More importantly, she couldn’t help but think of how ironic that all sounded considering Katherine’s own narcissism.
But it was often easier to see the fault in others rather than in one’s self.
When she turned, finally looking at her, Karina was momentarily caught off guard by the sheer amount of venom in her mother’s eyes.
Even during their darkest days, when they disagrees on just about everything, she couldn’t remember a time when Katherine had ever been this upset with her.
“Where did I go wrong with you?” she asked with a shake of her head, making her disappointment clear. “How could I possibly raise two daughters—give them everything they could ever want—and yet they continue to defy me? How vastly disappointing.”
“You see it as defiance,” Karina said speaking up, her voice firm for once. “I see it as having independent thoughts and ideas of our own.”
How could she not see that?
And more importantly, why did it bother her so much?
Katherine shook her head as if the mere idea was ridiculous. “You’ve always thought you were so clever. Who exactly do you think you are?”
Meeting her stare, Karina didn’t back down. “The person you raised me to be.”
“I’ve shielded you from the worst this world has to offer. I provided you with opportunities others could only dream of. Your insolence is disrespectful and will no longer be tolerated. You should be on your knees thanking me for the life you’re living, yet you plot and connive behind my back.”
“What exactly do you think I’ve done?”
“Uilleam. Runehart,” she said between gritted teeth, eyes blazing. “Or did you think I wouldn’t find out that you’ve been meeting with him since the beginning of the trial.”
Karina wanted to feel guilty about what she had done, but it was hard to feel any shame considering the result.
Their relationship wasn’t perfect, there were plenty of unhealed wounds that still needed tending to, but no matter how messed up it might have been, they were working on fixing it.
That should have been the only thing that mattered—what she wanted.
But she also should have known better. Her mother had always served her interests first rather than anyone else—it was just who she was.
“I won’t allow you or that sister of yours to destroy everything I’ve worked so hard to build.”
“I haven’t the slightest idea what you’re even talking about? We haven’t done anything!”
Unless … unless there was something she didn’t know.
And from the expression on Katherine’s face, there was a secret she was harboring, and one she desperately didn’t want her to find out.
“It would be much easier if I could just be rid of you—both of you.” Katherine shook her head, as if the disappointment she was feeling was justified. “I’m only letting you go because it’s your duty to warn them and anyone else of your choosing. The moment you act against me is the moment you’ll regret.”
Karina could only stare, not knowing what to say, but she had a feeling that whatever this was about … it wasn’t over yet.
22
Awake
“If you ignore another one of my calls, I’m going to take this as a personal slight,” Uilleam said to the recording, his voice tight though he was attempting to make a joke. “Call me … please.”
He tossed his mobile onto the table in front of him, feeling more frustrated than he probably should have been all things considered, wondering when he had become this person—anxious and easily rattled.
Karina was more than capable of taking care of herself—she had shown him that in various ways over the years—but sometimes it was hard for him to disassociate the woman he knew now versus the one he’d first met all those years ago.
His sweet little journalist whose only mission was to expose a corrupt man she believed belonged in prison … until he became her target.
But even knowing she would make a formidable opponent for anyone, it didn’t stop him from worrying when she was no longer in his sight.
Or when she stopped answering his calls out of the blue.
She hadn’t mentioned where she was off to before she slipped out of their bed and gotten dressed, only that she’d be back a short while later, but now that hours had passed since then, he was starting to think he should have asked more questions.
But there wasn’t much he could do about that now, so until he was given a reason, he figured he just needed to give her time … reluctantly.
For the next hour, he threw himself into work, going over plans and blueprints for the new compound where the Den would be located.
Despite the other chaos he had found himself in during his first go round, he was quite looking forward to what was to come. It wouldn’t be easy or quick by any stretch of the imagination, but it would certainly be worth it in the end and that was all that mattered.
But, Uilleam hadn’t gotten so lost in his work that he had forgotten about why he needed a distraction, so when his mobile rang, everything else was forgotten once more as he grabbed it and answered without actually looking at who was calling.
“Karina?”
“Elsie,” his sister replied, her voice sounding ... off. “I need—“
“Listen, now isn’t the best time,” he said gently, scrubbing a hand down his face, realizing there was no hope for him unless he heard from Karina.
He wasn’t going to be able to concentrate.
“That might be, but—“
Uilleam checked his frustration, trying not to snap at his sister for something that wasn’t her fault. “I’ll call you later.”
He readied to end the call until he heard her shout his name.
“Unfortunately, this can’t wait. I’m sending a car to you, I strongly suggest you get in it.”
With that parting remark, she ended the call, leaving him staring down at the device unsure of what to do.
While the only thing he wanted to do was stay exactly where he was and wait for Karina’s call, the urgency he’d heard in Elsie’s voice gave him pause.
He turned to Bishop who’d remained silent during the worst of his freak out.
“I need you to find Karina—do whatever you have to. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
And whatever her reasons for calling, Elsie better be damned sure it was worth his time.
* * *
Elsie neglected to mention that when she sent the car, it wasn’t taking him to a residential address as he’d anticipated, but rather a private air field.
Uilleam hesitated for all of a few seconds before he ultimately boarded the jet.
For hours, he sat on the plane trying to reason what on earth could be so important, his sister had called him as she had. But no matter what idea his brain came up with, he couldn’t think of why Elsie had sounded so frantic.
But all of that was forgotten as he finally arrived at the final destination.
A house, tucked away in the middle of nowhere and had his sister not given him very specific instructions on how to get there, he doubted he would have found the place on his own.
After a moment of confusion, he finally stepped out of the car, looking around for anything remotely familiar, but beyond the make and model of the car Elsie preferred—and one unfamiliar to him—nothing else stood out.
The front door was unlocked, the interior warm and smelled like, of all things, chocolate chip cookies.
Of course, this wasn’t the least bit odd ...
“Elsie?” he called, half expecting her not to answer.
The suspicious part of him thought this might be a trap set by an enemy, but he dismissed the notion almost immediately as he made his way further into the house.
At least until he came upon the woman currently circling the corner.
He stopped in the middle of the floor when he saw her, his guard immediately going up even as he didn’t have the slightest clue what to say to her.
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Isla Ashworth.
Had they met under different circumstances, he was sure he could have charmed her into liking him despite who he was and what he did, but as it were, he was the man who’d broken her little sister’s heart and while Karina might have been willing to forgive him, Isla was probably a different story altogether.
Except, while there was some guardedness in her eyes as she met his gaze, there was something else there too—something that reminded him of her sister when she was trying not to cry.
Her smile wasn’t vicious as she looked upon him, but it wasn’t particularly kind either. “The infamous Kingmaker.”
“Call me Uilleam.”
Because if he had it his way, there would be no need for formalities between them. In the end, he hoped they would be family.
That, at least, seemed to make her smile a little more friendly. “Isla. It’s nice to finally meet you though I wish it hadn’t been under these circumstances.”
He wished the same, but while they couldn’t change the past, they could certainly make up for it now.
But as pleased as he was, he started to drown. “What are you doing here? Elsie never mentioned—”
“I insisted,” she said. “I’m afraid of letting her out of my sight again.”
The last bit was said softly, her gaze drifting to the floor.
Uilleam wished he had a clue what she meant.
“Where’s—”
“Good, you’ve made it.”
Elsie entered the room in a flurry, her pin-striped trousers dotted in what looked like flour.
Seeing her like this only added to his confusion. “Elsie, what the hell is going on?”
The women looked at each other, hesitating over their answer, only making his suspicions of what was happening here worse.
“There’s a lot to explain,” Isla said, surprising him that she was the first to speak.
“But it might be easier to show you first.”
Frowning, Uilleam remained quiet as he followed when she gestured for him to follow her into the kitchen.
At first, he suspected this was some sort of elaborate ruse—though what they would gain, he had no idea—at least until they stopped in front of the windows overlooking the backyard.
“Why—”
But he paused as soon as he saw her.
At first, there was only a blur of long dark hair, then his brain started to catch up to what he was seeing.
Just looking at her, something seemed to crack and fissure in his chest.
Elsie places her hand on top of his where he hadn’t realized he was gripping the counter. “There’s something I need to tell you ...”
23
Crown of Flowers
Having spent the better part of his life learning and inflicting the worst sorts of pain on those he deemed worthy, Uilleam wasn’t prepared for the same to be inflicted on him.
He recognized how hypocritical that sounded and in many ways knew he deserved this lot in life, but that didn’t stop the pain from flaring in his chest. It certainly didn’t make him feel any better as he stood staring out the window at the little girl currently running around the gardens.
She was lovely—a tiny cherub, and the spitting image of her mother. It seemed almost cruel that someone thought to keep her away from the one woman who would love her above all others.
He made no excuses for the sort of man he was. Most wouldn’t consider him a good person, and truthfully, that was the last thing he had ever aspired to be.
For years, he had wanted the negative representation his name brought him. He wanted others to think the worst of him because he hadn’t wanted their love or admiration.
He wanted their fear.
Every last bit of it.
Now, he wasn’t so sure a reputation of that sort would do him any good.
The little girl currently unaware that she was being watched wouldn’t care that the world knew him as the Kingmaker—that he was a formidable force in the underworld capable of things her young mind couldn’t quite comprehend yet.
And for the first time in his life, that wasn’t at all who he wanted to be. The Kingmaker was a man she never needed to know.
To her, he was someone else entirely.
“You look nervous, brother,” Elsie said thoughtfully as she came to stand by his side.
Uilleam remained silent, unsure of what to say—how to explain the complicated thoughts currently running through his brain. No amount of time or research or planning could have prepared him for this moment.
Everything about this was completely foreign to him.
It seemed like only yesterday he had even learned he was going to be a father, and no sooner than that, the title had been ripped away before he could fully comprehend it.
Seeing her just a few yards away, separated only by glass and wood … it just didn’t seem at all possible.
His daughter was outside, and he had no idea what to do with this information.
“You can’t stay hidden in here forever, Uilleam,” Elsie said, her voice softening a touch as if she knew how difficult this was for him to process.
“I wouldn’t know the first thing to say,” he whispered, a confession he wished he didn’t have to make.
This wasn’t a baby he had gotten to hold from the moment she was born. No sleepless nights of changing diapers, wiping runny noses, and shushing soft cries.
She was well into her adolescence.
And considering the woman who had had a hand in raising her had hated his very existence, he had no idea of the reception he would receive the moment he walked out that door.
That was what scared him most.
“She could very well hate me,” he added with a frown.
There was no telling the stories she’d been told and a girl of her age would have to wonder where her parents were and why they had never been a part of her life.
There was a chance he was the thing she hated most.
“If anyone deserves to meet her first, it’s Karina.”
She had suffered most of all. While he had only just learned of Poppy’s existence, Karina had lived with it for ages—her loss had shaped the very fabric of Karina’s being.
If anyone deserved to know their daughter lived, it was certainly her.
“We thought it best she hear it from you,” Elsie said, prompting him to look at her. “You two have been at each other’s throats for years now. It seems only right that she’s what finally bridges the gap between you.”
After all, it had been her loss that had torn them apart in the first place.
Dragging in a much needed breath, Uilleam took a tentative step forward, then another, until his feet carried him out the door and into the cold air.
Poppy didn’t seem to mind the cooler temperature as she ran around, tossing snow into the air with gloved hands. The way she looked up at it in wonder made him question whether she had been allowed to truly experience it.
If she’d been hidden away from prying eyes, he wouldn’t be surprised at all if they had kept her locked inside at all times to ensure she was never seen.
Had she suffered at their hands? He certainly hoped she hadn’t. While he despised Katherine Ashworth with every fiber of his being, he didn’t like the idea of Poppy living in anything but comfort.
She deserved that, even if he hadn’t been the one able to give it to her.
His shoes crunched in the icy snow, drawing her attention to him, making her freeze in place.
She knew who he was.
He could tell from the way she hesitated—how her demeanor changed as she folded her arms across her middle. She didn’t just know of him … she was also afraid of him.
That hurt more than he expected it to, but he couldn’t blame her for that reaction. He was all but a stranger to her.
Uilleam stopped walking toward her, thinking it might be better to allow her her space for the time being. He didn’t want to cause her any more anxiety.
As his mind shuffled through a thousand and one different things he could possibly say, his mouth only managed to blurt out one word. “Hi.”
It felt wholly inadequate, and a part of him felt ridiculous for only managing that much, but Poppy didn’t seem to mind.
She offered a pleasant smile before saying a soft, “Hi.”
He could tell from her accent that she had spent much of her tome growing up in Northern London. And if he had to guess, her schooling had been there as well.
He approached her cautiously because while she didn’t seem afraid of him, she seemed just as wary of him as he was of her.
For once, he hated how his mere presence affected others—how it seemed to put them on guard—but he reminded himself that she was merely a child and for all intents and purposes, he was nothing more than a stranger to her.
Clearing his throat, he tried to think of something clever to say and failed. And despite how good he usually was at commanding a room and anyone in it, his cleverness seemed to be failing him in this moment.
Helpless, he looked back at the frosted over window, finding Elsie still standing there, giving him an encouraging nod to keep going though the only thing he wanted to do at the moment was to walk away.
“D’you mind if I join you?” he asked, turning back to face her, gesturing to the small gathering of flowers she had piled together on the ground at their feet.
She seemed to consider his request a moment before shrugging, sinking back to the ground as she went about her task. She didn’t seem to mind that the ground was still damp from the earlier rain and snow, and despite the fact that he was in a three-thousand dollar suit, he happily sat next to her.
Suits were replaceable.
“Could I be of any assistance?” he asked once he noticed where her attention had gone.
He’d thought she’d been aimlessly walking about the gardens, but he came to realize that she had been gathering whatever flowers had survived in the cold weather, forming a small pile of them next to her.
She looked from her flowers to him, seeming unsure at first. “Do you know how to make flower crowns?”
Dark Horse: The Kingmaker Saga #5 Page 17