And there was even the possibility she would be taken and held by the very cartel he was blaming for her kidnap and murder.
Then she would really suffer.
At least he was giving her an out. A chance at survival. And he would give her everything she could possibly need to thrive and have a life—or as much of one as she could possibly have, considering she was already dead to the rest of the world.
Uilleam was lost in his thoughts for several moments before Bishop appeared in front of him, moving to sit in the seat opposite him. He was different from Skorpion in that while Skorpion lounged as if he didn’t have a care in the world because he didn’t have a care in the world, Bishop’s was more calculated.
He gave the appearance that he was calm and relaxed, but Uilleam could see it was a ruse. One meant to lower the guard of whoever he was with.
“Should be landing in a few hours,” he said unnecessarily since the flight time was displayed on the monitor in front of him.
But Uilleam knew what he was doing all the same. Bishop had just wanted an opening. “Something on your mind, Bishop?”
A corner of his mouth kicked up in a sly grin. He knew he hadn’t been as subtle as he’d intended … or maybe that was what he’d wanted. For Uilleam to broach the topic without him offering it.
Smart.
“Far be it from me to try to tell you how to run shit, but”—he gestured to Luna with a jerk of his chin—“you don’t think that’s going to be a complication?”
Oh no, he certainly did.
From the very moment he’d agreed to meet with Carmen Santiago, her daughter had become a complication for him. Only, he wasn’t sure how to fix it completely.
No matter what choice he made, one of them would lose. It was only a matter of how badly now.
Night had fallen by the time they made it back to New York and arrived at one of the warehouses he shared with his brother, Kit.
It wasn’t terribly exciting, nor was it used for anything more than exports, but that served his purposes just as well because it had a room on-site with a cot and everything the girl could possibly need until he figured out where he was going to keep her.
It wasn’t as if he could very well bring her to his home, though he doubted Karina would mind that very much.
She’d probably insist on it.
But this was still business for him, even if she didn’t understand that, and he didn’t want to mix the two any more than he already had by telling her about Luna in the first place.
And until he and the girl in question came to an understanding, he couldn’t very well trust that she wouldn’t attempt to run if he set her up in a room.
Which meant, for the time being, this place would have to do where he could have men watching her at all times.
“Do you actually have a good reason for calling me out at this hour, boy, or do you just think the world revolves around you?”
Uilleam turned in time to watch his uncle enter the warehouse, wire-framed glasses replacing the contacts he usually wore.
“Both? Let’s go with both.”
“What do you want?”
He considered how to respond to that inquiry and even formulated a logical argument in his head that his uncle would readily accept. He was very good at making people believe what he wanted, but in the end, he settled on the truth.
“Slight problem,” he said with a nod of his head toward the room he was standing in front of.
Zachariah didn’t comment further until he was standing at his side and peering over his shoulder. He’d had an illustrious career, filled with every manner of work that exposed him to things he never thought he would see.
Yet as he looked in on Luna Santiago, he didn’t seem to know what to say.
Uilleam didn’t think he had ever seen his uncle at a loss for words. His replies were usually quick, and he tended to adjust to any situation he was thrown in—the Society’s training, he imagined.
But as they stepped away from the room where the exhausted Santiago girl lay passed out and shut the door, Zachariah still didn’t speak.
“Whatever you wanted to ask,” he said after a moment, his voice curt. “keep it to yourself.”
“Don’t worry,” Uilleam said, “I don’t intend for you to kill her.”
The smirk he offered in response reminded him entirely too much of the man’s brother. “I wouldn’t even if you asked nicely. Despite our family, I don’t involve children.”
“Again, I don’t want her dead.”
“Then what the hell is she doing here?” he asked, seeming genuinely surprised to find the girl here in the warehouse.
“I want you to train her as you have the others.”
“No.”
Uilleam blinked. “Excuse me?”
“I’m not putting anyone through training who isn’t of age.”
“Of age?” Uilleam scoffed. “Remind me how old my brother was when you took him to the Lotus Society where each of his bones was broken systematically to make him stronger?”
Zachariah wasn’t the sort to show remorse or apologize for his actions—it was just the way they were wired, but Uilleam also saw what others didn’t.
“Contrary to what you might think, boy, I learn from my past.”
It wasn’t an admission of guilt for what he had done, but something was there that Uilleam didn’t quite understand.
More that Kit hadn’t told him about his time with the Lotus Society.
But it was because he had known she would ultimately be a complication that he’d already had a plan in mind—one that involved his brother for once. While he generally made it a point to avoid doing business with his brother for as long as he possibly could, he also knew Kit possessed the level of empathy this girl would need to move forward.
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
Time for Plan B.
Uilleam had only just stepped foot inside his home when Karina peeked up from where she sat on the couch, her expression putting him on alert.
“Uilleam, your brother—”
She didn’t finish before Kit, of all fucking people, walked out of the kitchen, looking far too casual for someone who shouldn’t have even known where they lived.
Fucking assassins.
“Your office,” he said by way of greeting before turning a smile on Karina. “A pleasure to see you again.”
She could hardly hide her amusement as she looked from him to Uilleam and back again. “I’ll just leave you two to … talk.”
“You know,” Uilleam said conversationally, shedding his jacket before he headed toward his office, “there are some days you remember why murder should be legal.”
“Let me know when you find someone who can accomplish that.”
For once, Kit didn’t sound amused as he made that remark, nor did he look particularly happy as he stepped into Uilleam’s office ahead of him. If not for the turn his night had taken, he might not have entertained his brother’s mood, but for now, he had to entertain it.
“Is there a reason you’re here?”
“Is there a reason you decided to execute twelve of Mario Antoine’s men?”
Ah, this.
He had already figured it wouldn’t be long before Kit found out about what he had done … especially since he did business with the man on occasion, but Uilleam had never let Kit’s business decisions affect his own.
“Considering his underling had come there with the intent to kill me, I imagine that’s reason enough.”
“What on earth gave you that idea?” he asked, sounding exasperated.
As if he hadn’t been the one to show up without a fucking welcome. “The day I answer to you—”
“You ruined a ten-million-dollar deal for your own bloody ego—not to mention severed any business agreement we had.”
He didn’t have time for this.
He just didn’t.
“Have you any idea what you’ve done?” Kit continued, refusing to bend.
>
“It sounds very much like we both know what I’ve done. I just don’t understand why we’re having this conversation.”
“And to think I thought you would at least show a bit of remorse.”
He couldn’t. Not when he didn’t feel any. “Let’s put whatever grievance you have against me on hold, shall we? I need you to do something for me.”
Kit blinked, then laughed. He sounded surprised. “You want to ask something of me?”
“There’s a girl,” Uilleam said, moving on. “I need a place to keep her.”
“As much as you proclaim not to want to be anything like our father, you are determined to follow in his footsteps.”
“Funny. I thought we were above petty insults, brother. Especially when they’ll only serve to annoy me.”
“Fine. If you want something from me, you’ll have to give me something in return. Fix this with Mario.”
“In case you didn’t understand, when someone makes an attempt on my life, all bets are off. And I certainly won’t ever apologize for protecting my fucking self. Understand me.”
Someone else might have snapped or even argued back and forth until voices were raised and a fight might have been sparked.
But that wasn’t Kit.
The only way someone would even know he was upset was if they could read body language well.
“Don’t make an enemy out of me, Uilleam.”
“If you’re not in line with me,” he returned easily, meeting his stoic gaze, “then you’re already an enemy.”
Kit didn’t offer another response before he merely turned on his heel and left.
Just as well.
This was the longest they had managed to go without having a fight. It would all roll over eventually.
It always did.
His conversation with Kit lingered in the back of his mind as Uilleam left his office once he heard the front door shut before heading upstairs, leaving his troubles and his phone behind.
Living with Karina had changed him in a way—made him feel as if he didn’t need his mobile on him at all times. It also helped him realize that he wasn’t nearly as on edge as he usually was since he wasn’t anticipating a call while it sat in his pocket.
He didn’t have to fight the desire to look at it since it wasn’t within easy reach.
To his surprise, she wasn’t in the kitchen—and he wasn’t at all ashamed to admit he’d hoped she was because it meant food for him—but downstairs in the pool.
She floated on the surface of the water. The very tiny yellow bikini she wore gave him explicit ideas, but before he could let those thoughts run away with him, he crouched at the edge of the water.
For a while, he merely stared at her, watching the water drift over her taut stomach, pooling in her navel.
“You know, you could give me a serious ego with the way you stare,” she spoke thoughtfully, her eyes still closed, her hair billowed out around her.
“You’re worth staring at,” he reminded her, his body perking up as she moved and touched her feet to the pool floor.
She stood straighter, water dripping down her torso, taking his breath away.
Oh yes, he recognized that expression quite well.
But as he let his imagination go wild at how he would indulge in it, she shook her head. “Are you free Saturday?”
“For you, always.”
“Consider it a date.”
He’d give her anything. “Where do you want to go?”
She smiled at him then, the sight of it never failing to make his chest feel tight. “Royal Eve Bistro.”
His brow furrowed. “I thought that was your Thursday lunch routine.”
“I find it alarming that you know that.”
“No detail about you is insignificant to me.”
“I find it more alarming that I completely accept that answer.”
“If not that, why do you want to go there?”
She reached out, tracing her fingers over his forearms. “There’s someone I want you to meet ... officially, I mean.”
“If Orion shows his face there, I won’t be held liable for what I—”
“My sister,” she said before he could continue. “I think it’s only fair that you get to meet her, considering I’ve met Kit.”
Something he would have much rather avoided than to see it happen—even more the way it had happened. He only wished he hadn’t enjoyed it quite as much as he did, especially considering Karina hadn’t been too fond of his actions.
In time, she would come to understand why it was needed.
“Introducing me to your family, are we?”
“Seemed only right,” she said, tucking strands of hair behind her ear, “all things considered. I have met your brother, after all.”
A reminder that he wished he didn’t need. “That’s unfortunate. For you.”
“Mmm. Is everything alright with the two of you? Things seemed a bit … tense.”
As good as they ever will be, he wanted to say.
“He’ll get over it,” Uilleam settled on saying.
He always did.
“I certainly appreciate how good you look in a three-piece suit.”
A corner of Uilleam’s mouth tugged up as he glanced over at Karina in the passenger seat as they drove across the city to the Royal Eve Bistro. “But?”
“No but,” she said resting her chin in the palm of her hand as she gazed at him. “Just saying.”
It was why he loved her. “Tell me about your sister. Is there anything I should know?”
Her eyes lit up, and that look hit him right in the center of his chest.
“For every deduction, I’ll give you something in return.”
Was there anything he loved more than open-ended favors?
“That just doesn’t sound fair for you, poppet.”
“You’d be surprised,” she said with a secretive sort of smile that made him want to be able to read her thoughts.
He didn’t know very much about her sister, Isla, beyond what he had gathered during the few one-sided conversations he had overheard. She had always been rather cagey when it came to talking about her family, but he understood it.
He was the same in many ways.
At least he would be able to get some answers to the questions he had about Karina.
Twenty minutes later, they arrived at the restaurant, heading upstairs to the balcony that had long since become Karina’s regular place.
She was a ball of tension until he felt her gasp before she waved to a woman on the other side of the restaurant.
One who was certainly not at all what he was expecting. Maybe he’d been anticipating an older version of Karina—with the same coffee-colored tresses and warm, innocent eyes—but there was a wisdom to her gaze that said she knew all about who he was and what he did.
But that didn’t stop her from extending her arms and clasping him in a hug all the same. Either Karina had already told her she had nothing to fear from him, or she didn’t feel anything of the sort.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Uilleam. I’ve heard so very much about you,” she greeted warmly, her expression telling him he’d been right in assuming she knew who he was.
Not that he minded that fact.
This was family, after all, and he couldn’t very well have her lie to the person she cared for the most. Though, from what he could tell, she didn’t seem to mind him so much.
“Likewise. Karina is very fond of you,” he said, curious to the thought that perhaps her sister knew more about him than he did about her.
He thought back to everything he’d heard about her, but every thought that came to mind was superficial. Something that didn’t really tell him anything at all.
“Even if she doesn’t tell me everything,” she finished, sounding curious.
Uilleam smiled over at Karina. “For a good reason, I imagine.”
She laughed lightly, her smile so friendly it seemed almost ... predatory. “We all hav
e our secrets, Mr. Runehart.”
They certainly did. “Call me Uilleam.”
Over the course of lunch, he found that he loved the way Karina came alive when she was around her sister. She was the most relaxed he had ever seen.
And when they really got into their conversation, it was as if he wasn’t there at all, but he didn’t mind it.
He loved seeing her happy.
As he readied to order another drink, his mobile buzzed in his pocket. He’d silenced the ringer once they’d arrived.
Checking the caller ID, he frowned at the name, wondering why the man was calling, considering he was supposed to be watching the Santiago girl.
He touched a hand to Karina’s side, silently telling her he would need a moment.
Once he was well across the restaurant, he answered.
“What do—”
“The warehouse is a dead site.”
“What the hell are you on about?”
“It’s gone,” he stressed. “It caught fire last night.”
His rage boiled to life. “And the girl?”
“I … ” He cleared his throat, seeming not to want to answer. “I don’t think she survived.”
Uilleam’s expression froze on his face as he listened to the man on the other line, his gaze still on Karina and her sister across the room. He didn’t think she had ever looked happier than she did right now—than she had during this entire lunch.
He had never questioned what he meant to her—she showed him in every moment, in every day—but he also knew that if she knew what he did right now, those feelings would change.
She could never know.
Not if he wanted to keep her.
25
Mistakes
The migraine she’d been fighting for the better part of a week now had finally dulled to something a little less agonizing, giving her the ability to think without wanting to gouge her eyes out.
This had been her current state and she was desperately hoping it would give any time now. Researching and writing, finishing drafts and editing, all before doing it all over again. Karina was almost looking forward to the moment when she finished with it all if only because she wanted to remember what it felt like to sleep.
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