Black Swan

by London Miller

  “Not impossible, you say? With everything that you’ve done over the past few years, I can see why you think so, but how can I be sure you can do what I need?”

  It was just the opening he needed. “I’ve done it for you before, haven’t I? But if you’d like, we can discuss it. What is it, exactly, do you need? I’m sure I can find a solution—for a price, of course.”

  Carmen wasn’t a stupid woman. She hadn’t made her way this far by embarking on reckless decisions, so Uilleam knew she wouldn’t just outright say what they both knew she wanted

  “Perhaps I do want things my husband doesn’t, but you’re asking me to betray him and—”

  “Am I?” Uilleam asked, his head tilting to the side. “I’m merely offering you a service. One I’ve offered many, including Cesar.”

  “You’ve never fixed anything for Cesar,” Carmen said in a rush, her accent growing thicker at the implication behind his words.

  He almost smiled.

  It didn’t matter whether he had or hadn’t, not when the truth no longer mattered. Doubt was a powerful thing, and those that inspired them in others always believed someone else was out to get them as well.

  Carmen stared at him a moment. “If you fail …”

  Uilleam scoffed. “When have I ever?”

  “I’ve heard things,” Carmen said as she sat back, appraising him as if he were the one under close study now. “It was a woman, sí? The one who made you disappear for a while.”

  In all his years of living, Uilleam had learned quite well how to hide his reaction to stimuli, especially when it came from those who meant to bait him.

  His father had taught him well in that regard.

  But he was not perfect by any means, and while his reaction was not one that made her aware of it, he still knew.

  More than that, he was surprised he hadn’t managed to break the skin of his palm with his tight fists.

  “Yet here I sit. Others can’t say the same, can they? But that’s immaterial. The real question is whether you’re willing to pay my price.”

  “Can you guarantee my position as the head of this organization?” Carmen asked, more than happy to toss her husband to the wolves if it meant she advanced.

  Why wouldn’t she?

  She’d done the same to her own daughter.

  Smiling slightly, though he wasn’t the least bit amused, Uilleam said, “They’ll kneel at your feet.”

  “Then name your price.”

  “Your partnership with the Contreras cartel, end it.”

  Her eyes widened, the fresh drink someone had brought her a moment ago nearly to her lips as she digested those words. “You can’t possibly—”

  Cutting her off with a shake of his head, Uilleam said, “That is my price.”

  Truthfully, Uilleam couldn’t care less who she chose to do business with, but the man she associated with did. The Contreras cartel had a contract with Elias, one that ensured them they would have first pick of whatever girls were brought in.

  This was simply just another piece on the board he was ready to move—a pawn he was ready to knock over.

  There could be no reward without sacrifice.

  “But don’t worry,” Uilleam added for her benefit. “While there shouldn’t be an issue, I’ll send one of my mercenaries to guard you for the duration.”

  She seemed to perk up at the idea.

  Word had spread far and wide of the elite team he had under his contract. It garnered him both fear and respect. And as of late, envy.

  Carmen probably thought his mercenaries were all men, and he had no intention of correcting her. Not only because she seemed to abhor women working for her, in general—she was as bad as any man, treating them as nothing more than fickle creatures beneath her notice—but because it was also a part of his strategy.

  Despite her rather public image of fighting for women’s rights and the victims of sex trafficking, Carmen Santiago was one of the most notorious madams in the world.

  But she was always careful about keeping her mask in place.

  “I’ll see it done,” Carmen said. “But I expect this mercenary of yours to be here the minute Cesar’s heart stops beating.”

  “You have my word,” he agreed easily. “I’ll be going.”

  “Why in such a hurry?” she asked as he stood. “I’m sure one of my girls would be glad to satisfy your needs.”

  “I’m a man of little time,” he answered.

  Besides, once Kit learned what he had proposed, he would have an entirely new problem on his hands.

  Because his brother didn’t think clearly when it came to his wife. She was his weak spot.

  There were few people who fascinated him quite like Luna.

  He couldn’t say what it was exactly—perhaps it was the fondness he felt for her … or the empathy Karina had—but whatever it was, he found himself far more comfortable in her presence than he probably should have been with all things considered.

  Which was why he hadn’t thought anything at all about requesting a key from the front desk, which had proven surprisingly easy after he’d poured on the charm, and choosing to wait inside her hotel room until she returned.

  The afternoon news was only just beginning when he heard the click of the lock coming undone before the door to the room opened and Luna walked in, her expression shifting from calm to annoyed when she realized he was sitting there.

  She had always looked at him with such fondness before their little row, and if only for that reason alone he hated the discord between them. He hadn’t realized how much he would miss having someone look at him with something other than suspicion and disdain.

  Luna used to look at him the way Karina did—as if he were someone special and worthy.

  “I shouldn’t be surprised you’re here,” Luna said as she crossed the floor, not even bothering to try to kick him out the way like she usually did. The last year had mellowed her. “But to what do I owe the visit, Uilleam?”

  Hearing his name only managed to spark a smile from him. “I know of men twice your size who would rather take a bullet than use my name, yet you do so with such ease. Maybe you’re brave.”

  “Maybe,” she offered with a shrug. “Or just foolish.”

  Was that how she looked at it? “Your intelligence has never been lacking, Luna.”

  For a moment, it looked as if she didn’t know what to say, and he had to wonder if he’d ever implied otherwise.

  “You’ve always been Uilleam to me, anyway.”

  So he had. “And now?” he asked, regarding her with a tilt of his head as he tapped the button on the remote to mute the TV. “Who am I now?”

  Her expression was a little more guarded now. “Apparently, my handler.”

  Ah, grief. He was far too familiar.

  Though they hadn’t been close, from his understanding, when they had first met, Luna and Zachariah had eventually grown closer and she had, in many ways, become a part of the family.

  Kit had always been Zachariah’s favorite, so Uilleam knew it would only be a matter of time before Luna grew on him too.

  “I would have told you about him sooner, had you been near.”

  Or if he’d had anything to offer her other than theories and bits of information he wasn’t even sure was true. Even now, he still didn’t know the complete truth about what had happened to his uncle nor had he been able to find anyone else who knew either.

  They’d had to bury an empty coffin.

  Luna cleared her throat. “I’ve been in the same place for—”

  “Four months and counting,” he interrupted, reminding her of how different things were now compared to how they’d been before between them. “But if you’d recall, you asked that neither of us bother you after all of that unpleasantness the last time we were all together.”

  Back when his secrets had been exposed and he’d been almost sure—in the following weeks after Luna had not only left Kit but had also made it a point to become something o
f a recluse—his brother would attempt to kill him, but he’d been too consumed with his own guilt and pain to bother with Uilleam at all.

  “And you respected my wishes?” Luna asked skeptically, sounding as if she didn’t believe that at all. “Or were you following your brother’s orders?”

  Considering Kit had been on a hair trigger the moment Luna left him, it had seemed prudent, at the time, to respect his wishes. “Does it matter if you got what you wanted?”

  She rolled her eyes, knowing that was answer enough. “We were talking about Zachariah, yeah? Let’s get back to him. I still don’t understand what happened.”

  Neither did he. “He was a message,” Uilleam said, speculating as much as anyone.

  After all, Bishop had disappeared before him.

  “To you?”

  “Of course.”

  Luna leaned forward. “And what was the message?”

  That had taken him a long time to figure out. “The Jackal hasn’t finished with me yet.”

  It was the only thing that made sense.

  Because while his own legend had grown over the years, so had the man’s who’d attempted to kill him. More kills had been attributed to him than any of his mercenaries, though after his shooting, there hadn’t been any more.

  At this point, most thought of him as a myth more than anything else.

  But Uilleam knew he was still out there even though he’d been unable to find him.

  Yet.

  “You think he’s the one who did it?” Luna asked. “Are you any closer to finding him?”

  “Closer? Yes. Have I found him? No. It’s a process, as you’re aware.”

  An annoyingly long process.

  “And you think Elias is the answer for that?”

  Uilleam blinked, wondering how she could possibly know the man’s name, though he had been the reason he’d sought her out while he was finishing with Celt.

  And as that thought came to mind, he had his answer. “I forget you lot gossip like children. Tell me, have they sought answers from you yet?”

  Mercenaries dealt in information, after all, and he didn’t believe for one second that they hadn’t attempted to collect as much information on him as they possibly could once he formally took over the operations at the Den.

  “They asked,” Luna admitted honestly, “but I haven’t told them anything.”

  He valued her more than he could ever say. “Should I assume whatever I say will be offered to other listening ears?”

  “Depends on what you tell me.”

  He couldn’t fault her for her honesty. “A fish rots from the head.”

  Her bafflement was amusing. “Oh?”

  “Elias is merely a means to an end—a man who had proven quite adept at disrupting my business.”

  He was … alarmingly good at it, in fact. Better than anyone he had ever crossed paths with before. It was as if the man knew the way he thought and acted accordingly. Nowadays, Uilleam couldn’t tell if he was ahead or behind.

  “However,” he added, “I’m more concerned with the individual he answers to.”

  Uilleam no longer believed he was working alone. No man was this good at covering their tracks.

  “Is that what you want from me? To find Elias?”

  “I’ll get to him soon enough, but I do have a job for you.”

  Luna whistled low. “He’s not going to be happy about that.”

  Of course, he wouldn’t.

  Kit was rarely happy with anything Uilleam did.

  “And when did you start concerning yourself with my brother’s happiness again?”

  He watched her face change at the question. “I’m not. But I can’t do a job if he’s at my back.”

  As if either of them could prevent that. Kit was helplessly in love, and combined with the animalistic desire he had to protect what was his own, it was inevitable he would find out about this.

  “For this job, you won’t have a choice in the matter.”

  “Why?”

  He knew, without a doubt, she wouldn’t like his answer, but he couldn’t coddle her feelings any longer. “Carmen and Ariana.”

  She looked as if he’d struck her, but he hadn’t expected anything else, considering what her mother had done to her.

  “What about them?”

  “Carmen has asked that I send her one of my own for her to use during the duration of our ... negotiations. Who better to send than you?”

  Luna shook her head hard. “Send someone else.”

  Sometimes, he had to be cruel to be kind. “Are you turning down the assignment?”

  He wasn’t sure where she disappeared to in her head for a moment, but he could guess from the haunted expression on her face.

  “Not her. You can’t make me work for her.”

  “Are you turning down the assignment?” he repeated.

  “Why me?” she asked suddenly. “After what she did, why would you want to send me back to her? You, of all people, should know why I would never go near her.”

  Because it had always been her purpose.

  From the very moment he had changed his mind about killing her, she was meant to become his weapon. And eventually, when the time was right, she would become the one who vindicated herself.

  He couldn’t allow her discomfort to matter to him.

  This was his endgame, and she, just like the others, had a purpose to serve.

  “Enough. This is not a debate, nor a negotiation. The day I spent a quarter of a million dollars buying your freedom from a brothel, you fell into my debt. You should be happy that this assignment actually requires skills that don’t involve you needing to be on your back.”

  She tried to hide her flinch, but he saw it anyway.

  Cruelty always offers kindness in the end, Alexander had told him on more than one occasion.

  That was just the way it was.

  Gritting her teeth, she exhaled a breath. “Fine.”

  Good. “I’ll have someone forward you the details,” he said as he stood, walking over to kiss the top of her head, a silent apology he couldn’t offer aloud.

  But before he could, she moved away from him.

  “Don’t run from your demons because you’re afraid of them, Luna. Meet them head on.”

  It was the only way she’d survive this.

  “Your problem was never with me,” he reminded her. “Kit chose to do business with the woman you despise. Should you ruin her, it will hurt him as well. Two birds, one stone. Don’t ever forget who he trained you to be.”

  It would be the only thing that saved her.

  34

  Unexpected Meetings

  In the cold hours of the night, I think of you when sleep evades me. I’d once believed there was no cure for my insomnia until you came into my life.

  I didn’t want to believe, not at first, but during those many nights I spent with you, my mind was quiet, my thoughts clear.

  Do you remember the nights we spent on Efate Islands? You asked me for a truth I had never told another person. I told you about my desire to sleep as I had when I was a boy.

  Now, my answer would be different.

  I wish I could sleep as I did when I was with you. Is it selfish of me to say I wish you were here—that you were the only thing keeping me sane?

  You were a great many things to me—a lover, a consort, and often a confidant, but I miss you because out of everyone in my life, you were my friend, and I have very few of those.

  Yours,

  Uilleam

  The minute he’d finished the note with a scrawl of his name along the bottom, Uilleam tossed the pen on the desk, watching some of the ink splatter along the dark wood. He sat back with a sigh as he scrubbed a hand down his face, feeling a bit restless as he tried to focus.

  The ease in which he worked was lacking as of late, the pressure he was under making him feel as though he were drowning. It was at these moments that he drew out the small square of black paper and penned another not
e to a woman who would never read them.

  Once the ink was dry, he tucked the note and envelope away inside a small box he kept locked in the back of his desk at the Runehart estate.

  It was unhealthy, he knew, this obsession he had with penning his fleeting thoughts, but the need to keep her alive, if only in his own mind, was too great to ignore. And it almost, almost made him feel like the black thing in his chest could beat once more.

  So for now, he entertained the foolish notion that this act was helping him—that it allowed him a brief reprieve from the grueling tasks he had ahead of him.

  Even in death, she managed to be a balm to his soul.

  “Sir?”

  Shifting only his eyes to Dominic, Uilleam nodded for the lone man willing to engage him when he was in one of his moods to continue.

  “Someone is requesting to speak with you.”

  In his current state, he would have much rather played another game of chess alone, matching wits with himself than to entertain another sniveling man complaining about his lack of power.

  They never understood the sacrifices once they had the very power they craved.

  Uilleam waved his fingers, a silent command to reject the call—or just hang up as he was prone to do when he wasn’t in the mood.

  Dominic didn’t heed it. “The caller says his name is Elias, sir.”

  Finally.

  Finally.

  The moment he’d been waiting for.

  This time when he lifted his hand, he was eager for the feel of the mobile phone hitting his palm. It was only a matter of seconds ago that he had contemplated venturing somewhere to ease the rage he was feeling, but now delighted anticipation thrummed inside him.

  “I believe I gave you too much credit,” Uilleam said when he had the phone to his ear. “I wasn’t expecting to hear from you this soon.”

  There was silence, then, “Well, you couldn’t have thought I would ignore your blatant disregard for proper business, could you? Truthfully, Uilleam—you don’t mind terribly if I call you Uilleam, do you?” the man asked, his tone dripping with condescension—the sound of it making the urge to commit murder rise in Uilleam. “As I was saying, you’re not nearly as interesting as you presume yourself to be. But now that you have my attention, I thought it time we met, wouldn’t you?”