by Ella Miles
I’m not broken.
“And it wouldn’t be too much for your body?”
“No.”
His eyes widen.
“It wouldn’t be too much. I was held as a captive for six years on a yacht. Beaten every day, but never more. I can survive a few hours in a plane.”
He nods. “Maybe you are better adept at traveling right now than your boyfriend is.” He licks his bottom lip. “But that doesn’t mean I’m going to choose you over him.”
“I know who you are,” I say out of nowhere—hanging onto any hope of trying to get him to come to my side.
Milo’s body stiffens, his chest is held higher, and he stops breathing.
Yes, I’m getting somewhere.
“It doesn’t matter who I am.”
“I think it does. Does Enzo know? Does he know you are brothers?”
Milo grits his teeth, and his eyes darken.
“That’s what I thought. Should I go tell him? Would that change things?”
“It doesn’t matter who knows.”
It matters, I just don’t know why.
Milo starts walking toward the stairwell. I’m running out of time. If Milo leaves, I can’t chase after him. All I have to convince him to take me is my words.
“Take me. Enzo can’t change his heir if you take me. He has no children. No closer biological heir to you.”
Milo stops walking, his head slowly turning to face me, and I see the heat again as his brain processes what this means for him.
“You can take me, and Enzo will have no choice but to keep his promise to you. He won’t have a child if it’s not with me,” I say.
Milo has turned all the way around, and I see his erection pressing against his zipper.
My stomach churns, I’m going to be sick.
“He will attack. He will do anything to get you back.”
I cock my head, as I run my tongue over my swollen lip. Trying to look enticing for this sick man. “Does it matter? He attacks, you defeat his armies and show how worthy you are to lead them. And if he doesn’t, then you get everything you have ever wanted with no cost to you.”
“You’re a stupid girl.”
Maybe, or maybe I’m brave. Maybe I’m fearless. Maybe I’m in love, and being in love means you will do anything for the other person.
I’m tired of playing games with Milo.
I want him dead.
I’m going to protect Enzo and kill Milo.
Enzo had his chance to kill Milo; he didn’t take it. But now he knows everything there is to know about Milo’s mansion.
If Milo takes me, Enzo will come. Enzo would have never included me in his plans, but now I’m forcing his hand. Now he has no choice. I’ll take Milo down from the inside, and Enzo can attack from the outside. Together we will defeat him.
“I accept your deal. You go with me, and I won’t hurt Enzo. And I will remain Enzo’s heir to become leader of his empire.”
Milo holds out his hand, and reluctantly I put my hand in his, hoping I didn’t just give up all of myself in the process.
18
Enzo
My eyes open, and I feel the pain.
Not the pain in my neck or my shoulder. No, I’m pumped full of enough narcotics to never feel my body again.
No, the pain I feel is the loss of Kai.
She isn’t here. I don’t feel her anywhere, even before I open my eyes, and my sight confirms it.
Langston is sitting in a chair next to my bed. His head slumped in his hand.
“How long have I been out?” I ask.
He startles, his eyes large as he sees that I’m awake. But he doesn’t look happy to see me awake.
“Twenty-four-hours. You’ve been in a drug-induced coma. The doctor said you needed it to heal after all the blood loss. He was worried you had swelling in your brain and around your heart.”
I had swelling in my heart alright, and it’s going to get worse after I ask my next question.
“Where is Kai?”
Langston looks at his hands.
“Where the fuck is Kai?” I scream.
“You need to relax. You have a lot of injuries, and I’ll explain everything.”
“Where is Kai?” my voice waivers as I say it, because I already know the answer. I know why he isn’t willing to tell me.
“She went with Milo.”
I close my eyes as the agony washes over me in one large wave consuming my entire body. But I don’t have time to wallow in my loss. I can’t let Milo have her a second longer.
I sit up in the bed and pull off all the chords attached to my chest. And then I grab the IV and rip it from my arm.
Langston doesn’t move as I get out of the bed. And then I shove him with everything I have toward the wall. His body hits it, but he doesn’t fight me.
Instinctively, I reach behind me for my gun, but I’m in a damn hospital dress. And I don’t have a gun on me.
“Looking for a gun to shoot me?” Langston asks his voice heavy.
“Yes, you deserve to feel some pain after you let her go with him. I gave you one job: protect her. At all costs. And the first time she’s alone with Milo, you let her go. You have no idea what he will do to her.”
I shove harder.
“I have a clue what Milo will do.”
Langston reaches behind his back and pulls a gun, but instead of aiming, he hands it to me.
“Take it, use it. I deserve it. I couldn’t protect her. I failed.” Tears fill his eyes. “I should have been the one who died, instead of Zeke. Zeke would have saved her.”
Damn right.
I shove the gun at his chest and feel all of his suffering. It matches my own. How could Kai have pierced three men’s hearts? Three men who didn’t have a heart to begin with?
“Fuck you, Langston.” I toss the gun down, knowing I can’t shoot him—but I’m still pissed.
As soon as the gun drops, I drive my fist into his jaw.
He takes it, but on the second punch, he automatically starts fighting back. He lands his own hit to my jaw, and then he’s slamming me backward. We’ve fought hundreds of times together since we were kids, and this is just one more of those times.
I get angry. And I need to let off steam. Langston is much the same. And then I explode. Two hotheads together don’t mix well. But damn did we learn how to fight together.
And Zeke would be the one to end our fights. Langston and I have similar skills and body sizes, but Zeke was always twice as large as us. If he got involved, the fight would end immediately.
“Stop fighting, you idiots!” Liesel says, stomping into the room.
I have Langston in a headlock, and he’s punching my stomach.
We freeze but don’t release each other.
She shakes her head at us. She might as well point her finger at us and yell at us like we are her children for how she is looking at us.
“For heaven’s sake, let Langston go, Enzo. And Langston, really? You’re going to punch Enzo knowing how damaged his body is?”
We both release each other.
It doesn’t stop the glare in her eyes. “You don’t get to be mad at Langston. If you want to be mad at someone, be mad at me.”
“You? What did you do?” I ask.
“I helped Kai save you.”
“You what?” I screech.
“Sit, now,” Liesel says, pointing to the bed.
I can’t sit down. This woman is insufferable. I knew she didn’t like Kai, but I didn’t think she would stoop to trading her to Milo.
“Sit if you want me to tell you what happened.”
Reluctantly, I sit on the edge of the bed.
“You too,” she says to Langston.
Langston lowers himself back into the chair he was sitting in before. But the stiff look he’s giving Liesel tells me he wasn't privy to whatever she did any more than I am.
“Kai has a plan to end this. And I helped her execute it,” Liesel starts.
“There is no ending this. Not if she’s putting her life at risk.”
“Shut up, and let me talk.”
I zip my mouth closed, but only because I need to know the truth.
“When you left Kai, you broke her heart. You have no idea how much. You have no idea what that pain is like. You’ve never loved anyone, but Kai loves stronger than anyone I’ve ever seen, me included. She couldn’t survive without you. Especially knowing that you were hurting and there was something she could do about it.”
Please tell me her plan was to blow up Milo’s plane before she could step foot on it.
“You left her. You abandoned her. And you made your own stupid plan to protect her without involving her. Without talking to her first. And yes, you protected her, but it didn’t matter when you took the most important part of her with you.”
Tears are hidden behind Liesel’s eyes.
I stare at them. I’ve never seen Liesel cry. She’s too strong, too above that level of weakness. The last time I saw her cry was when I was torturing her. But this, this is from heartbreak. Liesel hurts for Kai.
“So Kai took back her life. And I helped her. And I would suggest when all this is over, you two learn to communicate and trust each other; otherwise, your relationship is doomed to fail.”
“And where did you learn that, Dr. Phil?” Langston says.
Liesel growls. “It doesn’t matter where I learned it.”
“What is your genius plan?” I ask.
Liesel’s head pops back in my direction. “You know everything about Milo after spending weeks at his mansion.”
“I do.” I don’t want Kai anywhere near it.
“You were there for weeks, but never had an opportunity to kill him because Milo never let you get close enough.”
Fuck, I know where this is going, and I hate this plan.
“Kai, on the other hand, can get close. Very close. Milo thinks she’s weak. He’ll put his guard down around her.”
I feel like I’m suffocating listening to Liesel talk. I fucking hate this plan.
“She will kill him. And then you will attack with your men and rescue her.”
“I’m not going to use her as a distraction so I can attack while she has Milo occupied.”
“You don’t have a choice. The plan is already in motion. Milo is too smart. And his mansion is too impenetrable to not have someone on the inside to let you in or at least distract him while you take it.”
“He’ll be expecting that. As you said, Milo isn’t stupid. He’ll be waiting for me to attack.”
“Maybe, but then Kai will signal when Milo has let his guard down. She will let us know when to attack.”
“No, we will attack as soon as we can get there. Within the next few hours, preferably,” I say.
“Agreed,” Langston says.
Liesel shakes her head. “You know that won’t work. Milo will be ready. He won’t touch her until he thinks you won’t attack.”
“This plan won’t work.”
“It will. It already has.”
“What do you mean?”
“It will work, because Kai can communicate with us. She can let us know when to attack. Milo thinks we are weak after his attack.”
“Attack?” Langston asks.
I’m sitting on my bed at the beach house. At some point, I must have been moved here. Which means the attack didn’t happen here.
“Milo attacked Surrender. He thinks he wiped out most of our men. But only one man was hurt, because Kai was able to warn us. Something you should have considered doing before you let Milo take you,” Liesel scolds.
I frown. “And how exactly can she communicate with us?”
Liesel whistles.
The door opens, and a woman I vaguely recognize walks in carrying a laptop.
“Hello Mr. Enzo, I mean Mr. Black, Mr. Rinaldi? I don’t know what to call you,” the woman says. She’s wearing high heels, a black skirt, and a white blouse. But the shoes are too small, and the blouse is too big. Her hair is tied up in a messy bun. She looks a like little girl playing dress up.
“Enzo is fine.”
“Enzo, I’m Yolie. I’ve worked for you for three years since I graduated,” Yolie continues.
My eyes cut to Liesel, trying to understand why this stranger is standing in my bedroom when I have much more important things to worry about.
“I work on your security team, developing the latest technologies.”
“She’s a genius is what she is saying,” Liesel says, smiling.
Yolie blushes. “I wouldn’t say that. But I did design some earrings for Kai. I figured Milo would be less likely to suspect small diamond stud earrings than a necklace or bracelet.”
I stare at her, confused.
“She designed earrings that allow us to track Kai at all times, and Kai can tap out simple messages to us through the earrings. We taught Kai a few letters of Morse code. That’s how she let us know there was going to be an attack at Surrender and to get everyone out before the explosion.”
“Surrender is destroyed?” I ask.
Liesel nods with a smile.
She hates that place as much as I do. Too many memories of my father haunt those walls. I’m not sad the place is gone; I should have destroyed it long ago.
“Where is Kai now?” I ask, desperate to see Kai and hopeful she is safe.
Yolie starts typing on the computer, and then she shoves the laptop onto my lap.
“She’s safe. We are monitoring her location. They just landed in Italy.”
I don’t want to know what took them so long to get to Italy. But Kai is anything but safe.
“She can send a distress call with a long press of the earrings. Or if they are removed, we are notified and have a team already in Italy ready to move in. But we could really use you, boss. You know the compound better than anyone since you’ve lived there. Kai is going to try to find a way to let us in undetected, but if not, it’s all up to you.”
I look at Langston who has already hopped up and most likely already knows what I’m about to say.
“Get my damn plane ready. We are going to Italy.”
Liesel crosses her arms. “You will wait for Kai’s signal. We can tell if she’s distressed. If he touches her, we will know. The earrings detect changes in heart rate.”
I stand up, coming eye to eye with Liesel. “If I get a chance to take out Milo, I’m going to take it. I’m not waiting on some signal. Kai isn’t the only person on the inside I can trust.”
“Just promise me you won’t trade yourself to save Kai,” Liesel begs.
“I can’t do that.”
She shakes her head. “You love her.”
I don’t answer.
“Jesus, I never thought I’d say you are a good man. I never thought I’d see you in love. And I never thought that love would be the death of you.”
I step past Liesel. I’m coming, Kai. Just don’t do anything to get yourself hurt.
I need to kill Milo. I’ve wanted to since the first day I met him and saw him look at Kai, but I couldn’t because Milo’s empire isn’t about him. It will survive long after Milo’s death. And I don’t know who his successor is. I don’t know who will come at us after Milo is gone. And that person could be worse than Milo.
I thought I was protecting Kai by trying to keep her out of this fight. But I should have known better.
We love each other. I would give my life for her. The only way to keep her safe and protect that love is to tell her the truth. To be honest and share everything. And then to take down our enemies together. Even if it will kill me to watch her fight by my side.
But every time I’ve tried to protect her myself, it backfires on me.
I can’t keep doing that.
Kai has a plan, and I’ll do my best to stick to it. It might be the only way to earn her trust. But even if her plan works, even if we kill Milo and get her out unscathed, I’m not sure it will be enough.
19
&nbs
p; Kai
I think I hate planes now worse than yachts.
The plane ride lasted forever.
At least that’s what it feels like when I don’t know if Enzo is alive or dead.
The second I overheard Milo talking about blowing up Surrender, I sent a broken message to Liesel.
But my Morse code isn’t the best. And I’m not sure I sent it correctly or not. I’m not sure if Liesel is alive or dead. The same with Enzo and Langston or any of the other loyal men in the club.
My heart feels heavy and disconnected. I would permanently feel numb if Enzo were dead—my connection gone.
He’s alive; he has to be.
But that’s the problem with these damned earrings. They are helpful, but not enough. I can communicate with them, but they can’t communicate with me.
The plane circled overhead of Surrender until it was finished. Milo wanted to watch the explosion. What he was looking for, I don’t know, but he seemed happy and satisfied as we flew away. We made one stop to pick up a doctor.
I must have looked pretty pale and weak for Milo to pick up a doctor to help me.
But all the doctor did was give me some blood through an IV in my arm. He didn’t set my dislocated shoulder. He didn’t dress or bandage any of my cuts. He didn’t examine my leg. He didn’t give me any pain medication, although I don’t want the medication. I don’t want to feel numb to the pain. The pain drives me.
All the doctor did was keep me alive.
And that’s enough.
The drive to Milo’s house seems almost as long as the plane ride. Getting jostled in the back seat of an SUV with a dislocated shoulder is the definition of hell, even with the makeshift sling I’m wearing.
But Enzo is safe.
That’s what I keep reminding myself.
And soon the bastard in the front seat will be dead.
We get to the mansion and Milo walks ahead, while I follow. He doesn’t tie me up or force me to follow. He just knows I will.
Then Milo leads me downstairs, and I panic. I want to stay in the light. I don’t want to hide in the darkness.
But I follow because I need him to trust me. I need him to bring me into his world so I can take down his walls and stab his heart.