique shop, while glossy green ivy and colorful lemon and plum-colored mums spilled out of window boxes along the buildings lining the street.